Armenian Genocide Commemorated in Istanbul

ISTANBUL (Combined Sources) — Representatives of Turkey’s Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism (DurDe) platform, European Network Against Racism (ENAR), Turkey’s Human Rights Defense Union and New Awakening gathered Sunday at Istanbul’s Kabatas station to honor the memory of the Armenian Genocide.

They carried posters condemning and urging to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, as well as photos of Armenian intellectuals who were arrested and sent to death on 24 April 1915.

The participants thereafter marched to Haydarpasa train station, from where the Armenian intellectuals were sent to death by train on the same day.

Turkish human rights defender Eren Keskin read out an announcement in Armenian, Turkish and English on behalf of those gathered.

He stressed that the denial of the Armenian Genocide, which is a crime against humanity, continues the crime.

By the end of the commemoration event, the participants threw white carnations into the sea.

On Saturday, the Istanbul civic group Saturday Mothers/People organized a public event in the city’s Galatasaray Square, calling upon the Turkish society to confront its past.

The organizers carried photos of the Armenians killed on April 24, 1915.

The event was attended by Sezgin Tanrikolu, a deputy leader of the People’s Democratic Party, Karo Paylan, Armenian parliament member elected from the Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, representatives of the Armenian General Benevolent Union and the organization Fight Against Racism in Europe.

In his speech at the ceremony, Paylan urged for efforts to eternalize Armenians’ memory in those Turkish towns and cities that saw tragic massacres more than 100 years ago . “We want our ancestors’ bodies; we want tombstones to be built,” he said.