YEREVAN, APRIL 22, ARTSAKHPRESS. A number of commemorative events will be held this year on April 24 – the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day – in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Istanbul-based Agos newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief Bagrat Estukyan told ARMENPRESS that in the past two years events weren’t organized in public spaces due to COVID-19 restrictions.
This year the COVID-19 situation has improved and the Armenian community of Istanbul will organize several events.
A rally will take place at 19:00, April 24 in the Besikstas district of Istanbul. The Human Rights Union will deliver a statement for the press on the same day.
“On midday April 24 a visit to the grave of Sevak Balıkçı is planned. He is the young Private who was murdered on April 24 in 2011 in a hate-fuelled killing while serving in the military,” Estukyan added. He noted that last week the Saturday Mothers organization issued a statement commemorating the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
In addition, various discussions and press conferences on the Armenian Genocide are planned in different locations on April 24 in Istanbul, as well as television programs.
Asked what discussions are taking place around the latest Armenia-Turkey dialogue process and does it impact the Armenian Genocide issue, Estukyan said there are no significant discussions at all in Turkey.
“By in large there is no dialogue. The envoys meet, but we don’t know what they talk. We find out from the press that they met in Vienna, in Moscow, but this doesn’t mean dialogue because there is no result, no development and no progress. There is no reaction over this issue in Turkey. It seems that this matter is more urgent for Armenia and there is greater interest for the developments in Armenia, but in Turkey this isn’t an item on the agenda, there is no tangible result,” Estukyan said.
Anna Gziryan
