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THIS IS EQUAL TO TREACHERY
Anahit Yesayan
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
17 Sep 2008
Armenia
Interview with SAMVEL KARAPETYAN, Head of the organization studying
the Armenian architecture
"On the day of the Turkish President Abdullah Gul's arrival you were in
Western Armenia, and could actually see and feel the Turkish society's
attitude towards that fact."
"The Turkish society is actually unaware of what happened in the past.
Or rather, six generations in Turkey have been educated and brought
up by such a state-national curriculum and ideology that presented
them everything just the other way about.
This time, we visited Artsati village of Erzrum. Before 1915, it was
one of the most densely populated villages, and there were exclusively
Armenian catholics inhabiting there. There is now a museum of the
Turkish Genocide in the village. Can you imagine a museum of the
Turkish Genocide in an Armenian-populated village? A group burial has
been discovered here; naturally, of Armenian people. But the Turks
present everything just the other way about, making the village one
of their important tourist attraction sites.
When the Director of the hotel of the town of Ardvin learnt that
we were Armenians, he said, 'Hey you, Armenians! What trouble you
have made for us!' And we asked, 'What is it we have done?' And he
immediately said, 'What trick have y ou played on us in Ardvin?' and
then I asked him, 'How come that no Armenian was left in Ardvin while
the Turks live and prosper there? So, who now makes trouble and for
whom?' And there, the Turk began thinking over what I had said...
"I wonder how the Turks estimate the disgraceful step of the Football
Federation of Armenia. Before the Armenia-Turkey football match,
the latter changed the logo on the uniforms of our football players,
replacing the picture of Ararat with ... a football."
"On those days, 'Aksham', one of the Turkish periodicals, printed
the new and old colored logos of the Armenian Football Federation
on its front page and wrote that Armenia had shown a sign of good
will by removing the picture of Ararat from the logo of its football
federation.
There was accentuated irony, neglect and sarcasm in the information
published.
The next day, 'Huriet' published another article (showing the picture
again) expressing astonishment that the picture of Ararat had been
removed from the Logo, but President Serge Sargsyan had received
Mr. Gul below the picture of Mount Ararat.
With regard to this issue, I heard some statements in the National
Assembly.
I realized that the state had taken no initiative in this direction
(by the way, besides Mount Ararat, the Armenian scripts were also
removed from the logo). This was an independent20action by the Head
of the Football Federation.
This is equal to treachery. If someone is ready to renounce his logo
and emblem at peace time, it means he is a potential traitor. In a
little bit more serious situation, that person will commit a much
graver crime, a high treason.
I wonder whether or not he has been held accountable for that step. If
not, then we don't have a state."
Anahit Yesayan
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
17 Sep 2008
Armenia
Interview with SAMVEL KARAPETYAN, Head of the organization studying
the Armenian architecture
"On the day of the Turkish President Abdullah Gul's arrival you were in
Western Armenia, and could actually see and feel the Turkish society's
attitude towards that fact."
"The Turkish society is actually unaware of what happened in the past.
Or rather, six generations in Turkey have been educated and brought
up by such a state-national curriculum and ideology that presented
them everything just the other way about.
This time, we visited Artsati village of Erzrum. Before 1915, it was
one of the most densely populated villages, and there were exclusively
Armenian catholics inhabiting there. There is now a museum of the
Turkish Genocide in the village. Can you imagine a museum of the
Turkish Genocide in an Armenian-populated village? A group burial has
been discovered here; naturally, of Armenian people. But the Turks
present everything just the other way about, making the village one
of their important tourist attraction sites.
When the Director of the hotel of the town of Ardvin learnt that
we were Armenians, he said, 'Hey you, Armenians! What trouble you
have made for us!' And we asked, 'What is it we have done?' And he
immediately said, 'What trick have y ou played on us in Ardvin?' and
then I asked him, 'How come that no Armenian was left in Ardvin while
the Turks live and prosper there? So, who now makes trouble and for
whom?' And there, the Turk began thinking over what I had said...
"I wonder how the Turks estimate the disgraceful step of the Football
Federation of Armenia. Before the Armenia-Turkey football match,
the latter changed the logo on the uniforms of our football players,
replacing the picture of Ararat with ... a football."
"On those days, 'Aksham', one of the Turkish periodicals, printed
the new and old colored logos of the Armenian Football Federation
on its front page and wrote that Armenia had shown a sign of good
will by removing the picture of Ararat from the logo of its football
federation.
There was accentuated irony, neglect and sarcasm in the information
published.
The next day, 'Huriet' published another article (showing the picture
again) expressing astonishment that the picture of Ararat had been
removed from the Logo, but President Serge Sargsyan had received
Mr. Gul below the picture of Mount Ararat.
With regard to this issue, I heard some statements in the National
Assembly.
I realized that the state had taken no initiative in this direction
(by the way, besides Mount Ararat, the Armenian scripts were also
removed from the logo). This was an independent20action by the Head
of the Football Federation.
This is equal to treachery. If someone is ready to renounce his logo
and emblem at peace time, it means he is a potential traitor. In a
little bit more serious situation, that person will commit a much
graver crime, a high treason.
I wonder whether or not he has been held accountable for that step. If
not, then we don't have a state."