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ISTANBUL: Armenians still feeling heat in Turkey, experts argue

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  • ISTANBUL: Armenians still feeling heat in Turkey, experts argue

    http://www.todayszaman.com/news-345979-armenians-still-feeling-heat-in-turkey-experts-argue.html

    Armenians still feeling heat in Turkey, experts argue
    2014-04-24

    Turkish public figures have argued that Armenians as well as other
    non-Muslim minorities are still feeling as an "outsider", a heavy
    burden for a country that seeks to become a democratic nation.

    Author Roni Margulies, speaking during a panel discussion in "Facing
    Genocide" Forum in Istanbul on Wednesday, said 99 percent of Turkish
    people, including the prime minister, is making minorities feel as an
    outsider. Noting that he doesn't feel himself as a citizen in Turkey,
    Margulies said people in Turkey believe Armenians and Jews are
    controlling the world.

    Margulies said he "doesn't care about an apology" and that "all of us
    are Turks according to the Constitution." He added that this state is
    established as the state of Turks and that only 50-60,000 Armenians
    left in the country today. "This state has never viewed minorities as
    its own citizens," Margulies said.

    He stressed that he is living in Turkey as a foreigner for 50 years
    and that his books are displayed in "foreign poets" sections in
    bookstores. "I'm not a real citizen in Turkey. I'm a foreigner,"
    Margulies said.

    Lawyer Fethiye Cetin, who also spoke during the forum, urged the
    Turkish government to recognize the "Armenian Genocide" perpetrated at
    the hands of Ottoman soldiers during the World War I in 1915.

    "We are all sick and victims. We will get better when we start
    recognize and face this," Cetin said, adding that minorities in Turkey
    are described as "foreigners."

    Truth, Justice and Memory Center founder Ozgur Sevgi Goral said in her
    speech that there is a political structure that puts "Turkishness"
    ahead of other ethnicities. She said "what we need to do is to prove
    it as a tangible crime while not making it extremely local."

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