'We are no diaspora,' prominent Turkish Armenians say

Sunday, May 8, 2011

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Hranuysh Hagopyan (second from L), Armenia’s diaspora minister, walks with acting Patriarch Aram Ateşyan after an award ceremony in Istanbul on Sunday. DAILY NEWS photo, Hasan ALTINIŞIK.

Prominent Turkish Armenians who received awards Sunday from Armenia’s diaspora minister said they cannot be seen as members of a diaspora because they live on the land where their ancestors have lived for thousands of years.

“I would prefer not to have a diaspora minister in Turkey,” author Mıgırdıç Margosyan told the Hürriyet Daily News before receiving his gold medal from Armenian minister Hranuysh Hagopyan.

“I’ve been living on the land that [we have] been living on for thousands of years. I am not in the diaspora. This is a terrible irony,” Margosyan said. The writer also directed his criticism toward the Turkish government, saying the lack of a Turkish state official at the ceremony was disappointing.

After attending the Global Summit of Women in Istanbul, Hagopyan handed out medals to 15 Turkish Armenians, including Margosyan, composers Garo Mafyan and Cenk Taşkan and Alis Manukyan, the first Armenian female vocalist in Turkey’s State Opera and Ballet.

“We are living in the lands where we have to live. And we continue to pay our debt to these lands,” Mafyan, who is arguably the best-known popular music composer, told the Daily News. He added that he is ready to do everything he can to make sure dialogue continues between Turkey and Armenia.

“It is [still] very important to receive an award from Armenia for contributing to Turkish popular music,” he said.

Speaking after the award ceremony, acting Patriarch Aram Ateşyan said Hagopyan’s being invited to Turkey is a source of hope for Turkey’s Armenians. “All foreign heads of state and ministers visit the Armenian Patriarchate and the Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate,” Ateşyan said. “We are proud to host a minister from Armenia. We wish for friendship and dialogue between the two peoples.”

The Daily News has meanwhile learned that a top-level delegation from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, will visit the Armenian Patriarchate and the Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate on Tuesday. It was unclear as the Daily News went to press Sunday whether CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu would be joining the visit.