Armenian businessmen to meet Çalık chairman

Monday, October 24, 2011

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

DİYARBAKIR - Hürriyet Daily News

Twenty-six Armenian businesspeople from the United States are scheduled to meet today with Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş and Ahmet Çalık, chairman of Turkey’s Çalık Holding, to discuss business opportunities.

Archbishop Viken Ayvazian and Archbishop Khadjak Barsamyan, two Armenian-American religious leaders, are to lead the group during the Istanbul visit. The businessmen were joining a larger group that attended the recent reopening ceremony of an Armenian church in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

“Most of these businessmen are visiting Turkey for the first time,” said Oscar Tatosian, who spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News on behalf of the group.

Commenting on the upcoming meeting with the Çalık Holding head, Tatosian said it was very important in terms of dialogue. “Our people should come together and enjoy a cup of tea,” he said. “The dialogue starts with arts, culture, academic cooperation and trade. The rest will follow.”

Tatosian owns the New York-based Oscar Isbenan Rug Company, a business started by Tatosian’s grandfather in the Central Anatolian province of Sivas that continues to produce rugs with Anatolian patterns.

“My grandmother used to tell me a lot about the importance of neighborhood,” he said. “Aren’t Armenia and Turkey two neighboring countries?”

The Armenian community abroad is wrongly considered a homogenous one by Turkish people, Tatosian said, adding that many wanted a good relationship with the Turks.