YEREVAN. – A scandal broke out at the Yerevan presentation of a book by Cemal Pasha’s grandson.
The book by Hasan Cemal titled “1915. Armenian Genocide” was presented at Moscow cinema of Yerevan on Thursday (photos).
Ruben Melikyan, head of oriental studies department and translator of the book, was angered by organizers’ decision not to permit the audience to address questions to the author. He stressed that Hrant Dink foundation that organized the presentation was not “an Armenian organization, but a Turkish one”.
“There are key questions that must be voiced. In his book Cemal writes that in 1992-1993 Armenians conquered Nagrono-Karabakh, occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan. We should ask why he, introducing himself as an advocate of freedom, repeats Aliyev’s rhetoric. The editors in Hrant Dink foundations made changes in the translation,” Melkonyan said, adding that the editors removed translator’s comments.
The translator said the foundation representatives explained their decision to remove comments by the fact that it would interfere with Armenian-Turkish dialogue. He has appealed to foundation’s lawyers, as according to the contract, the text had to be agreed with the translator before publishing.
In addition, Ruben Melikyan asked about Cemal’s attitude towards compensation. The translator called presentation of his book “a fake event” and a program “targeted at getting grant”.
“There was no opportunity to ask questions, so this is a fake event that is pleasant especially for Europeans. This was a wonderful performance for the representatives of embassies who are present here,” he resumed.
