YEREVAN. – The information which Today’s Zaman English-language daily of Turkey had disseminated, and with respect to the country’s cancelation of the centennial commemorations of the Battle of Gallipoli, was directed against the Turkish authorities.
Armenian turkologist Andranik Ispiryan noted the aforementioned at a press conference on Tuesday.
First, Ispiryan noted that even though this was very important news, no other Turkish periodical reprinted it, which the Turkish websites usually do in the case of important and urgent news.
“Also interesting is the fact that this news was written by an Azerbaijani citizen female journalist who had recently moved to Istanbul, and before moving to Turkey, she worked in an Azerbaijan TV company,” the turkologist said. “In her article, the girl presents fairly extensive information about the [Armenian] Genocide, which [i.e. the information] they never do in the Turkish press.”
As per Ispiryan, however, the most important is the fact that Today’s Zaman belongs to Fethullah Gulen—a Turkish Islamic opinion leader who currently lives in a self-imposed exile in the United States—, who is the number one political enemy of Turkey’s incumbent authorities. The turkologist stated that this fact is the most important in all this, since the Turkish halls of power have repeatedly accused Gulen’s movement of funding the pro-Armenian members of the US Congress.
“In addition, Today’s Zaman is in English, and [therefore] this article is aimed at the foreign audience,” the speaker added.
Ispiryan also did not rule out the fact that the Turkish ruling elite had held discussions on canceling the Gallipoli commemorations stressing that this matter depends largely on which case Turkey will suffer more damage; if it holds, or cancels this event.
“That is, Turkey’s choice will be between the bad and the worst,” the turkologist concluded.
As reported earlier, speaking to Today’s Zaman English-language daily of Turkey, an official from the Turkish government, who had asked to remain anonymous, had said the centennial commemorations of the Battle of Gallipoli, in World War I, initiated by the Turkish government and to be celebrated on April 24 of this year—the same date as the centennial commemorations of the Armenian genocide—had been canceled due to the unwillingness of international leaders to visit Ankara and overshadow the genocide ceremonies in Yerevan.
“The Gallipoli celebrations have been canceled. All preparations have been suspended as the number of RSVPs to the invitation is not positive. Only five countries have accepted the invitation and they will not be represented by high-level officials,” the official had stated.
The Turkish MFA, however, had dismissed the aforesaid information. Speaking to Agos Armenian bilingual weekly of Istanbul, the MFA sources had informed that the Gallipoli commemorations will be held on April 24, as planned.
