A group of nationalist young people in Turkey expressed their protest against the burning of the Turkish national flag in Yerevan. They called for solidarity and .laid flowers at the Armenian cemetery Şişli in Istanbul.

Members of the Turkish National Student Union (Milli Türk Talebe Birliği (MTTB)) that gathered at the cemetery carried a banner with the slogan “Come to your senses, O loyal nation” (Millet-i Sadıka kendine gel) written in Ottoman Turkish. Ömer Önder Haberdar, who spoke at the meeting, stated that the phrase “loyal nation” applied exclusively to Armenian in the Ottoman Empire. “True, numerous tragedies occurred, and we grieve for the victims on both sides. On the Day in commemoration of the 1915 events in Yerevan nationalists burned our flag and pictures of our President and Prime Minister. The problem is not to be resolved in this way,” he said.

MTTB Secretary Emrah Atila advised Turkish young people to unite. “The problem is not to be resolved by burning flags, but by intelligent people. The two peoples have been living together for hundreds of years, and they will in the future,” he said.

T.P.