On the eve of the first court hearing filed against the Istanbul Armenian journalist Hayko Bağdat by the Mayor of Melih Gökçek, the former responded to the journalists’ questions, stating that he called Gökçek “Armenian” in the sense that the latter uses that word.

According to the Turkish website Evrensel, Hayko Bağdat said that every time the Mayor wishes to offend someone from his political adversaries or opposition journalists - in real life or on his Twitter page – he calls them “Armenian.”

“What does he want to say?

It turns out he considers the Armenian origin as a betrayal or disaster for the country. This wasn’t the only such statement by Melih Gökçek., I called him “Armenian” under his anti-Armenian Tweets and I did that in the sense he uses that word when calling others “Armenians,” Bağdat said.  

During the trial, Bağdat requested to change the venue of the trial to Ankara, where he is going to make an exculpatory speech. The court satisfied his motion and scheduled the next hearing for December 7 in Ankara.

Back in March 2015, Hayko Bağdat wrote in Twitter: “The capital has passed into the hands of an Armenian. My condolences.” Following this, the Mayor of Ankara disseminated a statement in which he considered being called an “Armenian” as an offense.  

He filed a claim with the court, stating that he was offended by being called “Armenian.”