By using misinformation, falsehood and other methods of attack through information, Turkey is trying to create problems that don’t exist and separate Armenia from the Diaspora. However, it is sad to see that the misinformation or falsehood of Turkish presses are sometimes translated and seen in Armenian presses and make Armenians fall for Turkey’s information traps. One of those traps was yesterday’s article in the Turkish “Hurriyet”, which was translated and disseminated to Armenian presses.

Recently RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan paid a visit to Istanbul to participate in the Global Summit of Women, after which she had a meeting with representatives of the Istanbul-Armenian community. During the meeting, Mrs. Hakobyan handed medals of the RA Ministry of Diaspora to several renowned artists and cultural figures of the community. Touching upon the minister’s visit, the Turkish “Hurriyet” mentioned that many Istanbul-Armenians were indignated at the minister’s visit and the medals since “the minister considered them Diaspora Armenians, while Istanbul-Armenians don’t consider themselves Diaspora Armenians because they are living in the land of their ancestors.”

We deem it necessary to emphasize that this is overt misinformation and falsifehood.

Istanbul-Armenians truly don’t consider themselves Diaspora Armenians since they are living in the land of their ancestors and the Diaspora Minister is well aware of this special status. During her meeting with the community, Hranush Hakobyan clearly mentioned that she didn’t consider the Istanbul-Armenian community the Diaspora and that she viewed them as a community which created a Diaspora. This is true because the Diaspora was actually formed from the Armenians who survived in Turkey (in fact, the idea that Istanbul-Armenians can’t be considered Diaspora Armenians is clearly expressed in the book “Essay on the History of the Istanbul-Armenian Community” published by the RA Ministry of Diaspora in 2010). According to Turkologist Ashot Soghomonyan, who was accompanying Hranush Hakobyan during her visit to Istanbul, “the community understood the minister’s statement very well and most of the gathered emphasized with content that Mrs. Hakobyan touched upon their status with correct emphases.”

As far as the medals of the Ministry of Diaspora are concerned, they are granted to those who promote the Armenia-Diaspora partnership. Armenian culture, which is in formation in Istanbul, has been and is pan-Armenian. It is for Armenians from Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora and truly contributes to the development of partnership.

With that said, we can state that the information provided by “Hurriyet” and the latter’s references are, to put it mildly, inaccurate and another one of Turkey’s cheap propaganda tricks.

Ruben Melkonyan
Turkologist