Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

[Haykakan]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

POLICE RELEASE CAMERA FOOTAGE OF AMERICAN WOMAN MISSING IN TURKEY

In of the videos released by the police on Tuesday, Sarai Sierra is
seen walking on one of the busiest streets of Ä°stanbul, Ä°stiklal
Street. (Photo: Today's Zaman) RELATED NEWS

Turkish police intensify search for missing New York woman

http://todayszaman.com/news-305471-police-release-camera-footage-of-american-woman-missing-in-turkey.html

29 January 2013 /TODAYSZAMAN.COM, Ä°STANBUL

Turkish police have released camera footage of Sarai Sierra, an
American woman who has been missing in Turkey since Jan. 21.

In one of the videos released by the police on Tuesday, Sierra is
seen wearing blue jeans and a brown leather jacket at a restaurant
in the Beyoglu district of Ä°stanbul. In another video she is seen
walking on one of the busiest streets of Ä°stanbul, Ä°stiklal Street.

Sierra, 33, contacted her family last week on Monday, on what was
supposed to be the final day of her solo trip to Turkey, which began
on Jan. 7. It was the last time Sierra's family heard from her. She
was expected to land in New York on Jan. 22, but never boarded the
plane in Ä°stanbul.

[Haykakan]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

CAUSE FOR CONCERN IN TURKEY: RECENT ATTACKS AIMED AT ARMENIANS, OR AT CHRISTIANS IN GENERAL?

http://armenianow.com/society/42949/istanbul_attacks_armenian_genocide

SOCIETY | 30.01.13 | 13:07

By GAYANE ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

Several assaults against Armenians in Turkey over the past month have
raised concerns and stirred a wave of outrage not only among Armenians,
but also Turkish human rights advocates, who held an act of protest
Sunday calling for "consistency in investigating the assaults and
murders on ethnic grounds".

Pro-Kurdish member of the Turkish parliament, representative of Peace
and Democracy party Sebahat Tuncel and independent MP, member of the
Commission on Human Rights Ertugrul Kurkcu declared during the protest
that the assaults were hate crimes motivated by strong anti-Armenian
sentiments and that "the police is at fault for their inertness".

On December 28, in her home at Istanbul's Samatia district largely
populated by Armenians, 85-year-old Maritsa Kucuk was brutally
murdered. Her son's testimony claims that the perpetrators had "carved"
a cross with a knife on the old woman's chest.

Some ten days earlier in the same district an 87-year-old native
Armenian woman, Turfanda Ashik was assaulted and brutally beaten.

On January 6 (Armenian Christmas), another native Armenian woman
escaped an attempted assault on her way to church. With her own
resistance and some support from aside she managed to find refuge in
the church.

On January 22, again at Samatia district, near his house 83-year-old
Sultan Aykar became a victim of assault and lost vision in one eye
caused by beating.

Turkish human rights advocates are convinced that the crimes are of
"racist anti-Armenian character", however it is unclear yet whether
the "racist sentiments" are against Armenians only, or Christians
in general.

Editor of the Armenian version of Istanbul-based Agos daily Bagrat
Estukian believes "these are hate crimes" as a reaction prior to the
100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide to be marked in 2015.

The Istanbul branch of Turkey's Human Rights Association has published
a separate report in which several Samatia residents stress that they
are "afraid" and that for as long as "the word 'Armenian' is used as
a swear word, such incidents will keep happening".

By various census results there are 50,000-60,000 Armenians living
in Turkey today, the majority of them in Istanbul; Armenians there
have a patriarchy, 16 schools, more than 30 churches, 3 newspapers
(one of them 100-years-old) and two hospitals.

Despite the constant fear and atmosphere of ethnic discrimination,
the Armenian community of Turkey keeps staying in what they call their
"historic homeland".

"Such problems have always existed, but the atmosphere of fear now
is really tangible," Istanbul-based Heriknaz Avagian, initiator and
principle of the special Armenian school for the children of illegal
immigrants, told ArmeniaNow.

The year of 2007 became a watershed in the lives of Istanbul-Armenians,
when editor-in-chief of Agos daily Hrant Dink was assassinated near
his newsroom.

As Turkish Armenian Arus Yumul, sociology professor and head of chair
at one of Istanbul's biggest universities (around 12,000 students),
explains "Dink's murder awakened not only us Armenians, but also
Turks, who started showing more interest in the dark pages of their
history," however this "awakening of consciousness" has also had
a counter-effect.

Months after Dink's murder Istanbul's St Astvatsatsin (Holy Virgin)
church suffered an armed attack when a gunman opened fire during
liturgy, luckily with no casualties.

In 2011, on April 24 - Remembrance Day for the victims of the Armenian
Genocide - in the army a Turkish soldier shot dead his fellow private
Sevag Sahin Balikci. On the day of the funeral his parents said it
was an accident, but during the trial, the last hearing of which
took place on January 25, they declared that "Sevak was murdered for
being Armenian, that day one Armenian had to be killed, it had been
decided so."

During the same 2011 a taxi driver physically abused an Armenian woman:
he called her an "infidel", beat her and threw out of his car.

After this case the police stated that it was a matter of minutes
to take the driver into custody, because both the vehicle number and
the taxi service were known. More than a year has passed and nobody
has been held accountable.

These recent cases have had strong reaction in Armenia, some even
drew parallels with the murder of Kurdish women in France during
the same period, committed in the highlight of negotiations with
Abdullah Ocalan.

However, expert in Turkish studies Ruben Safrastyan, head of the
Institute of Eastern Studies at the National Academy of Sciences,
believes that the assaults are anti-Christian rather than
anti-Armenian.

"The Turkish society is undergoing a period of change, on the one hand
it is the desire for growing awareness about the Genocide among some
circles, on the other it is the extremist pro-religious, pro-Islamic
sentiments growing deeper and as counter-effect the anti-Christian
and anti-Armenian wave is getting bigger," says Safrastyan, adding
that the government policy is creating fertile soil for all of this.

[Artashes]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Looks like Turks were never able to grow a pair.

Good call .
They equate the hoard principle to having stones .
Artashes

[Mos]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

They adopt a nocturnal policy vs men they only attack men who are unarmed and sleeping.

Looks like Turks were never able to grow a pair.

[shield4life]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Somebody needs to step up ...

[Haykakan]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

TWO ARMENIAN WOMEN ATTACKED IN ISTANBUL IN PAST 24 HOURS

http://www.armenianweekly.com/2013/01/23/breaking-news-two-armenian-women-attacked-in-istanbul-in-past-24-hours/

January 23, 2013

Second attack not confirmed independently

ISTANBUL, Turkey-Two elderly Armenian women were attacked in
Istanbul's Samatya district on Jan 22 and 23, less than a month after
an 84-year-old Armenian woman was brutally murdered in Istanbul,
raising the number of violent attacks against elderly Armenian women
to at least four in recent months.

Two elderly Armenian women were attacked in Istanbul's Samatya district
on Jan 22 and 23.

The Jan. 22 attack happened around 5 p.m. when the victim, 83-year-old
Sultan Aykar was about to enter her ground-floor apartment. She then
saw the intruder and, frightened, she fell. The attacker proceeded to
kick her. Hearing her screams, neighbors came down, scaring off the
masked man, reported Bianet. The neighbors described the attacker as
a male between the ages of 35 and 40, with gray hair, and dressed in
black. During the attack, Aykar suffered damage to her eye. She has
now lost sight in that eye, despite surgery on Jan. 23. The victim's
daughter, Menzar Etik, said her mother did not have any enemies, as
she was a quiet woman. Etik did not believe the attacker's intention
was robbery, as the attacker did not attempt to steal her purse,
and there was nothing more than a broken TV in her apartment.

Today (Jan. 23), another attack was reported on yet another elderly
Armenian woman. The attack happened on the street, near the Samatya
High School, sources reported. The two assailants ran away. The victim
was covered with blood. Shortly thereafter, she disappeared.

Community members and plainclothes policemen have been unable to find
or identify the woman.

The Armenian Weekly could not independently confirm the report on
today's attack.

In turn, Agos editor Rober Koptas told the Weekly, "We spoke to
churchmen, taghagans, shopkeepers, police, and lots of people but
none of them confirmed it."

The Samatya area is home to many Armenians. The community is weary
of these attacks, and calls for caution have been made.

In recent years, there have been several attacks against Armenians
in Turkey. In early December another Armenian woman was attacked and
robbed; while months earlier an Armenian woman was attacked by a taxi
driver and called an infidel.

On Jan. 6, three assailants tried to kidnap an elderly Armenian woman,
according to Turkish sources. The attempt failed.

According to human rights activists, the common thread that runs
through all of these crimes is not just their being motivated by hate
or being committed in an environment that breeds intolerance against
Armenians, but also the efforts of the authorities to play them down
and cover them up.

The Armenian Weekly will continue following up on this issue.

[Eddo211]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

They adopt a nocturnal policy vs men they only attack men who are unarmed and sleeping.

Much like Wolfs they target the weak and the defenseless.....easy pray.

[Haykakan]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

They adopt a nocturnal policy vs men they only attack men who are unarmed and sleeping.

Again they continue to attack elderly women. These Turks don't even have the balls to attack men. They only have the courage to attack frail elderly women....typical.

[Mos]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Again they continue to attack elderly women. These Turks don't even have the balls to attack men. They only have the courage to attack frail elderly women....typical.

[Haykakan]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

ANOTHER ELDERLY ARMENIAN WOMAN IS SEVERELY BEATEN IN ISTANBUL

http://news.am/eng/news/137053.html

Another elderly Armenian woman is severely beaten in Istanbul January

Another elderly Armenian woman was assaulted, on Tuesday evening,
in Istanbul's densely-Armenian-populated Samatya district.

The woman was attacked nearby a local police precinct. The assailant
was around 35 years old and he was wearing black clothes.

It is noted that the Armenian woman was severely beaten. As a result,
her glasses were broken and its glass caused damage to the woman's eye;
she underwent a surgery on Wednesday morning.

Istanbul Office of the Human Rights Association of Turkey called for
a demonstration, on Wednesday at 4pm, against violence taking place
on xenophobic grounds.

To note, this is the third such attack against elderly Armenian women
in Samatya.