Friendship trip to Muş in rented van
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 01, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Kevork Galosian, a 22-year-old from Armenia, studied Turkish at Yerevan University as a reaction against his family and now has founded a civil society organization to support the Turkish-Armenian dialog process and promote relations between the two countries
Young Turks from all over the country met recently with young Armenians who traveled to Muş in a rented van as part of a series of cultural activities aiming to bridge the gap between the two societies.The event was co-hosted by the Muş Youth Aggregation Society and the Armenian Young Democrats’ National League, which organized events and discussed between May 16 and 18.
Kevork Galosian, the 22-year-old founder of Young Democrats’ National League, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that his group’s primary aims as a civil-society organization are creating dialogue and producing solutions to the problems between Turkish and Armenian people. The group, consisting of seven young people between the ages of 18 and 23, traveled through Georgia for more than 30 hours before reaching Turkey via Tbilisi, visiting Ardahan and Kars before coming to Muş.
Prejudices prevent
"Many more of our friends wanted to come to Turkey with us, but their prejudices prevented it," Galosian said. "My friends who did come with me were also anxious that something would happen to them, but all of their views have changed. They will visit Turkey again when they get a chance."
Galosian’s family migrated to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, right after the 1980 military coup in Turkey. His siblings were born in Istanbul, his father is from Malatya and his mother is from Yozgat. Thus, he said, Turkey has a special importance for him and his biggest desire as a child was to speak Turkish like his parents. "My fathers’ friends of Turkish origin from Istanbul visited us every summer on holidays," Galosian said. "They were speaking Turkish among themselves, but not one word of Turkish was spoken in the house after his friends left."
He chose Turkish Studies at university as a reaction against his family, becoming an expert in Turkish at Yerevan State University. Galosian will receive his master’s degree at Fatih University in Istanbul. "I want to learn Turkish much better," he said. "I will stay in Turkey during my master’s degree and develop my language skills."
Galosian believes the recent efforts to establish diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia are extremely important. "We must remove the boundaries in our brains before the ones on land," he said, adding that the same level of nationalist stances exists in Turkey and Armenia, which he described as an "extremely dangerous" situation. "The nationalism on both sides are no good for anything but adding fuel to the already burning fire," he said, adding that a person who really loves his country and nation does not seek sanctuary in nationalism. It is too late to found "Greater Armenia" or to realize the dream of a Pan-Turkic "Great Turan." The maps are already drawn.
Turkish people as a whole cannot be blamed for tragic events in the country’s history, Galosian said, concluding his remarks with a message to the world: "We appreciate your encouragement of the dialogue process between Turkey and Armenia, but we are against America, Russia or Europe using the Armenian matter for political exploitation. As Turks and Armenians, we should learn from the things foreign powers did to us in the past."
A memory on ’rakı’
During his visit to Turkey, Galosian visited the Ani excavation site, the capital of the Pakraduni Armenian Kingdom that reigned between 961 and 1045, in the Arpaçay District of Kars. He said he was surprised by the historical information given there, noting that, "The Armenians were not mentioned in a single word on the signs." At that moment, a security guard came up to Galosian and asked for rakı. He said he turned to the security guard and said, "There is no mention of Armenians here and you are asking rakı from me?" The guard answered, "How is that my fault? I did not write the signs."
Kevork Galosian, the 22-year-old founder of Young Democrats’ National League, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that his group’s primary aims as a civil-society organization are creating dialogue and producing solutions to the problems between Turkish and Armenian people. The group, consisting of seven young people between the ages of 18 and 23, traveled through Georgia for more than 30 hours before reaching Turkey via Tbilisi, visiting Ardahan and Kars before coming to Muş.
Prejudices prevent
"Many more of our friends wanted to come to Turkey with us, but their prejudices prevented it," Galosian said. "My friends who did come with me were also anxious that something would happen to them, but all of their views have changed. They will visit Turkey again when they get a chance."
Galosian’s family migrated to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, right after the 1980 military coup in Turkey. His siblings were born in Istanbul, his father is from Malatya and his mother is from Yozgat. Thus, he said, Turkey has a special importance for him and his biggest desire as a child was to speak Turkish like his parents. "My fathers’ friends of Turkish origin from Istanbul visited us every summer on holidays," Galosian said. "They were speaking Turkish among themselves, but not one word of Turkish was spoken in the house after his friends left."
He chose Turkish Studies at university as a reaction against his family, becoming an expert in Turkish at Yerevan State University. Galosian will receive his master’s degree at Fatih University in Istanbul. "I want to learn Turkish much better," he said. "I will stay in Turkey during my master’s degree and develop my language skills."
Galosian believes the recent efforts to establish diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia are extremely important. "We must remove the boundaries in our brains before the ones on land," he said, adding that the same level of nationalist stances exists in Turkey and Armenia, which he described as an "extremely dangerous" situation. "The nationalism on both sides are no good for anything but adding fuel to the already burning fire," he said, adding that a person who really loves his country and nation does not seek sanctuary in nationalism. It is too late to found "Greater Armenia" or to realize the dream of a Pan-Turkic "Great Turan." The maps are already drawn.
Turkish people as a whole cannot be blamed for tragic events in the country’s history, Galosian said, concluding his remarks with a message to the world: "We appreciate your encouragement of the dialogue process between Turkey and Armenia, but we are against America, Russia or Europe using the Armenian matter for political exploitation. As Turks and Armenians, we should learn from the things foreign powers did to us in the past."
A memory on ’rakı’
During his visit to Turkey, Galosian visited the Ani excavation site, the capital of the Pakraduni Armenian Kingdom that reigned between 961 and 1045, in the Arpaçay District of Kars. He said he was surprised by the historical information given there, noting that, "The Armenians were not mentioned in a single word on the signs." At that moment, a security guard came up to Galosian and asked for rakı. He said he turned to the security guard and said, "There is no mention of Armenians here and you are asking rakı from me?" The guard answered, "How is that my fault? I did not write the signs."