Zeynep Karataş
The Nor Zartonk, a civil society group representing Turkey's Armenian community, condemned false reports that the deed for a former Armenian orphanage widely referred to as Camp Armen
has been returned to the Gedikpaşa Armenian Proestant Church Foundation
and called the false reports a ploy for votes in the run-up to Sunday's
election during a press conference held in İstanbul on Thursday
morning.
“We are in the 30th day of our Camp Armen resistance, and we wanted
to share [our experiences] of these 30 days, for there have been several
false reports circulating in the media regarding the camp. […] It's
unfortunate but some of these lies are being produced in an effort to
win votes [for the past June 7 general election], and this includes
Armenian media outlets. To gain these votes, there are reports being
produced stating that the deed to the camp has been returned to the
Gedikpaşa foundation, but unfortunately, this is not true,” said Sayat
Tekir, spokesperson for Nor Zartonk, during Thursday's meeting.
What Tekir was referring to was the latest issue of Paros monthly
magazine, an İstanbul-based magazine that focuses on the local Armenian
community. The magazine published an article about the camp with the
headline, “Camp Armen has been returned to the foundation” on one page
and a full page ad for Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy
candidate Markar Esayan, who is also a prominent columnist of Armenian
descent, on the adjacent page. In addition to falsely stating that the
title to the property had been returned to the foundation, the article
described Esayan as “the one who has undertaken the coordination for the
Armenian orphanage to be returned to the foundation,” portraying Esayan
as being at the forefront of the resistance to the demolition. The
members of Nor Zartonk openly criticize Esayan for using the Camp Armen
resistance to promote the AK Party. In addition to the Paros article and
Esayan's statements on Twitter, he also penned a column in the Sabah
daily last month entitled “A new formula for the Tuzla Armenian
Orphanage” in which he falsely stated, “When the current owner began
demolishing the building upon a court order, the government intervened
and stopped the demolition process.” In fact, it was former resident of
the orphanage Garabet Orunöz who mobilized local Tuzla residents to the
site and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Armenian parliamentary
candidate Garo Paylan who halted the demolition. In the same column, the
parliamentary candidate noted, “Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is
personally involved in the case. Also, İstanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş has
promised to resolve the problem.” (*)
According to Tekir, there are ongoing meetings taking place with the
government and the owner of the property which are widely suspected to
be ongoing negotiation processes to agree on a price for which the owner
will agree to “donate” the property to the Gedikpaşa foundation. Tekir
told the press that while the owner of the deed on paper is a man named
Erhan Aydınlar, the actual owner of the property is Fatih Ulusoy, who
has been engaging in the negotiations.
"Today's Zaman," June 4, 2015
(*) Both Esayan and Paylan entered the Turkish Parliament after the June 7, 2015 election where the AKP lost its majority ("Armeniaca").
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