YEREVAN, 9 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. What’s a shame for Turkey is that 1.5 million people were killed a century ago and nearly that many people were exiled and were forced to leave their homeland. Now they are scattered across the globe like particles of a pomegranate. Our wish is to make sure neither our country nor the countries not having recognized the Armenian Genocide continue to live with this shame. This is what speaker of the platform for friendship and cooperation with the Assyrians of Izmir Zeynep Tozduman said in an interview with “Armenpress”. Tozduman is a representative of one of the Turkish organizations that recently signed a proclamation addressed to foreign countries to visit Yerevan instead of Çanakkale on April 24^th.

“Know that denying and not seeing are also genocide. The reason why we have become the “voice” of the bodies that were not buried is because we want to see the Genocide officially recognized and to have those bodies rest in peace,” Tozduman said as she talked about her organization’s decision to join the proclamation. Touching upon the fact that the official Ankara responded to President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan’s invitation by inviting the Armenian authorities to Çanakkale on April 24^th “to respect together the memory of the victims of Çanakkale”, Tozduman stated that that was simply an ugly tactic. “We believe Turkey’s response is the country’s way of manipulating history, and it shows that lies and denial still prevail. Viewing this response as disrespect towards the victims and their grandchildren the year marking the 100^th anniversary of the Genocide, with this call we tried to address the countries not having recognized the Armenian Genocide and their conscience,” the speaker said.

“We represent a platform for the friendship and cooperation of Assyrians of Izmir, and we signed that declaration because we don’t want to see genocide in any other land or unknown country. Our call is to break the silence. In the 100^th year, we’re persistently waiting for Turkey to apologize for the victims, including the Armenians, the Assyrians and the Greeks of Pontos,” Tozduman said.

“The conscience of people in this country who think like us has been seared for a century. We don’t want to live with this shame and pain any longer. As representatives of the platform for friendship and cooperation of the Assyrians of Izmir, we want to tell all the nations living in Turkey that that it’s impossible to “shake the hand” of peace with denial and lies. There can't be peace in this land where bones can be found on any ground you set your foot. Mankind will not flourish on the lands that are “watered” with sorrow and tears. On behalf of the platform and on behalf of myself, I apologize once again to the ancient nations and owners of these lands, that is, the Armenians, the Assyrians and the Greeks of Pontos who experienced genocide. We invite the people of any country with conscience and our country not to Çanakkale, but to the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex in Yerevan on April 24^th. To ignore this great crime against humanity means to provoke new genocides,” speaker of the platform for friendship and cooperation of the Assyrians of Izmir Zeynep Tozduman said.