Author of the book on Armenian Genocide Hasan Cemal removed from “Milliyet”
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YEREVAN, MARCH 19, ARMENPRESS: Author of the book “1915. Armenian Genocide”, grandson of Cemal Pasha, journalist and writer Hasan Cemal was removed from the “Milliyet” newspaper, where he had worked from 1998.
As reports Armenpress, referring to Turkish press, columnist Hasan Cemal has quit writing for daily Milliyet after the Turkish newspaper refused to publish the veteran journalist’s first column after two weeks. Cemal’s last piece was published on March 2, voicing support for the daily’s decision to go ahead with the publication of the minutes of a second parliamentarian visit to the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan. The piece came after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized the newspaper, saying the principle of press freedom does not give the media the right to “act against the national interest of a country.” Erdoğan had also slammed the columnist with the words “down with your journalism, if this is the journalism you will conduct.”
It is notable that author condemning Erdoğan was removed, while editor who published the article and other responsible were not.
Hasan Cemal, the grandson of Young Turk Party leader Jemal Pasha on April 15 will present his new book “1915: Armenian Genocide” at St. Thomas Armenian Church in Tenafly.
The book, which has become a bestseller in Turkey, presents factual information about the Armenian Genocide and speaks about Cemal’s personal transformation—from someone who once denied the Armenian Genocide to someone who not only recognizes it, but is willing to risk publishing a book on his findings.
In addition to his personal story and evidence of the planned massacres, passages from Cemal’s grandfather, Cemal Pasha, one of the masterminds behind the Armenian Genocide, are also quoted from his own memoirs from 1919.
Cemal visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan five years ago, and writes in his book, “To deny the Genocide would mean to be an accomplice in this crime against humanity.”