Haluk Kalafat: We Should Face the Genocide without Preconception

• 02.18.2015, 10:08
•  Region,  World,  Armenia,  Interview

"Armedia" Information, Analytical Agency spoke with the chief editor of the Turkish Bianet Agency, Haluk Kalafat about the true stories on the Armenian Genocide that the Agency published several months ago. In the question what the motivation of the Agency was when they agreed to publish that true stories, Mr. Kalafat said that there are many steps which can lead to the reconciliation of the Armenian and Turkish societies and that the project, in the framework of which true stories about the Armenian Genocide were collected, was one of those steps. He mentioned that their motivation is to help the Turkish and Armenian people talk, discuss and understand each other. Speaking about the project "The Turk Who Saved Me", Mr. Kalafat said that those true stories collected in the framework of that project "aim to face the Genocide without preconception. The preconception is the main obstacle against a solution. Our first duty should be to defeat preconception on both sides."

In "Armedia's" question when he first heard about the Armenian Genocide, Mr. Kalafat said: "When I first heard about the Genocide, I was at high school. And to be honest, I didn’t believe that, because the Turkish education system refuses the Genocide. Our history lessons in schools tell us about our ancestors’ heroism; in all lessons we listen to the same prejudices that Turkish people were good and perfect."

Speaking about the possibilities of the rapprochement of the Armenian and Turkish societies, the chief editor of Bianet said: "These kinds of projects tell us the truth; they help us to better communicate and to have a better relationship between the two countries and people…"

Bianet Agency is one of those Agencies in Turkey that published the true stories collected by the joint efforts of "European Integration" Non-Governmental Organization and "Armedia" IAA with the support of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom within the project "The Turk Who Saved Me".