Epress.am News from Armenia
In 1915, the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, located in the historical heart of Istanbul across from the Blue Mosque, served as a prison: it was here that the Armenian Genocide began. In the evening of April 24, 1915, 235 Armenian intellectuals were gathered on this site, shipped on a steamer to a station on Istanbul’s Asian side, from where trains took them to the east of the country, where most of them were killed. On April 24, 2015, "100 years: End of denial” movement held a rally in Istanbul, recreating the path of the Armenian intellectuals and demanding recognition of the Genocide by the Turkish authorities.
The initiative brought together several organizations, such as Human Rights Association NGO, Culture and Cooperation Platform, ZAN (“to understand” in Kurdish) social research foundation, and Nor Zartonk NGO.
Initially, the participants of the rally gathered at the site of the former prison, from where they sailed on a boat to Haydarpasa railway station. Currently, the terminal does not function, while city authorities plan to turn it into a hotel.
The demonstrators held portraits of killed and exiled Armenian intellectuals, as well as posters picturing Sevag Şahin Balıkçı, a Turkish soldier of Armenian descent who was fatally shot during compulsory military service in Turkish Army on April 24, 2011. During the rally, speeches were made in Armenian, Turkish, and English languages.
