Epress.am News from Armenia
A French citizen of Armenian descent was taken under police custody during the Mesopotamia Social Forum which took place from Sept. 21–25 in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir. News of his being detained was disseminated only today, when Tigran Yegavian returned to France and contacted the French Consulate in Istanbul to investigate the issue.
Ahead of the forum, police stopped and searched Yegavian, along with others. After they found phone numbers of MPs of Turkey’s main Kurdish party, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), in his possession, police called him in to be questioned about his meetings with members of Turkey’s Kurdish community, because they, according to police officials, are tied to “the acts of terrorism supported by the European community.”
Yegavian, according to the Epress.am correspondent in Istanbul, is a member of a very important Armenian foundation in France. He had travelled to Turkey to conduct studies on Armenians and had meetings with some public figures in order to write articles, as well as to support dialogue among Armenian, Turkish and Kurdish peoples.
Note, on Sept. 20 members of the French branch of Yerkir Union (Yerkir Europe) met with Diyarbakir mayor Osman Baydemir of Kurdish descent to discuss possible joint intercultural programs between the civil societies of Armenia, Turkey and the Armenian diaspora, which, most likely, was the reason Turkish authorities called forum participants in for questioning.
Updated on 6 pm, same day: “Two French-Armenian citizens” changed to one French-Armenian citizen and his name, Tigran Yegavian, added.