Turkish MP taken aback by Postanjyan’s remark
PACE committee on culture, science and education held a meeting in Istanbul on May 10-11, 2010. Present at the meeting were PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu, Turkish Minister of Tourism and Culture Ertugul Gunay, State Minister Mehmet Aydin, head of the Turkish delegation to PACE Erol Aslan Cebeci and other officials.
The meeting was attended by Heritage Party MP, permanent member of the commission Zaruhi Postanjyan.
According to a Heritage press release, the meeting focused on draft resolutions, reports and recommendations, including a report on endangered languages by Turkish parliamentarian Ertugul Komsuoglu.
In her speech, Mrs. Zaruhi Postanjyan underlined that the report contained a number of drawbacks; in particular there was no mention about the Western Armenian and Assyrian languages which are, in fact, involved on the UN list of endangered languages.
"I reminded that the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire was the reason that put the language on the verge of disappearance," says Zaruhi Postanjyan.
She also noted that the structure should take drastic measures to make its member states ratify the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
The Turkish deputy's reaction was fierce and the discussion was postponed for further consideration.
Komsuoglu announced that the Armenian delegate was offending his feelings and his Turkish identity when speaking about the Armenian Genocide.
