Hello, everyone.I have newly registered.I am a Turkish guy from Istanbul, Turkey. I want to express my thoughts on the genocide issue and other issues. As you know, the Turkish governments over the years have denied that a genocide ever happened to Armenians.However, in recent years, mainly due to the positive effect of EU membership application, freedom of expression sitation has gotten better in Turkey and so a lot of people in Turkey have been able to express their thoughts on various media regarding the genocide. Of course unfortunately some of those peope were taken to court.The effect of nationalist ideoogy is still strong in Turkey. However I don't think we need to be pessimistic that one day Turkey will at least accept that 'atrocities' happened against the Armenians and at least will offer some kind of apology.I personally feel very bad about what happened to Armenians back then. The personal stories are really tragic. Not only deaths and injuries but also loss of property and having to leave one's home is very tragic.Some stuff I learned recently really made me cry.But please don't blame all Turkish peoeple and don't have a grudge against Turks in general because of what happened back then. Okay, you can rightly have a hard feeling against Turks (and others)who blindly continue to deny what happened and those who say racist things against Armenians. And one more thing, please don't forget that some people here are not able to have access to some sources and the Internet. They just know what has been taught to them in elementary/secondary school and assume that all is true. Also, over the years, people here have been exposed to nationalist ieology regarding many issues and so they accept all that without questioning it.I myself am againt ALL types of nationalist ideology, Turkish, Armenian, American, Kenyan or whatever ! Nationalism is a very unhumanist ideology. I continue to fight Turkish (and others) nationalists in some forums and speak out against them. Of course I have become unpopular with many such people because of that I am also saddened that some people here on this forum praise the terrorist organisation ASALA. I hope humanist Armenians will fight such ideology too. Armenians should teach their children about what happened BUT must not preach hatred against Turks in general.I really want good realations between Turkey and Armenia. Hatred should NOT continue. It must stop from both sides. There are already so many bad issues in the world, such as wars, destruction of nature, extinction of many animal species and famine. We humsn beings must strive together to fight such things. There is no place for blind hatred in our world. What good is it going to bring ?I will give you two examples of racism/discrimination; one from Turks against Armenians and the other from Armenians against Turks. Both these really made me quite sad and angry. In a chat room, one Turkish guy said 'I love all people except Armenians' and then continued his nasty words. And, then my other example : I planned on going to Armenia last year on holiday and I was doing some research on touristy places. I came across a Web site of a pub in Yerevan. As I was reading some stuff there, in the section about music, it said 'We play all kinds of music, except Turkish music'. That is discrimination extended to culture/music. Very sad ! Of course this put me off from going there. I know that I shouldn't generalise but then, I was just worried what response I might get from people in Armenia just due to my nationality.I repeat : Nationalism is an ideology that must be fought against.I know that I might unfortunately attract some bad responses because of what I wrote here (mainly my strong views against nationalism). Anyway, I hope that I won't be insulted here just because I am Turkish.I actually hope I can contribute to this forum and who knows, I might build some friendship with some people here, and who knows, I might get to meet some people face to face, either in Turkey or in Armenia.Cheers,Bora
