Two prominent Turkish-Armenians praise PM Erdoğan

ISTANBUL

Bedros Şirinoğlu, who chairs the Foundation of Surp Pırgiç Armenian Hospital in Istanbul, put an ad in a number of Turkish newspapers on April 28.

Two prominent members of Turkey’s Armenian community have praised Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s much-debated 1915 message through newspaper ads.

Bedros Şirinoğlu, who chairs the Foundation of Surp Pırgiç Armenian Hospital in Istanbul, put an ad in a number of Turkish newspapers on April 28.

“I express my gratitude to our Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the beautiful man who made us experience firsts in our lives, for his condolences. I extend the condolences of myself and my family to the grandchildren of our Muslim brothers and sisters who died in those black days [1915],” Şirinoğlu said in the ad.

Erdoğan had highlighted the “shared pain” endured during the 1915 events in a historic statement April 23 on the Armenian issue, expressing condolences on behalf of the Turkish state to the grandchildren of Armenians who lost their lives “in the context of the early 20th century.”

In 2010, Turkey’s Prime Ministry had labelled Şirinoğlu “the head of the Armenian community” in Turkey, creating controversy as the community has no official representative.

One day before Şirinlioğlu, another Turkish-Armenian, businessman Leon Armanlı, also placed an ad in Turkish newspapers.

Armanlı praised Erdoğan as “an upright man” and “the greatest statesman after Atatürk,” while saying he should “ignore those who might feel raw about the statement.”

Armanlı is the grandson of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s dentist Leon Agopyan, according to daily Vatan.