As Ayse Gunaysu's Hetq.am article continues to be republished by dozens of newspapers and websites (some of which, such as Yerkir and Asbarez, credit neither the author nor Hetq) around the world (the article even went back to its original Kurdish newspaper in Turkey and made front page), now we learn that the Istanbul Office of the Human Rights Association is calling on the Turkish government to start an objective investigation of the possible Armenian genocide mass grave.

Ayse Gunaysu writes in an e-mail to a group of scholars and students, of which I am a member, that discusses the Armenian Genocide:

Yesterday's Ulkede Ozgur Gundem wrote that Istanbul Office of the Human Rights Association sent a letter to the Turkish Ministry of Interior calling them to start an investigation at the mass grave site in Mardin to establish whether or not the victims are Armenians and Syriacs. Reminding that no official statement had been made so far on the mass grave found in Mardin HRA Istanbul Office said in the letter that it should be established whether or not the remains of the victims found in the cave dated back to 1915 the year when the deportation of Armenians had started and an independent scientific working group should be set up comprising historians and forensic specialists to examine the skeletons. "We, as the human rights defenders, know that countries who do not have the courage to face the bitter facts of its past cannot possibly complete any democratisation process".

Perhaps I'm being too optimistic but this can be a starting point of a work to be jointly carried out with a very concrete, scientific target. But I assume HRA's call should be supported with an approach to Turkish officials by an Armenian organisation, perhaps an institute of history, or the like from abroad, responding to HRA Istanbul branch's call.

Best regards,noyan sevim

Ayse