Turk Gives Away Family Land as Genocide Reparation
Encouraged by the recent apology to Armenians by thousands of Turkish intelectuals and disissidents, a Turkish citizen has done the unprecedented: Berzan Boti (not his real name) of Siirt is giving all the land he inherited to an Assyrian organization. Along with Armenians, indigenous Assyrians were also victims of the WWI genocide at the hands of Ottoman Empire’s government during WWI:
Boti’s letter to Sabri Atman, founder and director of the Assyrian Seyfo Center in Europe who will now be responsible for the returned land (south of the Lake Van), states:
“When I found out that the properties that I and my brothers inherited from our father wasn’t our own, but properties taken from the murdered Assyrians in 1915 I felt an indescribable feeling of guilt and shame. I’ve been thinking long and hard before I have come to this decision. I tried to put myself in their position. I have personally apologized to every Assyrian and Armenian I’ve met. But this does not get rid of the crime our ancestors committed. Even if I am personally not responsible for what happened in 1915, I felt as I had to do more than just to apologize. Finally, I came to the decision to give back all properties that I inherited from my forefathers to Seyfo Center, which works for the recognition of the Seyfo (Assyrian) genocide in 1915” (slightly edited – Blogian).
3 Responses to “Turk Gives Away Family Land as Genocide Reparation”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Raffi on 10 Jan 2009 at 11:34 pm #
what an inspiring human being… it’s too bad conditions in his country don’t allow for him to use his real name yet.
Alper Taparli on 19 Aug 2009 at 2:52 am #
I wonder if anybody who makes such accusations, ever read a book about the topic that tells the other side. I read much about the topic and have my own oppinion, I just hope that others can say the same.
Sean on 01 Nov 2010 at 6:08 am #
Shame on apologist self-hating Turkish people like the person you talked about. You Armenians want to divide Turkey and wipe it off the map. You are sick hateful racist bigots, every single one of you. None of you don’t want peace with Turkish people. You are all racistic liars and you will never ever get anything from Turkey. Keep on begging and whining, you guys will only make yourselves more desperate.