A day after the Turkish-language media harshly criticized celebrations in an historic Armenian town – now in Turkey -where locals ‘hanged’  killed Armenians after the latter hanged a Muslim leader in a play, English versions of dissenting voices are published in Turkey’s newspapers. In one of them, a Turkish columnist says that, “we are actually raising murderers.”

Image: Turkish children – from the audience – looking at an actor portraying a Muslim religous leader who was hanged by a group of Armenians. The Armenians later massacre women and children until they are stopped by the Turkish army that liberates Erzrum in a ceremonal play in central Turkey. “We are actually raising murders,” writes a Turkish columnist about the “celebration.”

The English translation of Mehmet Ali Birand’s column is in The Turkish Daily News, where the columnist writes the following:

[…] 

Supposedly, they had put on a representative play to prevent the young from forgetting the past. Eyes wide-opened in fear, small kids were watching drunk “Armenian militia” attack everybody, stab babies with bayonets and hanging the imam in punishment.

This must have been the worst-ever representative “reminder of history.” What is more, it was repeated year after year despite all objections. This year must have hit the zenith of bad taste. Once more supposedly, the objective is to raise some nationalist generations and to remind others of the bitter pages of the past

All it does is to indoctrinate young generations with grudges and to teach them to view Armenians as the enemy to be punished on sight.  This is the mentality that led to the murders of Hrant Dink, priest Santoro and the three people at the publishing house in Malatya.  We will never be able to save our young from the gangs that provide them with guns and incite them to murder as long as we continue to instill hostility in our youngsters.

There is no use in catching murderers and instigators and putting them in jail. Tomorrow, there will be others, for we infect those poor young brains with these primitive and inhumane ideas. The prime minister may talk of “brotherhood” as much as he wants to. Nothing will change as long as he overlooks such primitivism and does nothing to prevent it. He may be unaware of the fact that this is the very attitude that will gradually divide Turkey. The same youth that we now turn against Armenians will some day view all foreigners with hostility and will act out of the conviction that every “enemy” must be killed.

In other words, we are actually raising murderers. What is more, this nonsense is repeated every year despite all the negative criticism.

[…]  

This and other commentaries resonate with murdered Armenian journalist Hrant Dink’s wife’s statement that Turks should ask themselves how babies become murders. The conversation gets sick but more than real when photos of Turkish infants with real guns are circulated in the Internet by proud nationalist Turks.

These are the children who literaly use own blood to paint Turkey’s flagand children that can hardly be recovered. I would call these Turkish babies the stolen generations. And it is definitely time to stop the theft.