BY NANORE BARSOUMIAN
Turkish-Armenian entrepreneur and scholar Sevan Nisanyan is appealing to the European Court for Human Rights to stop the demolition order on his hotels.
Nisanyan told the Armenian Weekly in an email that he is “now appealing to the European Court for Human Rights.”
The Nisanyan Hotels are located in Sirince, Izmir, a village of around 600 inhabitants in the Aegean hills. Nisanyan settled there 15 years ago, and almost single-handedly turned the small village into a booming tourist spot.
Nisanyan purchased and renovated many houses in Sirince, using traditional methods of building while preserving the aesthetics that are authentic to the area. He then converted them into what are known today as the Nisanyan Hotels.
Nisanyan noted that to date, 16 criminal charges have been brought against him–all related to “unauthorized construction,” “unauthorized repair work,” and “defying government orders”– calling for a 50-year prison sentence. Five cases have concluded, serving him with a total of 10.5 years in prison. His appeals are pending.
Nisanyan, who was awarded the 2004 Freedom of Thought Award by the Human Rights Association of Turkey, has often voiced views that are controversial in the tightly censored Turkish society. His last comments about the Armenian Genocide, made during a Turkish television debate program, resulted in the punishment of the airing station by Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK), which claimed Nisanyan’s comments were excessively critical and “humiliated the Republic of Turkey.”
Many believe that the demolition order is meant to punish Nisanyan for his outspokenness (click here for more details).
In Nisanyan’s own words to the Weekly, “’The Armenian who openly defies the Turkish state is something they cannot tolerate.”
its expected from turkey this is their true picture
I very sincerely hope he doesn’t end up being shot a la Hrant Dink….!
Hi Berge,
It’s unfortunately, and this since the Ottoman regime, is the faith of any christian and more specifically of armenians who express their voices to defend themselves, their rights, their lifes, their faith, their churches or their families. Instead of thanking him to renovate these places the govenrment wants to punish him, why because he spke about the truth of the armenian genocide. Same tacticks of bullying.
I guess that stereotype of the lazy, envious, turk is still vaild. You can dress dog with a 3 piece suit, underneath it all that is still a stink’n dog!
Click here for more details. There’s no hyperlink it doesn’t work.
Now how can we help our brother?
Turcii raman to Turci. Guvernul Turc va folosi ori ce mijloacre sa distruga to ce este Aremensc, char si in Secolul 21.Dar Pentru Turcia nu a a sosit inca secolul 21
Once again I’m not surprised. What else do you expect from Turkey when it comes to dealing with Armenians. its Prime Minister Erdogan, as part of a one-sided anti-Armenian protocols, calls for a committee to study the Armenian Genocide and then comes on American Public Television and calls the Armenian Genocide a lie.
What do you expect from a totalitarian government disguised as a fake democracy, which has been violating the rights of all Christians in Turkey as a policy in order to drive them out of Turkey where they lived and existed over a thousand years before the Turks showed up and subjugated them. A prime example of their deliberate anti-Christian policy is the closing down of the Eastern Orthodox seminaries in order to push them out of the country for good.
Another example of this wolf in sheep’s clothing is the fake gesture shown by the Turkish government by investing a mere $1.5 million dollars (compare that to billions they spend on military expenditures) to renovate the Akhtamar Church in Van in order to deceive the world that they not only are not anti-Christian but are a benevolent country sensitive to the Christian concerns. A benevolent country that renovates the church but will not allow a cross on top of it, a benevolent country that will only allow the church to be used by its congregation once a year because in reality it will be used as a Museum to attract tourists to the country.
They don’t give a damn about Armenians and will cease every opportunity to harm them in any way they can. Their ultimate goal is Turkey for the Turks only. They will continue to deceive and misrepresent themselves to the world in order to advance their interests to achieve their goals.