TURKISH ARMENIANS RELATE HOPE FOR PROGRESS IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000350 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/09/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM OSCE AR TU SUBJECT: TURKISH ARMENIANS RELATE HOPE FOR PROGRESS IN TURKEY REF: ISTANBUL 69 Classified By: Consul General Sharon A. Wiener for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) Summary. During a meeting on September 4, Armenian Archbishop and acting Patriarch Aram Atesyan shared with visiting Ambassador Yovanovitch his optimism about the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement despite his conviction that Turkey will not change its stance on the events of 1915. He explained the continued need for many Armenian Turks to conceal their Armenian Christian identity in Anatolia, even though "as a people we have no problems with Turks." Publishing coordinator for the Armenian and Turkish language weekly Agos, Maide Saris, said that while Armenian Turks still cannot be civil servants due to an unwritten law, they face no discrimination in the private sector. Saris concluded that it really is very exciting to live in Turkey as an Armenian today. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Atesyan reported that GOT's EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis had told him on September 3 that he has great hope that the rapprochement protocols will be signed by both parliaments and the border opened. "If the Diasporan Armenians shut their mouths, we will have progress" on this issue, Atesyan opined, contending that the only problem between the Armenian Diaspora and Turkey is 1915 - "and solving that is hopeless." ¶3. (SBU) According to Atesyan, the 70,000 illegal Armenian migrants to Turkey would be happy if the border were opened and relations normalized. Atesyan pointed out that most migrants to Turkey from Armenia are women and children. He contends that because of their illegal status the children are unable to attend Turkish public schools, and because they are not Turkish citizens, cannot attend the Turkish Armenian minority schools. The future of an entire generation of Armenian migrant children "is based on political relations between the two countries," Atesyan argued. ¶4. (C) As the leader of the Armenian Orthodox community and church in Turkey, Atesyan said he cannot talk about the massacres of 1915 nor April 24. "It would cause too many problems." He commented on the continued antagonism toward Armenian Christians in Anatolia. He explained that he has cousins who converted to Islam in Diyarbakir for perceived personal safety concerns who want to baptize their child. However, Atesyan said he is unwilling to baptize their child until they convert back (officially changing the religion on their identity cards to read "Armenian Orthodox" rather than "Islam"). They will only do this when and if they move to the more tolerant Istanbul "because otherwise they feel it would not be safe to be openly Armenian Orthodox in Anatolia." ¶5. (SBU) Prior to the founding of the Turkish Republic, Atesyan explained that there were 2,200 Armenian churches, of which only 45 remain with only 22 priests to serve the parishioners (Ref A). Currently the fewer than 1,000 Armenian Orthodox remaining in Adiyaman must attend a Syriac Orthodox church because there is no Armenian church available for them. The properties and schools can only be maintained with support from wealthy parishioners as 50 percent of students in Armenian minority schools are on scholarship. The Armenian General Benevolent Union in the United States covers 10 percent of the schools' budget through donations, Atesyan said. ¶6. (C) Atesyan expressed his belief that the problems of the minorities come from the state rather than the GOT and contended that if AKP were to remain in power for another 20 years, many of Turkey's problems would be solved. He related a situation in which PM Erdogan, addressing Patriarch Mutafyan and Atesyan, gestured to a portrait of Ataturk and asked which was better for the Armenians: the Ottoman Empire or the new Turkish Republic. Atesyan said the PM was implying that he understood that Turkey's minorities lived better under the Ottoman Empire's millet system. ¶7. (SBU) In a separate meeting, publishing coordinator for the Armenian and Turkish language weekly Agos, Maide Saris, shared with the Ambassador that while Armenian Turks de facto still cannot be civil servants, they face no discrimination in the private sector. Unlike 10 years ago, Maide commented, Agos is now able to report on the events of September 1955 in which hundreds of properties owned by minorities were ISTANBUL 00000350 002 OF 002 destroyed. "Turkey is now reading, talking, and learning about the issue" of the Armenian question. ¶8. (C) Comment: The enhanced dialogue on the topic of the events of 1915 over the past year and the AKP's positive relationship with most minority communities provides some hope that some of the challenges facing these communities will be addressed, if not comprehensively resolved. Atesyan echoes the voices of many who believe the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement can only provide positive results for all involved, but may be correct in his assessment of the limited likelihood that the state and people will change its views on the events of 1915. End Comment. WIENER