ISTANBUL, Turkey (A.W.)\u2013Four Turkish human rights and anti-racism groups sent a letter to the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev\u00a0urging\u00a0him\u00a0\u201dto urgently put an end to the lynching campaign against Ekrem Eylisli\u201d for his positive portrayal of Armenians.<\/p>\n
Ekrem Eylisli<\/p>\n
The Armenian Weekly publishes the text of the letter in full.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Mr. \u0130lham Aliyev<\/p>\n
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan<\/p>\n
Baku, Azerbaijan<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dear Mr. President,<\/p>\n
We, the defenders of human rights in Turkey and supporters of fight against racism, nationalism, and hatred, are appalled by and deeply concerned with the aggressive campaign and threats of violence against the writer Ekrem Eylisli in your country. The only crime committed by your fellow citizen Ekrem Eylisli, whose security is your responsibility, is to have defended in his recent novel the solidarity of peoples.<\/p>\n
As the Human Rights Watch has declared in its global press release, Eylisli has been targeted with an increasingly aggressive campaign of enmity and defamation, further endorsed by official spokespersons and the media, only because he has written a novel in which he has chosen not to represent Armenians as an object of hatred. Since January 31st, the said transgressions have included protests in front of his house, insults and threats, and book-burning.<\/p>\n
Notorious for her racist views, member of Azerbaijani parliament Melahat \u0130brahimk\u0131z\u0131 has accused Eylisli of offending not only Azerbaijan but the entire Turkish nation, thus sending a message to Turkey and provoking the same campaign of hatred against Armenians in Turkey.<\/p>\n
Eylisli\u2019s family too has been subjected to retribution: His son Necep Naibov, employed by the Ministry of Customs, and his wife Galina Alexandrova, a library director, have been dismissed without just cause.<\/p>\n
The lynching campaign has reached its peak with the pro-government Moderna Musavat Party leaders putting a reward of ten thousand Manat on Ekrem Eylisli\u2019s ears.<\/p>\n
And you, Mr. President, in your capacity as the higher most leader of the state of Azerbaijan, have endorsed and even encouraged threats against Eylisli\u2019s life by signing the presidential decree on Eylisli\u2019s divestiture of the title \u201cWriter of the People\u201d and on the termination of his entitlement to \u00a0pension.<\/p>\n
We are the defenders of human rights and opponents of racism, discrimination, and hate in a country where, throughout its history, writers have fallen prey to unsolved cases of murder, or left to rot in prison. Ours is a country where those who express diverse views remain under constant threat. We know well how the racist, nationalist, and discriminatory state politics have driven the masses to the streets and turned individuals into murderers, even of their own neighbors.\u00a0 We have lost many in such attacks, but we also bear witness to the fact that the people will not be silenced by oppression.<\/p>\n
At the same time, we have seen firsthand how your state and the rulers of the Republic of Turkey have joined endeavors in inciting enmity among their peoples against Armenians. The hateful slogans against Armenians in the \u201cHocal\u0131 Protest\u201d in Taksim Square, Istanbul, are still ringing in our ears; the banners bearing the words \u201cYou are all Armenians, you are all bastards\u201d are still before our eyes. As a result of our opposition, those carrying these banners have been charged and indicted. For us, the defenders of rights and opponents of racial hatred in Turkey, opposing enmity against Armenians and diverse ethnic and religious identities is a foremost duty.<\/p>\n
As the proponents and defenders of peace, democracy, and justice, of solidarity of the peoples and equal coexistence, we invite you, Mr. President, to use your office and enlist all your subordinates to urgently put an end to the lynching campaign against Ekrem Eylisli.<\/p>\n
Leaders who have incited peoples to transgressions of racist hatred, who have condoned such transgressions or turned a blind eye to them, have come to be known in history as a disgrace, whereas the memory of those who strive for peace will forever live to honor humanity.<\/p>\n
HELSINKI CITIZENS ASSOCIATION<\/p>\n
SAY STOP TO RACISIM AND NATIONALISM INITIATIVE<\/p>\n
HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION TURKEY<\/p>\n
ASSOCIATION FOR FACING HISTORY<\/p>\n
via Turkey Human Rights Groups to Aliyev: End Lynching Campaign! | Armenian Weekly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISTANBUL, Turkey (A.W.)\u2013Four Turkish human rights and anti-racism groups sent a letter to the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev\u00a0urging\u00a0him\u00a0\u201dto urgently put an end to the lynching campaign against Ekrem Eylisli\u201d for his positive portrayal of Armenians. Ekrem Eylisli The Armenian Weekly publishes the text of the letter in full. *** Mr. \u0130lham Aliyev President of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":60691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1345,8845],"class_list":["post-66171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-azerbaijan","tag-aliyev","tag-ekrem-eylisli"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}