Fabricated "Purge of Armenians" in Istanbul committed by citizens of Armenia themselves

An outrageous case of using a domestic crime for political purposes has occurred recently in Armenia, where the mass media boosted the robbery and murder of an elderly Armenian couple in Istanbul to be "the first portent" – the beginning of ethnic purges in Turkey. Meanwhile, it turned out very soon that the robbers and murderers who killed 85-year-old Hakob Demirzhi and inflicted severe injuries to his wife Seda Demirzhi, were citizens of Armenia itself and citizens of Turkey with Armenian origin. This information was confirmed today by the Foreign Ministry of Armenia, revealing the names of the perpetrators, but not the surnames. Among the members of the gang who killed the member of the Demirzhi family were Armenian citizens Arthur A., ​​Sergey E., Aram E., Marianne B., Christine M., and Turkish citizens Lida E., Nargis B. and Armine M. These people stole jewellery worth 1 million Turkish liras and intended to escape to Armenia across the Georgian border, but they were stopped in Trabzon and returned to Istanbul after four days. Before the details of the crime became known, above all the identities of the suspects, the Armenian mass media raised a storm of indignation, accusing Turkish citizens of intolerance on ethnic grounds. Some local experts assumed the beginning of an ethnic purge. It turns out that the Demirzhi family became victims of a domestic burglary, committed by citizens of the country that hastened to accuse Turkey of xenophobia against Armenian citizens.

Political analyst Talat Cetin underlined in an interview with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza that the event had no extremist or nationalist roots. "Indeed, the detention of two Turkish citizens of Armenian origin in Istanbul due to the murder of citizens of Armenia attracted a lot of attention. I'd like to note that the main purpose of the action was robbery, and there wasn't any malice or hatred on ethnic grounds. How could there be if two Armenian citizens are suspected of the murder of Turkish Armenians. For many years the Armenian media have tried to demonstrate the situation as if not only in Istanbul, but in general Armenians and Turkish citizens had some hostilities and conflicts. The falsity of the information policy is exposed to public review,'' he pointed out.

"There are no problems in Turkey associated with either citizens of Armenian origin in Turkey, or Armenian citizens. A lot of representatives of both one and the other live in our country and there are no conflicts on ethnic grounds. The Armenian press and Armenian society should take a close look at this event and learn a lesson from it,'' Talat Cetin urged.

Political analyst Burhan Ozkoshar welcomed the fact that the truth surfaced so quickly, denouncing the attempts by the Armenian mass media to present the murder of Hakob Demirzhi as a crime on ethnic grounds.