November 16, 2009 - 19:47 AMT
Turkish journalist called Karabakh Armenian land
Turkish Akçam's journalist Nagahen Alçı's statement about Nagorno Karabakh mounted a new anti-Armenian hysteria in Azerbaijan. Turkish journalist was recently on a visit to Stepanakert where she met with NKR officials and colleagues working in Karabakh. In an interview to NKR Public Television, Alçı said she had heard a lot about Karabakh and decided to see Stepanakert with her own eyes.
NKR Public TV's news journalist Varduhi Ohanyan who conducted the interview told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter that Turkish journalist said her country was mistaken since Karabakh was truly an Armenian land. During meetings with NKR senior officials, Alçı made the following statement, «You are determined enough not to give your lands».
Ohanyan said they possessed «raw material» of interview, proving that Nagahen Alçı really called Karabakh an Armenian land. NKR Public Channel journalist said she was a little surprised by her Turkish colleague's boldness. «I also asked her about her opinion on Armenian Genocide. Nagahen Alçı stressed she was not historian and all she knew was that tragic events occurred in 1915, and that Armenians and Turks should look to the future and become friends,» Varduhi Ohanyan said.
Akçam editorial office has announced that «in case Nagahen Alçı's is proved to have made such statement she will be strictly punished,» Turkish media report.