Anti-Armenian graffiti found on Armenian school in Istanbul
The walls of Bononti Mkhitarian Armenian school in Istanbul were vandalized with anti-Armenian graffiti sometime during the few days. Asbarez News reports referring to Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos.
The graffiti in Turkish translates to “We will one day be in Karabakh.”
Former Republic People’s Party (CHP) MP Aykan Erdemir shared on Twitter his thoughts on the vandalism. “Hate graffiti on the walls of #Istanbul’s Bomonti Mıhitaryan chool. Third #Armenian school targeted within the last three months,” Erdemir wrote.
Bomonti Mihitaryan is not the first Armenian school in 2016 to be vandalized in Turkey, as the Surp Khach Seminary in the Üsküdar district was defaced with anti-Armenian graffiti in August.
The graffiti reads “I brought you the revenge of the ‘Turkish moon,'” as well a “May the Turkish race live!”
According to Agos, on January 19, the 9th anniversary of Hrant Dink’s murder, the Kalfayan School in Istanbul was defaced with the words “Azap Ermeni’ye,” which translates to “Torment Armenians.”
The suspect(s) responsible for all three acts of vandalism have not yet been identified.
“We are seeing that a systematic hatred for Armenia is getting worse and worse every day,” Nor Zartonk, an Istanbul-based human rights group wrote on Facebook. “But we’re not afraid…and we’re not going anywhere.”