Interviewed by Turkish writer, publicist, public figure HASAN BURGUJUOGLU . (Translated from Armenian)

– Please tell me your biography where you were born, but first, if you translate, what does your last name mean?
“Hayern Aysor” means a tool called a pyramid. My name means tool making and updating. I was born in 1956. in the western Black Sea region of Barton. My two daughters were merchants of wooden items. My mother was a housewife. My father had a small sewing workshop where he sewed clothes on demand. She went to another town twice a week to sell her and her friend’s tailor’s clothes. After 7 years of primary school, I attended a boarding school in Kastamoli. Then I studied at the University Mathematics Department and worked as a math teacher, doing what I did before I finished.
I have great love for literature. Rational thinking, of course, comes from mathematics. Mathematics has a great role in my life, but I love literature as a writer.

– Do you love literature? What is the last book you read?
– I have the habit to read a few books at once. The last one to mention is the “Remembrances” by Mehmet Füat. Mehmet Fuat is the son of Nazım Hikmet. Nazmie Hikmet had several marriages, and Mehmet Fuat was his wife’s son, but he loved Nazem Hikmet more than his father, and his memories are about him representing his father with the child’s eyes. The other is Diyarbakir’s Kurdish writer Şeyhmus Dicken’s book, Diyarbakir, Oktay Vad.

– Reading a book is a happiness. It enriches the essence of a human being.
-Yes, of course, but the books are also bad. Most of the books I read are deeply thought-provoking, but I can not imagine my life without books.

– When and why you left Turkey?
-1984 Because of my trials and political persecution, I was forced to leave my country alone in my clothes to find a political refuge in Germany.

– It was easy to get used to getting used to the new habitats.
A year ago, I studied German diligently and started to pursue politics. which was conditioned by military coup in Turkey on September 12.

– When and why, what impetus did you push to deal with the Armenian issue?
“First, I would like to mention a story about my family. It’s the first time I tell the reporter about it. The reason is your sincere interest. My older uncle lived in Istanbul. She was not in our village, we did not know her. The woman died, and her deaf and dumb children lived with us. My uncle married and began to send us greetings cards to every goodwoman, which is not a common practice for Turks, a European custom. And they told me that my uncle married a Armenian woman and sent him a postcard. I was twelve years old and my uncle died. I did not see him at all. Then I went to study at Ankara University and when I finished, I lived in Istanbul. I have been subjected to political persecutions. When I was small, the answers to my postcards from Istanbul were written to me. I knew the address of my uncle’s home memorized. I found them at Gumugui’s home. When I asked the people, it turned out they were neighbors, they called and called. And Huri, the name of my uncle’s wife, opened the door to me. She was already an old woman. My father had a great respect for that woman.

Unlike other families, the fact that being an Armenian was like state secrets, my dad said, “That woman is Armenian, we have to love and respect her.” That is to say, from the childhood I had a good attitude toward Armenians. Most probably, Huri was an orphaned child and was able to live in Islam. He never spoke about it. When we met, he said that he regularly attended an Armenian church. Thankfully, I would ask him: “Why did you change your name?” However, the important thing was that we had a Christian Armenian relative since childhood and it was deeply impressed in our inner world.

This is my personal motivation to deal with the Armenian issue. Now about the political side. As you know, from 1970 to 1980, ASALA began a military campaign. The operation in Turkey was a great shock for everyone. Nationalism wave. Even being a left-wing Democrat, I was unaware of the problem. 1980 In July, the organization, which I was a member, convened a congress, and as a representative of the youth department, I attended the congress. He also participated in an Assyrian from Germany. It was he who introduced us to the topic of the Armenian Genocide, saying that the Assyrians also suffered at that time. After that, our organization raised the issue of the Armenian Genocide and considered it a big mistake. So, in the 1980s, In July, our left-wing faction was informed about the incident. I began to inquire in that direction, read books, and what did I get until Ragib Zarakolu’s books were printed? 1984 leaving for Germany, I began studying the local archives.

Our fellow explorer, Rejeb Marashli, has published a book on how the left-wing movement in Turkey, when and how he began to be interested in 1915. There is a truth about what I have said. For the first time in 2009, I had a few lectures on April 24. We invited Rejeb Marashli and a friend from Hamburg, who for the first time had been in prison with Daghan Aslan, a Turkish writer of the Armenian Genocide. Then there was a Assyrian friend. Since 2009, we have been giving lectures on Armenian Genocide or Armenians several times a year, and organizing meetings. Last week, for example, before we arrived in Yerevan, we organized an event dedicated to Hrant Dink, with Hamburg friends of our organization, who attended the deputy mayor of Hamburg, former editor of Agos, Aris Naljin, who escaped persecution and lived in Belgium with the international Amnesty International former Bundestag deputy from Germany.
Now I’ll give you one question for yourself why we organize these meetings for what purpose. Answer: ten years ago, my dear Turkish friend was visiting my home. During that conversation, my dear friend suddenly said: “The recognition of the Armenian Genocide is a pretext to shed money from Turkey.” And our conversation turned into a sharp dispute. I told him. “While Turkey has not officially recognized the genocide, you are already discussing whether to have a demand or not. You are not on the left, why are you interested in what Armenians will demand? If my closest friend thinks so, then I have to do it. “ Starting in 2009, I started to work for the Turks to cover the issue. Duduk player Suren Asatryan twice participated in my events. Duduk is also a means to bring the story to the hearts of people.

– What is the name of your close friend you argued with?
– I will not call the name. He is a member of the German left-wing party, a member of the party’s deputy, a member of the City Hall’s Art and Culture Committee.

– Is your fifth visit to Armenia?
– Fourth: For the first time, I came to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and then to 2016. Every year in May I come because I am a teacher and I do not have a day off on April 24. It has been 26 years since I am teaching.

“Hayern Aysor”: What does the Armenian mean to you? How do you feel in Armenia?
– If I’m honest, in the world I feel better than I am in Armenia. 2016 I was not taking my sleep in Yerevan. At about nine o’clock in the morning, I pushed my head out and began to walk around empty streets … and I did not see any strange thing. It was a great idea. I am Turkish, walking on the Armenian street, not my fate, I am an independent democracy and I am not disturbed, do not threaten anything that I can not say for Germany and Turkey. There is a problem in Europe, in America, too. As a Turk, I consider Armenia to be the safest country I have. And I hope it will remain the same.
I have to say something else that I have been fond of. The Yerevan project is very interesting, the green is a lot that is already lost in Europe. Yerevan is a city of art, culture, culture, and I will not say it, it is striking everywhere. Yerevan is filled with art. It’s been four years that I come to Armenia and feel a great change on my mind, my mind. Before I was tense.
– What would you add to the end of our conversation?
– Dink said, “The Armenian is a Turkish doctor, the Turks, the Armenian Doctor.” And only the confrontation will bring Turkey face to face. We must recognize that we are sick. The Armenian should be a Turkish doctor, a Turk, an Armenian.

Interviewed by Aspram TSARUKYAN