In an Armenian Activist, Turkey’s Purge Victims Find a Friend, a Braveheart and a Passionate Defender
Turkey’s rapidly shifting political complexion upends century-old public perceptions among and about communities. An Armenian activist emerges as a hero for Turkey’s forgotten purge victims after her heroic battle for their cause.
As political authorities unleashed the demons of a repressive regime in the aftermath of an ill-fated coup attempt in 2016, to defend purge victims was to risk one’s professional job, security and even freedom.
Only a few people came out to defy the threat of imprisonment and social ostracization when they, with all available means at their disposal, displayed unyielding support for people who were dismissed by blanket decrees during the emergency rule and who were condemned into a protracted social death.
Natali Avazyan, with her large following on Twitter, was and is one of them. A Turkish citizen of Armenian origin, Avazyan did what many Turks or Kurds failed to do — she rose to the occasion to unflinchingly support the cause of purge victims during the most repressive episodes of the post-coup clampdown, which, even three years after the coup…
