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NEW DETAILS ABOUT CITIZENS APPREHENDED IN TURKEY. "IT WAS AN ATMOSPHERE OF FEAR."
August 13 2013
Armen Martirosyan, director of "Antares" Holding told new details to
Aravot.am regarding being apprehended by police in Turkish two days
ago. He and 3 other civilians from Armenia were taken to the police
station for taking a video and photo of the city of Van. "Last year,
we knew that there was an earthquake in Van, and when we saw the
empty domiks (translator's note: little house) in the territory,
we were surprised at what a short period of time, Turkey was able to
resettle homeless citizens. I wanted to take a photo of the new houses,
and we thought that what we are taking, are newly build buildings,
it turned out that they were painted a month ago. When Mher Arshakyan
was taking pictures, a red car drove close, a man came out of the car,
showed police certificate, ordered not to move, and asked why we were
taking photos. We have said that you could recover the disaster area
only in a few months, and we wanted to show that we cannot recover
Gyumri during 25 years. The police officer immediately called the
police, half an hour later, people from the department fighting against
terrorism came by the car, on which they are probably transporting
terrorists, started to search us as if we were terrorists. Then some
more people came from the police, from the military police. We were
taken to the Gendarmerie. Before taking u there, we did not know
what will happen whether we are searched, and there is something
that has appeared in our bag. It was an atmosphere of fear, and we
did not know what was going on and why they were searching for,
because photo and video taking was not banned anywhere,"-told
Mr. Martirosyan. According to him, they could only read the word
terrorist on the cars, and in Gendarmerie they glanced at the word
captive. "We saw representatives of different nations arrested. We were
told that we were arrested, but they are checking up. It is not that
they offended us at the Gendarmerie, besides waiting in the sun for
4 hours, and a number of searches. Here, they took our cell phones,
computers, IPads, passports, everything. But there was a respectful
attitude towards us, they treated us to tea, continuously talked to us,
asking various questions, including questions that had no connection
with the problem. For example, they were asking how much salary a
police officer in Armenia receives. Our friends were asked how much
their salary is. I was not asked such questions, I was telling about
Erebuni museum, Urartu period, they were discussing historical issues
with me, or asking what Antares is, what books I have published." Mr.
Martirosyan said that later, according to the procedures, they
were taken to the hospital for a medical examination to establish
whether they suffered injuries in the meantime. And on the way, when
the citizens of Armenia demanded passports, it turned out that the
police officers had left them behind at the Gendarmerie. Later, the
passports and searched items taken from them were returned unscathed,
and the police officers took us to Van and allowed taking photos.
Arpine SIMONYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/08/13/155974/
August 13 2013
Armen Martirosyan, director of "Antares" Holding told new details to
Aravot.am regarding being apprehended by police in Turkish two days
ago. He and 3 other civilians from Armenia were taken to the police
station for taking a video and photo of the city of Van. "Last year,
we knew that there was an earthquake in Van, and when we saw the
empty domiks (translator's note: little house) in the territory,
we were surprised at what a short period of time, Turkey was able to
resettle homeless citizens. I wanted to take a photo of the new houses,
and we thought that what we are taking, are newly build buildings,
it turned out that they were painted a month ago. When Mher Arshakyan
was taking pictures, a red car drove close, a man came out of the car,
showed police certificate, ordered not to move, and asked why we were
taking photos. We have said that you could recover the disaster area
only in a few months, and we wanted to show that we cannot recover
Gyumri during 25 years. The police officer immediately called the
police, half an hour later, people from the department fighting against
terrorism came by the car, on which they are probably transporting
terrorists, started to search us as if we were terrorists. Then some
more people came from the police, from the military police. We were
taken to the Gendarmerie. Before taking u there, we did not know
what will happen whether we are searched, and there is something
that has appeared in our bag. It was an atmosphere of fear, and we
did not know what was going on and why they were searching for,
because photo and video taking was not banned anywhere,"-told
Mr. Martirosyan. According to him, they could only read the word
terrorist on the cars, and in Gendarmerie they glanced at the word
captive. "We saw representatives of different nations arrested. We were
told that we were arrested, but they are checking up. It is not that
they offended us at the Gendarmerie, besides waiting in the sun for
4 hours, and a number of searches. Here, they took our cell phones,
computers, IPads, passports, everything. But there was a respectful
attitude towards us, they treated us to tea, continuously talked to us,
asking various questions, including questions that had no connection
with the problem. For example, they were asking how much salary a
police officer in Armenia receives. Our friends were asked how much
their salary is. I was not asked such questions, I was telling about
Erebuni museum, Urartu period, they were discussing historical issues
with me, or asking what Antares is, what books I have published." Mr.
Martirosyan said that later, according to the procedures, they
were taken to the hospital for a medical examination to establish
whether they suffered injuries in the meantime. And on the way, when
the citizens of Armenia demanded passports, it turned out that the
police officers had left them behind at the Gendarmerie. Later, the
passports and searched items taken from them were returned unscathed,
and the police officers took us to Van and allowed taking photos.
Arpine SIMONYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/08/13/155974/