TURKISH-ARMENIAN CONCERT CANCELED DUE TO THREATS

The Brown Daily (BD) Herald reported that ASA and the Turkish Cultural Society (TCS) organized the concert, titled "The Armenian Composers of the Ottoman Period," to promote dialogue between their communities.

The concert was dedicated to Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist who was assassinated in January outside his newspaper office by ultra-nationalists for his articles about calling the mass killings of Armenians by Turks in 1915 as genocide.

A member of TCS, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation, stated that the groups started talking about co-sponsoring the event roughly six months ago after members of TCS wrote a column in The BD Herald that touched on historical relations between Turks and Armenians. The two groups then began discussing the need for joint events to encourage conversation, according to the TCS member.

Stating in a letter to the daily that the Armenian musicians and the president of the ASA did their best to resist the "warning messages" they received, the TCS member said, "The situation got serious and the musicians, followed by the ASA, withdrew from the event. The musicians and the ASA are now in a very difficult position against some parts of their community," reported The BD Herald.

Ruben Izmailyan, president of the ASA, said he was disappointed that the event was canceled but declined to comment further. TCS is also "very sorry the event did not happen," the member wrote in his letter to the BD Herald.

"For people who had issues, I think that the appropriate response was not to attend, instead of forcing it to cancel. I think this was an honest effort on both sides aiming at nothing but to enjoy common music and food and make friends regardless of views on the past," the TCS member said.

"TCS will continue to look into ways to create this dialogue," the TCS member stated, according to the BD Herald.

TCS members have a wide range of views about Armenian-Turkish relations, the member wrote, but they agree that a healthy, constructive dialogue is needed for a solution.