Early in the morning on 8 May 2020, a racist attempted to set fire the door of Armenian Church of Dzınunt Surp Asdvadzadzni in Bakırköy by pouring gasoline to a newspaper in his hand.
As it was learned, he made a racist statement for his attack that “Coronavirus has troubled over their head by Armenians”. There are already rumors about the person that he is mentally disordered.
Racism is not a mental illness. As one of the first claims that we always face for the attacks that were carried out against the communities which are under pressure in Turkey is “perpetrators are mentally ill”.
It is unacceptable to justify, underestimate and “tolerate” racist hate crimes with these claims.
The ongoing policy of impunity in Turkey should be discharged. The crimes which remain unpenalized encourages new hate crimes.
We demand an effective investigation against this hate crime and punishment of the racist offender.
Nor Zartonk / Նոր Զարթօնք