Military holds official funeral for fallen soldier at church

28 April 2011, Thursday / TODAY'S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL

Archbishop Tatul Anuşyan and a mourning relative by the coffin of Sevag Şahin Balıkçı.

A 25-year-old soldier who was killed accidentally at an outpost in Kozluk, Batman province, during his military service was laid to rest on Wednesday in a rare military ceremony held at a church. Pvt. Sevag Şahin Balıkçı, who died on Sunday when, according to official reports, his friend’s rifle accidentally discharged, was laid to rest after a ceremony held at the Surp Vartanants Armenian Church in İstanbul’s Feriköy neighborhood. The official report says the two soldiers were “joking around” with their rifles during the accident. Balıkçı’s family says it believes the official statement, but Balıkçı’s fiancée, Melani Kumruyan, says she has doubts about the official version.

Balıkçı’s coffin, draped in a Turkish flag, was taken to Surp Vartanants Church on Wednesday evening in the presence of a tearful crowd. In addition to family members, relatives and friends of the slain soldier, a large number of representatives of Turkey’s Armenian community, Gendarmerie Regional Commander Gen. İbrahim Yaşar, State Minister Egemen Bağış, 3rd Army Corps Commander Gen. Hulusi Akar, Şişli Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül, Adalar Mayor Mustafa Farsakoğlu and the wife and brother of slain Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, Rakel Dink and Orhan Dink, also attended the funeral. The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) sent four wreaths to the church. Archbishop Tatul Anuşyan in his speech said the soldier had “risen to God on the day of resurrection.” Balıkçı died on Easter Sunday, April 24 -- the day Armenians mark as the anniversary of Armenians being killed at the hand of the Ottomans in 1915. This was initially a source of controversy, but the Balıkçı family said it had no doubts that it was an accident and referred to the date of their son’s death as an “odd coincidence.” http://www.todayszaman.com/news-242319-military-holds-official-funeral-for-fallen-soldier-at-church.html

Fiancee says Armenian soldier’s death suspicious

27 April 2011, Wednesday / TODAY'S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL Melani Kumruyan The tragic death of an Armenian Turkish private serving in the military on April 24 -- the day the Armenian diaspora marks as the anniversary of Armenians being killed at the hand of Ottomans in 1915 -- could not have been an accident, as was officially claimed, the young man's fiancée has said. Pvt. Sevag Şahin Balıkçı (25) died on Sunday when, according to official reports, his friend's rifle accidentally discharged. The military said the two boys were “joking around” with their rifles before the accident. Balıkçı's family said they believed the official statement, saying it was only a strange coincidence that their son died on April 24, which was also Easter Sunday. However, his fiancée, Melani Kumruyan, does not believe that Balıkçı's death was accidental. In statements made to various Turkish newspapers yesterday, she said: “An investigation into this is under way. I want the truth to come out as soon as possible. I don't think it happened when they were joking around. I knew Sevag really well. He was not someone who would joke around with guns.” Kumruyan and Balıkçı, who both lived in the Kurtuluş neighborhood of İstanbul, met when they were 17 and got engaged with the blessing of both families two years ago. Kumruyan says Balıkçı sent her a text message every morning. She shared his last message with the Radikal daily, sent at 7:30 a.m. on April 24. The intimate message says, “Parluys (Good Morning) my daisy-smelling angel. You never left me alone. Your clean heart is more important to me than anything else. I found happiness and love in you. I've never loved anything in my life as much as I love you.” “They say it happened around 8 a.m. I woke up around 9 that morning. He had sent me wonderful messages of love around 7:30, like he always does. I can't express the immenseness of the pain. There were only three weeks left for him to come home,” Kumruyan continued. The Sabah daily quoted her as saying: “I don't believe that it was an accident at all. The senior sergeant had beaten him up over a lost 50 lira bill.” Although Kumruyan is skeptical, Balıkçı's mother, Ani Balıkçı, a retired pre-school teacher, says she believes the military's statement. “We don't know yet whether it was an accident or not. We will go to the scene of the event on Sunday with our lawyer and talk to the officials there. The report we'll get will clarify everything. I am reading various statements on the Internet from people who are discussing the incident, whether they know about it or not. The private who shot my son was his closest friend. I'd sent Easter cookies to the unit one day before. The incident doesn't have anything to do with April 24 or genocide. I am not afraid of anything. I lost my son, what can I be afraid of? The commanders and majors also visited our house. They are as devastated as we are,” she said. The Gendarmerie General Command has announced that they invited the Balıkçı family to the outpost where the shooting happened. The family will be guests at the outpost during the examination of the site. Meanwhile, the Kozluk Criminal Court of Peace released the private who shot Balıkçı pending trial. The court said it didn't see any premeditation or deliberate act in the accident. However, the Kozluk Prosecutor's Office has criticized the release of the private -- whose name was not disclosed -- and filed for his arrest.

Questions linger as Armenian-Turkish solider receives final rites

Questions linger as Armenian-Turkish soldier receives final rites

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

DAILY NEWS photo, Hasan ALTINIŞIK

Mourners at the Istanbul funeral of a Turkish soldier of Armenian descent called Wednesday for further investigation into his death while performing his military service in the southeastern province of Batman.

Sevag Şahin Balıkçı, who was killed in an alleged accident April 24, was buried in the Armenian Cemetery in Istanbul’s Şişli district following rituals conducted at the Surp Vartananzs Armenian Church in the Feriköy neighborhood. A military ceremony for the dead solider was conducted Monday.

“Every boy wants a toy gun, but Sevag had never touched a gun [in his life], even for a single day,” Ani Balıkçı, the soldier’s mother, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, adding that she had spoken to him on the phone the day before Easter, April 24, and sent him Easter “çöreks,” a sweet Turkish bread that he liked.

“He shared his çöreks with his friends in the unit. The soldier who accidentally killed him was his closest friend,” Balıkçı said. “I just want to ask the officials why no measures were taken to prevent such an accident.”

Sevag Şahin Balıkçı, 25, was allegedly killed by a stray bullet while one of his friends was joking around with a rifle.

Speculation within the Armenian community has centered around the fact that Balıkçı’s death coincided with the date when some countries commemorate the alleged Armenian genocide in the last days of the Ottoman Empire.

Many of Turkey’s Armenians believe the accident occurred under dubious circumstances, despite Ani Balıkçı’s comments urging people not to create a link between her son’s death and the events of 1915.

“The fact that the accident coincides with April 24 is highly dubious. This issue must be thoroughly investigated... The family perhaps is afraid of expressing their anxiety because they hesitate, but we are waiting for an answer,” said Mari Yalınbaş, one of the attendants at the church funeral.

Raffi H. Araks, the deputy mayor of the Princes’ Islands in the Marmara Sea, said he believes Balıkçı’s death was an accident, arguing that the soldier who died could have been of Turkish, and not of Armenian origin. “Of course, a proper investigation needs to be conducted in order to remove all doubt, but as the family’s statement also shows [this incident] was accidental,” Araks said.

Balıkçı’s coffin was covered with a Turkish flag as he had died while performing his service in the Turkish military, and a cross-shaped wreath was placed on the flag.

The funeral was attended by State Minister and chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağış, several high-ranking officers representing the Turkish General Staff, the religious leaders of several minority communities and churches, Şişli Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül and Deputy Mayor Vasgen Barın, Princes’ Islands Mayor Mustafa Farsakoğlu, as well as Araks.

Wreaths sent by Turkish General Staff and the Office of the Commander in Chief were placed both inside and outside the church. During the funeral, which was attended by hundreds of people, Muslims and members of the Armenian community prayed together for Balıkçı.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=armenian-soldier-given-his-final-dues-with-question-marks-left-behind-2011-04-27