08.12.2021


Ali Ertem, a Turkish intellectual and founder and chairman of the “Union Against Genocide” (Soykırım Karşıtları Derneği), who was active in the struggle for the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide for nearly two decades, died on December 2 in Frankfurt, Germany.

Ali Ertem founded the organization in 1998, visiting Armenia for the first time in that same year to pay tribute to the memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide.

He would visit Yerevan on April 24 almost every year to lay a wreath on behalf of the union members at the memorial to the victims of the Armenian Genocide. The last time he came to Armenia, with his children, was in 2019.

Ali Ertem was born in Ankara but lived in Germany for more than 30 years. He was an engineer by profession and one of the few Turkish figures who spoke out, not only about the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, but also about the need for compensation.

He led a group of Turkish public figures who arrived in Armenia in 2015 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. He also visited Artsakh to attend a commemoration ceremony for the victims of the Armenian Genocide at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Stepanakert.

He also responded to the recent Artsakh war, saying, in particular: “Stop the offensive war waged by the genocidal Turkish state and its accomplice, the oligarchy of fascist Azerbaijan, which has targeted the Armenian people and the Republic of Artsakh, immediately.”

We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Ali Ertem on his untimely death.