Georgian-Armenian activist Vahagn Chakhalyan today issues a statement condemning the two year prison sentenced handed down by a Turkish court to Turkish-Armenian human rights activist and intellectual Sevan Nishanyan.

Chakhalyan, who was found guilty of illegal arms possession and sentenced to ten years in Georgia, labelled the Turkish court’s sentence “contemptible and cynical”. The court found Nishanyan guilty of illegally constructing a small hut on his property outside of Izmir.

“At the same time,” Chakhalyan wrote, “Turkish state companies are carrying out numerous illegal construction programs in the Armenian populated region of Javakhk; in particular the Kars-Akhalkalak railway, hydro power stations, and others.”

Continuing, Chakhalyan writes: “In our estimation, Nishanyan was imprisoned merely because the unwritten laws in Turkey do not allow an Armenian intellectual to have the right to free thought, especially on the eve of the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.”

Chakhalyan concludes by calling for the immediate release of Nishanyan, noting that the right of free speech and other democratic virtues are the best guarantees for peaceful harmony amongst the peoples of our region.