If the border crossing  between Armenia and Turkey is to be renamed,  it should be in honor of Hrant Dink:  International Institute for  Genocide and Human Rights 

ArmInfo. The International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights  (a division of the Zoryan Institute) expresses deep concern and disappointment regarding the recent proposal introduced in the Turkish Parliament to rename the border crossing between Turkey and Armenia after Talat Pasha, the principal architect of the Armenian Genocide.

< As Minister of the Interior of the Ottoman Empire, Talat Pasha  played a leading role in orchestrating the planned extermination of  over 1.5 million Armenians, alongside the destruction of more than  2,000 churches, the erasure of entire communities, and the forced  displacement of millions from their ancestral homeland.

Naming a place of passage and potential reconciliation after a figure  so closely associated with the organized mass killing of a people is  not only profoundly insensitive-it is an affront to the values of  human dignity, historical truth, and moral accountability. Such an  act risks legitimizing the crimes of the past, further deepening  wounds that have never fully healed.  In contrast, we urge Turkish  leaders and the broader public to consider an alternative-one rooted  in hope, truth, and shared humanity. Why not name the crossing after  a figure of conscience: Hrant Dink? Hrant Dink was a Turkish citizen  of Armenian origin who stood against ethnic violence. He was someone  who symbolized unity among Armenians, Turks, Kurds, and all peoples  of Anatolia. A name that promotes remembrance, reconciliation, and  the belief that the horrors of the past must never be repeated.

We call upon Turkish academics, civic leaders, and elected officials  to remember that progress is not made by obscuring history but by  confronting it with courage and integrity. Germany has publicly  acknowledged the crimes of the Holocaust; Canada has confronted the  truth of its actions against Indigenous peoples. It is time for  Turkey to take a similar step-to recognize the genocide against its  Armenian, Pontic Greek, Assyrian, and other minorities, which saw the  death and expulsion of over 4.5 million people from the lands they  had inhabited for millennia.  True national strength lies not in  denial but in the ability to face history honestly. We remain hopeful  that this proposal will be reconsidered in the spirit of mutual  respect, dignity, and the shared values of humanity>,  the  International Institute for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights (a  division of the Zoryan Institute) stated.