National heroine of Turkey, combat pilot Sabiha Gokcen is Armenian by birth. Yesterday BBC News reported the version, noting that according to some suppositions, Sabiha’s father was most probably Armenian killed in the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey in 1915. The newspaper writes that in 1925 the 12-year-old Sabiha Gokcen was adopted by founder of the Turkish state Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Later Gokcen became first female to be at the wheel. She participated in the bombarding of Dersim town in eastern Kurdistan. The image of Sabiha was considered to be a standard of progressive Turkish woman: her biography was taught at schools. She died three years ago and was buried with honors. As written by BBC News, rumors on Armenian origins of Sabiha Gokcen have caused a surge of dissatisfaction in Turkey. The general staff of the Armed Forces responded especially aggressively, stating such disputes are sneering at national values and relics. As noted by the newspaper, in spite of the recently developed legislation aiming at optimization of the status of ethnic minorities in Turkey, the case illustrates the heightened sensitivity and morbid attitude many people still have, especially in army, towards the issues of Turkish nationalism and ethnic identification.
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