Dealing with Turkish bureaucracy and laws surrounding ethnic minorities like Armenians is easy compared to the psychological impact of the mercurial hostility of the Turkish press.
This view, expressed in different words by dozens of Armenians interviewed recently in Istanbul, reflects the sometimes uncomfortable atmosphere surrounding Turkey's estimated 60,000 Armenians.
"It gets bad every time the Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh make advances on the ground. It was terrible when Armenian forces captured Khojali and later Kelbajar and Agdam. Imagine opening the morning newspapers and seeing anti-Armenian headlines. Your neighbors in the bazaar, at home or in the office are also reading the same newspapers, and given the hostile tone of some of the articles, you feel very uncomfortable despite the fact that they are not specifically aimed against the Armenian minority in Istanbul, but rather, the Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh, Armenia or even the Diaspora at large," said an Armenian merchant.
"We have learned to deal and work with some of the restrictive laws effecting our day-to-day life, but the press can be frightening. The Turkish media not only manipulates, but at times even controls Turkish public opinion.
One such recent case was a report in July about the "discovery" by Turkish archaeologists of a "mass grave" in eastern Turkey containing the remains of hundreds of Turks "massacred by Armenians in 1915-16". The only "proof" presented by the archaeologists who "discovered" the site was "prayer beads" often used by Moslems.
That same week, a leading Turkish columnist for the Hurriyet newspaper used a Kurdish guerrilla attack in the central Turkish town of Erzinjan to all but blame the Armenians for "their expulsion from Anatolia".
"What happened in Erzinjan resembles what the Armenians did in 1915-16. Armenians in the same regions carried out similar military activities on (Turkish) villages, killing people in front of mosques to force the local (Turkish and Kurdish) population out," the columnist Ertughrolu Euzkeuk wrote. It was "such acts" that eventually became "the justification for the expulsion of Armenians from Anatolia," the editorial concluded.
Hurriyet is Turkey's second largest newspapers with a national circulation of more than 620,000. Its editorials are not of the category that can be brushed aside as tabloid journalism which is often harmless and even amusing when confined to scandals, oddities and gossip.
"We get uncomfortable every time the Turkish press snipes at Armenians. There are many elements of Turkish law with which we are uncomfortable too, but these are government laws which at least we have the right to appeal and hope to change. It is a different story with the media which is often unpredictable, spiteful and out-right anti-Armenian," an Armenian writer told me.
"Despite all the anti-Armenian remarks which we read in the Turkish press, we have not seen anything critical of President Levon Ter Petrossian, On one or two occasions, Mr. Ter Petrossian has even been praised as a moderate," he said.
But how far can the Turkish press go on Armenian matters. Does it get influenced as much as it influences public opinion?
There are no clear answers, but according to a cross-section of Turkish intellectuals, politicians and journalists the de-facto guidelines of a generation-old anti-Armenianism has trapped both the media and various administrations in their own cocoons.
"There are some things which are taboo and have always been that way. The list is not very long but both the Kurdish and Armenian questions are very high on that list," a Turkish human rights activist said in an interview.
"Privately, many people agree that these two questions have to be resolved before this country can move ahead. Turkey can move a lot faster on these two fronts if it frees itself from the effective grip of the military, but at the moment this is not possible because the military is Turkey's only defense against the spread of Moslem fundamentalism - this nation's nightmare," he said.
"The press is not bold enough when it comes to these sensitive issues. Sometimes I am not sure whether it is shaping public opinion or when it is a victim of mass hysteria and ignorance. It is a vicious circle," he added.
While there is no official censorship in Turkey, the press is often "slapped on the wrists" for remarks "harmful to national security."
The media - both government and private - operates under the watchful eye of the Directorate General of Press and Information (DGPI), which was established on June 7, 1920 during the 25th session of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Ostensibly created to gather information about Turkey from the foreign press, it also contributes to the formation of laws concerning the press.
In 1981 the DGPI was affiliated to the Prime Minister's office, and its organizational structure and functions revised. Currently, its main function is to follow both the Turkish and foreign press and provide the state with details and up to date information on national and international developments.
Aware of the major influence the press has on public opinion, the government is sometimes seen as compromising certain principles to avoid antagonism. "In Turkey, the press gets away with a lot more than anywhere else I know," a Western diplomat told visiting journalists in Ankara recently.
Freedom of the press is important for a democracy, but irresponsible journalism can be very destructive and damaging.
There are seven national newspapers with circulations between 730,000 to 65,000 and 700 regional and local newspapers with circulations of anywhere between 10,000 and 500. Most of these thrive on sensationalism, and at any given time influence and respond to public opinion.
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