Fikret Adanir

Fikret Adanir is a professor of Faculty of History in German Ruhr University.

He participated in the Conference entitled The Armenians during the Collapse of the Ottoman Empire that was held at Istanbul's Bogazici University in September 2005.

During the conference, Professor Fikret Adanir said, a Turkish government may have to accept genocide accusation one day due to impositions. This may please some circles. But, I don't think a concession made as a result of such impositions will be beneficial for the future of Turkish-Armenian relations.

Adanir also said that he was using the expression 'Armenian Genocide' in his academic works, and added, the dimension of the 1915-16 relocation is far beyond than mass killings. A whole nation, regardless of whether they were women, men, elderly or children, were relocated and died on the roads. Their properties were seized, while those who survived this incident were not allowed to return. There was an Armenian nationalism and a project to establish an Armenian state. Majority of the Ottoman Armenians might have sympathy towards the enemies of the state (Ottoman Empire) those days. But, all these cannot compensate the tragedy which was intentionally caused by the Ottoman government and which it (the empire) ignored.

On the other hand, associate professor Oktay Ozel of Bilkent University said that days between the War of 93 and 1923 was a period of tension and clashes. At the end of this period, the Black Sea region was purified from non-Muslim population.

And associate professor Halil Berktay of Sabanci University said that the word genocide should be left aside, and noted that everybody should try to understand what had happened in 1915 and 1916.

Sources

• Conference On Armenians During Collapse Of Ottoman Empire, The Anatolian Times<br, September 24, 2005