Turkish Scholars Expect Turkey To Acknowledge Genocide by 2015
Publisher, The California Courier
Nov. 10, 2005
While a few Turkish scholars on rare occasions have individually participated in Armenian conferences, never before has an all-Turkish panel addressed an Armenian audience on issues related to the Armenian Genocide. Such a unique conference took place at UCLA last Sunday.
The first indication that there were special sensitivities at this academic gathering was a sign at the UCLA campus directing the guests to the building where the conference was being held. It said: “Armenian Studies Conference.” A curious passerby, noticing that the second word, “Studies,” was handwritten on a piece of paper and taped over the sign, tore off the paper revealing that the sign originally read: “Armenian Genocide Conference.”
Prof. Richard Hovannisian, the organizer of this conference, said that he had anticipated 300 people to be in attendance. More than 800 showed up, obliging some of the speakers to repeat their remarks to the overflowing crowd at an adjacent hall. Also in attendance was a representative of the Turkish Consul General in Los Angeles, to make sure that Ankara is properly briefed on these proceedings.
The first speaker was Dr. Taner Akcam of the Dept. of History at the Univ. of Minnesota. He said that even though successive Turkish governments had “purged” the Ottoman archives of evidence linking Turkish leaders to the planning and execution of the Armenian Genocide, there are still many Ottoman records that provide ample circumstantial proof of this crime.
Dr. Akcam quoted from several documents located in the Prime Ministry’s
archives that clearly showed the government’s detailed plans to deport
Armenians not just from Anatolia, but from throughout what is today
Turkey.
Contrary to Turkish claims that Armenians were merely deported from the
border area with Russia, Prof. Akcam presented evidence that 30,000
Armenians were deported form Istanbul alone and thousands more from
other
towns hundreds of miles away from the war zone.
Dr. Akcam revealed that these deportations were pre-planned with the
intent
of immediately repopulating the Armenian regions with Muslim immigrants
in
order to create a “pure Turkish/Islamic state.” He pointed out that
when the
Armenian population of a particular region was reduced to below 10%,
the
local officials were ordered to stop any further deportations and
killings
from that area.
Regarding the confiscation of the properties of deported Armenians, Dr.
Akcam said that despite the government’s public announcements at the
time
that they were entitled to compensation, not a single Armenian received
such
payments. Some of the Armenian properties were given to Muslim
immigrants.
Other Armenian assets were sold in order to finance the Turkish war
effort,
pay the expenses of the Armenian deportations, or build schools and
prisons.
Dr. Akcam ended his talk by predicting that the Turkish government
would
recognize the Armenian Genocide by the year 2015, the same year as
Turkey’s
hoped-for membership in the European Union.
The second speaker was Dr. Elif Shafak of the Dept. of Near Eastern
Studies
at the Univ. of Arizona. She emphasized the value of “micro-studies” in
putting a face and a name on the victims of atrocities. She said that
for
today’s Turkish youth, history starts with the year 1923 -- the
establishment of the Republic of Turkey, whereas Armenian youth have a
much
longer historical memory. She referred extensively to the life and
writings
of Zabel Yessayan -- an Istanbul novelist at the turn of the last
century --
who documented the personal suffering of Armenians during both the 1909
Adana massacres and the subsequent Genocide.
Dr. Shafak said she wanted to see a democratic Turkey. “We need to face
our
past,” she told the audience. “Turkey had transitioned from a
multi-ethnic
empire to a homogeneous state,” Prof. Shafak said. Turkey has undergone
not
only “an ethnic cleansing, but also a linguistic cleansing.”
The final speaker was Dr. Fatma Muge Gocek of the Dept. of Sociology
and
Program of Women’s Studies at the Univ. of Michigan. She related the
twists
and turns of the conference on Ottoman Armenians that was finally held
in
Istanbul last September after several postponements.
According to Prof. Gocek, some of the Turks attending the Istanbul
conference revealed that they were the grandchildren of Armenians
abducted
or sheltered by Turks during the Genocide. She stunned the audience by
estimating that there may be up to 2 million Turks who are partly of
Armenian ancestry!
She also expressed the hope that by the year 2015 Turkey would
recognize the
Armenian Genocide. “Armenians have been wronged, but have not been able
to
mourn their losses, because of the Turkish denials,” she said. Dr.
Gocek
concluded by advocating that Armenians be given Turkish citizenship and
the
right of return. She said that Turkey was “the common homeland of both
Armenians and Turks.”
During the question and answer period, Dr. Akcam explained that in
terms of
next steps, Turkey could either just apologize or go as far as paying
compensation and making restitution for the Genocide. He said that
there was
a wide range of possibilities between these two options. He
acknowledged
that this was more of a political rather than an academic issue. He
concluded by saying: had Turkey acknowledged the Armenian Genocide in
the
1920’s, other human rights violations may not have taken place later on
in
that country!
This was a fascinating conference for the local Armenian community. Many of them had never before heard Turks talking about issues related to the Armenian Genocide. All three speakers were repeatedly interrupted with enthusiastic applause.
Prof. Hovannisian thanked the Turkish scholars for their participation and promised to the audience that a future conference would deal with the issues of reparations and territorial demands from Turkey.
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