Turkish Leader Calls for Study of Genocide Debate

Erdogan seeks review of archives amid challenges to the nation’s
official denial of blame in the deaths of Armenians during and after WWI

THE WORLD

Los Angeles Times
March 9, 2005

By Amberin Zaman, Special to The Times

ANKARA, Turkey ~W Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday called
for an impartial study by historians of claims that more than a million
Armenians were slaughtered by Turkish troops in a genocide during and
after World War I.

The statement was widely seen here as a symbolic if small step by Turkey
to address the issue after decades of denial.

“We have opened our official archives to those people who claim there
was genocide,” the Turkish leader said at a news conference here. “If
they are sincere, they too should open their archives.”

Erdogan was referring to archives in Germany, Turkey’s wartime ally, and
in Britain and France, whose forces occupied parts of Turkey after the
collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the war. Troops from all
three nations could have witnessed what happened between the Turks and
the Armenians.

“Teams of historians from both sides should conduct studies in these
archives,” Erdogan said of the Turks and Armenians. “We do not want
future generations to live under the shadow of continued hatred and
resentment.”

Armenians say 1.5 million of their people perished between 1915 and 1923
in a genocide perpetrated by Ottoman Turks. Millions of Armenians
worldwide are set to mark the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the
violence on April 24.

Turkey has countered that several hundred thousand Armenians died of
starvation and exposure during forced deportations after they
collaborated with invading Russian forces in eastern Turkey.

But a small, vocal group of Turkish intellectuals has begun to challenge
the official version of events, saying genocide did take place under the
orders of ultranationalist military officers who led the country at the
time. That view has touched off heated debate throughout Turkey.

Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, whose recent novel, “Snow,” has made
bestseller lists in the United States, was labeled a traitor here and
faced death threats after telling a German newspaper last month that “a
million Armenians were killed in Turkey.”

Erdogan’s appeal for an unbiased investigation was issued jointly with
Deniz Baykal, the leader of the opposition Republican People’s Party,
and it reflects growing concern about the issue after calls came from
within the European Union for Turkey to acknowledge that genocide
occurred. Some EU members have gone so far as to suggest that such
recognition should be a condition for Turkey’s entry into the European
alliance.

The parliaments of Canada, France and Switzerland have approved
resolutions stating the Armenians were victims of genocide. Similar
measures proposed by members of the U.S. Congress have been quashed by
successive Republican and Democratic administrations wary of alienating
Turkey, an important North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally.

“It is encouraging that the government is finally willing to talk about
the Armenian issue,” said Hrant Dink, publisher of the Armenian-language
newspaper Agos.

“And if they are truly sincere, they must bear the consequences of what
historians uncover ~W face up to the horrors of the past.”

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