ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
Today is Tuesday, March 22 2005 12:34 pm GMT+2 updated at 12:00 P.M.
US historian rejects Armenian genocide claims
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
There was a war in Eastern Anatolia during the World War 1, towards the
end of the late Ottoman Empire, not a genocide campaign against Armenians
living in the region, a renowned U.S. historian said yesterday.
Professor Justin McCarthy, who came for a several-day visit to Turkey at
the invitation of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told
reporters that the Ottoman Empire was reacting to a group of people
revolting against the government, when asked to comment on the events of
1915, which Armenians allege amounted to genocide against their ancestors.
Turkey categorically rejects charges of genocide, saying the killings came
as the Ottoman Empire tried to quell civil unrest sparked by an Armenian
revolt in hope of getting an independent state in Eastern Anatolia with
support from Russia.
Armenians; however, have stepped up a campaign for international
recognition for their claims as the 90th anniversary of the alleged genocide
on April 24 is approaching.
Deniz Baykal, chairman of the CHP, said McCarthy’s thesis should not be
confined to a restricted academic circle but get widespread public
attention.
“This is of great importance. We believe this way we will have the chance
to correct a grave deception,” Baykal said and added: “We want to make sure
the debate (on the alleged genocide) will shift away from a political
framework to a scientific one based on historical documents.”
The CHP recently received backing from the governing Justice and
Development Party (AKP) for its call on all the countries concerned to open
national archives to researchers so that authenticity of the Armenian claims
could be judged. The party calls for a joint Turkish-Armenian study of
archives and says an international organization, such as UNESCO, could
supervise whether the investigation is carried out in a scientific manner.
McCarthy, a historian and an expert on Ottoman history, teaches at the
University of Louisville in Kentucky.