Ottoman Archives To Be Promoted
Turkish Press
Published: 3/25/2005
ANKARA – Prime Ministry State Archives Director General Yusuf Sarinay
said on Friday that allegations of so-called Armenian genocide were
based on subjective works and evaluations like memories instead
of scientific documents, adding, “there are tens of thousands of
documents in our archives refuting these allegations.”
Stressing that Turkey had one of the most important archives in the
world with the Ottoman heritage of 700-year rich historical archives,
Sarinay said that the Ottoman Archives would be promoted at a meeting
on March 28th.
“These archives have an authentic value about history of not only
Turks, but also Middle and Near East, Balkans, Mediterranean, Northern
Africa and Arab countries,” he said.
Noting that there were more than 100 million documents about the
Ottoman era in the archives, Sarinay said, “we are aware of that any
regional or world history written without examining those documents
would be deficient. We have opened the classified documents to use of
both Turkish and foreign researches. Our efforts have been continuing
to classify the remaining documents.”
“Also, we have started publishing catalogues of documents in
our web-page in order to provide scientific circles with some
facilities and to remove obstacles in front of information. Those
who are interested in these documents can visit our web-page:
Number of foreign scientists applying
to use the Ottoman Archives have increased in recent years. More
than 3,500 researches from 80 different countries benefited from the
archives so far,” he said.
-ALLEGATIONS OF SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE-
Noting that allegations of so-called Armenian genocide were based on
subjective works and evaluations like memories instead of scientific
documents, Sarinay said, “there are tens of thousands of documents
in our archives refuting these allegations. Some Armenian circles
have been defaming Turkish nation by bringing such allegations from
scientific grounds to political grounds in order to maintain their
baseless allegations.”
“Scientific research of our archives will put an end to such baseless
political prejudices. Otherwise, subjective approaches which are not
based on archives, the objective sources of the history, will serve
nothing, but reviving the buried enmities and hatred among nations,”
Sarinay added.