Zaman Online, Turkey
May 13 2005
US Historian Blames Swiss for ‘Uncivilized Attitude’
By aa
Published: Friday 13, 2005
zaman.com
Stanford Shaw an American history Professor on the Ottomans has
claimed Switzerland, which has launched an investigation into the
Turkish Institute of History (TTK) President Professor Yusuf
Halacoglu, has acted like a “dictator” and noted, “This is an
uncivilized attitude.”
The Professor says this amounts to the statement, “If you don’t reach
the conclusions that we want, you can’t explain your research
results,” and called on all historians to come together and send a
letter of protest to the Swiss President about the issue. Shaw
explained that because he teaches Ottoman history, some groups
including Greeks and Armenians have disrupted his classes at the
University of California and have attempted to bomb his house and
attack his students and family. Professor Shaw described
Switzerland’s attitude as no different to this. The American
historian also underlined that the biggest responsibility for deaths
in the Ottoman Empire during the World War I and the War of Turkish
Independence belonged to the Britons, Russians and French who
attempted to invade the Ottoman territories.