American Historian Shaw Says Switzerland Is Not Civilized

Turkish Press
Published: 5/18/2005

ANKARA (AA) – Stanford Shaw, author of the “History Of the Ottoman
Empire”, described Switzerland which opened a legal procedure against
Turkish Institute of History (TTK) Chairman Prof. Dr. Yusuf Halacoglu
about his statement on allegations of so-called Armenian genocide,
as “uncivilized”.

In an interview with the A.A on Thursday, Shaw, a lecturer at the
Bilkent University in Ankara, said that accusation against Halacoglu
was violation of academic freedom and freedom of expression, adding
that it was an uncivilized manner.

Noting that it was already known that Halacoglu would explain results
of his own studies at the meeting in Zurich, Shaw said that he
considered attitude of Switzerland “dictatorial”.

An experienced historian like Halacoglu should not waste his time by
dealing with such accusations, he said and called on all historians
in Turkey to send letters of protest to Swiss authorities.

Recalling that some groups including Greek Cypriots and Armenians
raided his classes of Ottoman History, Shaw said that assailants had
even tried to destroy his house in Los Angeles.

Noting that one-third of the Ottoman population had died between 1911
and 1923 due to several reasons such as mass murders, starvation and
diseases, Shaw said that British naval forces had prevented dispatch
of foodstuffs to Anatolia.

If we are talking about a genocide, it was Britain, Russia and France
who committed this crime by trying to occupy the Ottoman Empire,
Shaw added.