Zaman, Turkey
May 27 2005

‘Armenian Conference Should be Held’
By Ali Halit Aslan, Anadolu News Agency (aa)
Published: Friday 27, 2005
zaman.com

The Speaker of the Turkish Parliament Bulent Arinc said that a
proposed conference on the Armenian Genocide allegations that is
opposed by the government and the opposition should go ahead.

Arinc noted that the conference should be accepted in the frame of
freedom of speech and added: “Even if I do not like it, the speeches
should not be prevented.” The Speaker contributed to the argument
about the Armenian Genocide conference to be organized in Bosphorous
University (BU) started by Minister of Justice Cemil Cicek who fumed
the other day that to hold this conference is a “stab in the back of
the Turkish people”. Arinc paying a visit to US spoke at the Center of
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank organization
in Washington. He criticized laws in France and Switzerland that ban
denial of the Genocide as being against freedoms of speech and he also
signalled to the US Congress on the genocide issue that: “ones who
produce policies for only local concerns may sometimes try to misuse
the legislative body for policy. At this point I want to note that
this puts the US Congress in a position where it feels obliged to
decide on historical issues.”

Meanwhile the university has issued a statement about the postponement
of the conference, “We are concerned that the intellectual freedom and
autonomy of a state university has been harmed by the accusations and
opinions put forth by a conference which hasn’t even occured yet. We
are letting the Turkish public know that it seems more appropriate at
this point, given the current conditions and the problems which could
arise, to postpone the conference until further notice.” The
organizers of the conference have complained of pressure and blackmail
and have pledged to hold the conference “in the near future.”