MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT AGAINST TURKISH GOVERNMENT CRACKDOWN ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CONFERENCE

WASHINGTON, MAY 30, NOYAN TAPAN. Members of Congress last week
expressed outrage and disappointment at the Turkish Government’s recent
decision to block a planned academic conference on the Armenian
Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA). The event, organized by scholars from Turkey’s Bilgi,
Bogazici and Sabanci Universities, was scheduled to take place
May 25-27th at Bosphorus University. In remarks of the House floor,
Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) commented
that the government’s forced cancellation of the conference “further
affirms the speculation that the image that the Turkish Government has
attempted to create for itself is nothing more than a desperate attempt
to create a facade. Contrary to what Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan
and other Turkish officials would have us believe, the Government of
Turkey is not democratic, is not committed to creating a democracy,
is not making an effort to create better relations with Armenia and is
definitely not ready to join the European Union.” Rep. Pallone went on
to explain that the U.S. “cannot sit by and allow any nation that we
consider an ally and a nation that is desperately seeking admission
into the European Union to behave in such a manner. To bring this
development into perspective, consider that according to current law
in Turkey, dozens of U.S. Senators and hundreds of Congressmen would
be punished simply for having voted for Armenian Genocide resolutions,
spoken about the lessons of this crime against humanity or commemorated
the victims of the atrocity. So, too, would the American academic
establishment, human rights groups, the mainstream media and just
about everyone else aside from the Turkish Embassy and its paid
lobbyists here in Washington, D.C.” Fellow Armenian Caucus Co-Chair
Joe Knollenberg questioned the Turkish Government’s commitment to
democracy and free speech. “An important test of whether a country is
a healthy democracy is whether someone can go out into a town square
and speak their opinions freely. When the Turkish government cancels
an academic conference like this and calls the participants traitors,
it becomes very clear that they have not made a sufficient commitment
to protecting free speech. These actions seriously undermine Turkey’s
credibility,” stated Rep. Knollenberg. California Democrat Adam Schiff,
author of the 2004 “Schiff Amendment” on the Armenian Genocide,
concurred. “The decision to hold a conference at Bogazici University
to discuss the Armenian Genocide held out promise that Turkey would
begin confronting all aspects of its Ottoman past. Cancellation of
the conference, and the Justice Minister’s inflammatory accusation
of ‘treason,’ shows that Turkey’s intellectual freedom and academic
independence has taken one step forward and two giant steps back. How
much longer will it take modern Turkey to recognize the facts of a
genocide now 90 years old,” asked Rep. Schiff. Rep. George Radanovich
(R-CA), who spearheaded a successful effort in 1996 to cut foreign aid
to Turkey due to its ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide, stated:
“Turkish government pressure on historians from Bilgi, Bogazici and
Sabanci Universities to cancel the Armenian Genocide conference is
yet another indication of the Turkish government’s repression of
freedom of speech and lack of respect for academic freedom. The
action exposes as a hollow gesture Prime Minister Erdogan’s call
for a dialogue between Turkish and Armenian historians. The Turkish
government’s labeling of Turkish academics as ‘traitors’ simply for
discussing the Genocide amongst themselves underscores the need for
those of us here, in the United States, to call on Ankara to end its
campaign of genocide denial.” Urging Turkey to end its ongoing denial
of the Armenian Genocide, Michigan Republican Thaddeus McCotter argued,
“Only honesty can begin to ease the ache of this evil perpetrated upon
the Armenian people, and to further guard against a recrudescence
of genocide anywhere in our world. Thus, any delay in acknowledging
and apologizing for their nation’s abhorrent historical crime only
serves to embolden other proponents of genocide, and to implicate this
generation of Turks in the sins of the past.” Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ)
took direct aim at statements by Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek,
who dubbed conference organizers as “traitors.” “I condemn the recent
action taken by the Turkish government to censor academic debate about
the Armenian Genocide. Democracy and truth were thrown out the window
when Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek accused historians at three
prestigious Turkish universities of treason when they attempted to
debate the issue of the Armenian Genocide. Turkey does not deserve
to be granted membership in the European Union if they continue to
shut down educated discussion about this issue.” The Conference,
titled “Ottoman Armenians During the Decline of the Empire: Issues
of Scientific Responsibility and Democracy,” was jointly organized
by the Comparative Literature Department of Bilgi University, the
History Department of Bogazici University and the History Program
at Sabanci University. Originally set to take place May 25th-27th at
Bosphorus University, the schedule was to include over 30 papers by
Turkish scholars from Turkey and abroad. In the days leading up to the
conference, Turkish Government officials spoke stridently against the
conference and its organizers. Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek,
in a speech before the Turkish Parliament on Tuesday, went so far
as to accuse the academics of “treason.” The Minister described the
conference as a “a stab in the back to the Turkish nation.” Cicek
expressed regret that, as Justice Minister, he could not personally
prosecute the organizers and participants. The government crackdown on
the conference is the most recent chapter in the Turkish government’s
90-year campaign of genocide denial.