POSTPONEMENT OF HISTORY CONFERENCE SPARKS CONTROVERSY IN TURKEY
Igor Torbakov 6/14/05
EurasiaNet Organization
June 14 2005
Turkey’s bid to join the European Union appears caught in a vicious
cycle. As EU support for Turkish membership falters, the influence
of Euro-skeptics in Ankara is rising. A recent controversy over the
postponement of an academic conference has helped focus attention on
the resurgence of Turkey’s EU detractors.
EU leaders decided to leave the expansion issue off the agenda of
this week’s EU summit in Brussels. The move followed the rejection of
the proposed EU constitution by French and Dutch voters. Some experts
linked the “no” votes to the expansion issue, and EU foreign ministers
admitted that doubt now surrounds Turkey’s accession prospects. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Turkish accession talks
are slated to begin in October.
The growing doubts in Europe concerning expansion seem to have
emboldened opponents EU integration within Turkey’s political
class. These Euro-skeptics have long been suspicious of measures
undertaken by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government to
satisfy EU membership criteria. In late May, just days before the
French referendum on the EU constitution, the anti-EU faction in
Turkey flexed its political muscle, forcing the postponement of an
academic conference that was to examine the complexities of Turkey’s
relationship with neighboring Armenia.
The conference entitled “The Ottoman Armenians during the Era of
Ottoman Decline” was to be sponsored by three leading Istanbul
universities – Bosphorus, Sabanci and Bilgi. On May 24, the day
before the conference was to open, organizers called it off. A joint
statement issued by conference organizers and participants cited an
aggressive campaign of “pressure, threats and slander” as the reason
for the postponement.
Turkish-Armenian relations have long been dominated by the events of
1915-23, when up to 1.5 million Armenian died amid the collapse of
the Ottoman Empire. Armenian officials insist that the slaughter of
Armenians constituted genocide. Turkish officials deny the genocide
claim, saying the mass deaths were mainly caused by civil strife that
accompanied World War I and its aftermath.
Conference organizers, according to a May 17 press release, had sought
to air a variety of views about “what happened before, during and
after 1915.” The intent, they added, was to understand an extremely
complex, controversial and emotionally-charged historical issue that
“during the last years has become trapped and increasingly politicized”
by the official Armenian and Turkish positions.
“The emergence of different, critical and alternative voices …
would be, once again, to the utmost benefit of Turkey,” the press
release stated. “Today, 90 years after the tragic 1915 incidents,
it’s time for Turkey’s people of science and thought to jointly raise
their voices differing from the official thesis.”
It was precisely this aspect of the conference that appeared to
arouse the suspicion of what the Turks call the “deep state” – the
entrenched statist-nationalist establishment comprising conservative
members of Turkey’s state bureaucracy, judiciary and military. Such
an open manifestation of intellectual dissent prompted an immediate
and forceful response from leading representatives of “deep state”
thinking.
Speaking in parliament on May 24, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek angrily
asserted that holding the conference would be tantamount to stabbing
Turkey in the back. He adding grimly; “I wish I had not renounced my
authority to open criminal cases as justice minister.” Cicek went on
to say that at a time when the entire country was campaigning to show
that Armenian genocide allegations were false, the organization of
a forum at which people supporting the Armenian view could air their
opinions constituted a violation of national interests.
Opposition lawmakers from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) were
even more aggressive in their remarks with Sukru Elekdag, a former
Turkish ambassador to the United States, claming the conference’s
aim was to disseminate Armenian propaganda. He accused the potential
academic participants of high treason.
The decision to postpone the conference caused an outcry in Turkey and
dismayed foreign diplomats, who said the move to suppress dissenting
views on sensitive historical issues raised questions about Turkey’s
commitment to academic freedom.
The controversy also proved embarrassing for Erdogan’s government. As
part of an effort to promote a Turkish-Armenian rapprochement,
Erdogan had proposed just two months ago the formation of a joint
Turkish-Armenian commission of historians to examine the complex
relationship between the two peoples. Now, political analysts
say, the ability of the Erdogan’s government to promote a thaw in
bilateral relations has been compromised. [For addition information
see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Erdogan disavowed Cicek’s remarks,
saying that the justice minister spoke in his “personal capacity.”
But such rhetoric was insufficient to repair the damage already done.
“Cicek’s devastating remarks are a disservice to the government’s
recast efforts on the Armenian issue,” one foreign diplomat told the
Turkish Daily News. In addition, the justice minister’s comments could
“kill support for Turkey’s EU bid,” the diplomat added.
Although the Armenian genocide issue is not specifically a subject
of the planned EU-Turkish accession negotiations, Ankara will likely
have to address the matter as it proceeds with its EU membership
bid, if only because Brussels demands that Turkey normalize ties
with Armenia. Currently the two countries don’t have diplomatic
relations and Turkey continues to maintain an economic blockade
against Armenia, insisting that Yerevan withdraw its troops from
the occupied Azerbaijani territory. [For background see the Eurasia
Insight archive]. Meanwhile, Armenian official are lobbying EU member
states to raise the issue of the 1915-1923 atrocities in its membership
negotiations with Turkey.
The backlash against the conference postponement has been
considerable and has raised hopes among academics about the future
of democratization efforts in Turkey. “What we are witnessing here
is the state of Turkish democracy,” said Halil Berktay, a historian
at Sabanci University who had planned to attend the conference. “The
matter is not finished yet.”
Some 110 academics from Bosphorus University condemned the postponement
and issued a joint statement calling for the conference to be held
as soon as possible. The well-respected Turkish Economic and Social
Studies Foundation (TESEV) also criticized the postponement, saying
in a statement that the “deep state’s” actions and threats were not
compatible with democratic norms. “The public should know that TESEV,
in this process, would be on the side of our universities and academic
freedom,” the think-tank’s statement said.
In addition, Turkish media reported that two local NGOs – the
Izmir Contemporary Attorneys’ Association and the Izmir Human Rights
Association – filed charges with the Supreme Court of Appeals against
Justice Minister Cicek, claiming he had violated several articles of
the Turkish Constitution.
Political analysts caution that academics and NGO activists face
long odds in their struggle to open up the “deep state.” The Turkish
military, which continues to wield enormous influence over political
developments, appears opposed to a public discussion of sensitive
historical issues. In recent public comments, a top military commander,
Gen. Hursit Tolon, was dismissive of those trying to revise the
established version of events. He said patriotic Turks should pay no
attention to “those who are trying to blacken Turkish history with
baseless and biased information,” the Anatolia news agency reported.
Editor’s Note: Igor Torbakov is a freelance journalist and researcher
who specializes in CIS political affairs. He holds an MA in History
from Moscow State University and a PhD from the Ukrainian Academy of
Sciences. He was Research Scholar at the Institute of Russian History,
Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1988-1997; a Visiting Scholar at
the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars,
Washington DC, 1995, and a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University,
New York, 2000. He is now based in Istanbul, Turkey.