Journal of Turkish Weekly
Aug 23 2005

Postponed Armenian conference on again

ISTANBUL – A conference on Armenians which was postponed due to sharp
reactions in the media and the government has been rescheduled for
23-25 September at Bosporus University, Istanbul. Bosporus University
is a state university.
The preparation committee for the conference has decided to limit its
comments on the conference to strictly official ones. Likewise, the
Rector of Bosporus University, Dr. Ayse Soysal, has said she does not
want to say anything in advance of the late September date.
“Ottoman Era Armenians During the Collapse of the Empire”
The conference, entitled “Ottoman Era Armenians During the Collapse
of the Empire: Intellectual Responsibility and Democratic Problems,”
wasoriginally supposed to run between May 25-27.
The participants in the Armenian conference will include professors
from Bosphorus and Sabanci Universities, as well as Turkish academics
who work at universities from prestigious universities from around
the world. However the Conference Committee did not invite the
well-known Turkish Armenian researchers who advocate Turkish
perspective on Armenian issue, including Prof. Dr. Turkkaya Ataov,
Prof. Dr. Mim Kemal Oke, Prof. Dr. Ilber Ortayli etc.
Lasting two days, with 12 sessions, and featuring the participation
of 38 academics, the conference will have panels like “Deportation
and Massacre,” “Disaster and Rescue Stories,” “Memories and
Witnesses,” “Things the World Knew that Turkey did not Know.”

Dr. Nilgun Gulcan said the conference is not scientific but like a
religious ceremony: `All say the same thing. They do not want listen
any opposing word. They just invited the academicians from the same
groups. They cannot organize a similar conference in Yerevan,
California or Lyon. The Armenian extremist do not allow such a
conference. Yerevan even did not allow a Turkish historian to make
archive studies’ she added.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress