The Daily Star, Lebanon
Aug 25 2005

Conference examining massacre of Armenians to go ahead in Turkey

ISTANBUL: A conference questioning the official line on massacres of
Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, aborted after Turkey’s justice
minister branded it an act of treason, will go ahead in September,
organizers said. The event dubbed “Ottoman Armenians of an Empire in
Decline” has been scheduled for September 23-25 at Istanbul’s
Bogazici university.

Gathering academics and intellectuals who dispute Ankara’s version of
the 1915-17 killings, the conference was postponed in May after
Justice Minister Cemil Cicek condemned it as “treason” and a “stab in
the back of the Turkish nation,” and said the organizers deserved
prosecution.

The outburst raised eyebrows in European diplomatic circles about
Ankara’s commitment to democratic reforms, a requirement for October
3 negotiations over its accession to the EU.

But diplomats said the incident could also prove to be a watershed if
the Turkish government acted to correct Cicek’s remarks.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has now agreed to take part in
the conference’s opening session, the Hurriyet newspaper reported
yesterday.

“There was no reason to adjourn the conference. We can easily discuss
this question,” the newspaper quoted the minister as saying.

Ankara’s quest for EU membership struck another hurdle last month
when it insisted it would not recognize the Greek Cypriot government
of Cyprus.

Several countries have recognized the Armenian massacres as genocide
and Brussels has called on Turkey to confront its past and to allow
greater freedom of speech.

Ankara recognizes that the massacres took place, but strongly rejects
that they amounted to genocide.

Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their people were slaughtered in
mass killings under the Ottoman Empire, forerunner to the Turkish
republic.

Ankara claims that 300,000 Armenians, who sided with Russian forces
against the Turks, were killed in the uprising and in deportations to
Syria. A similar number of Turks were also killed in the conflict,
according to the official version. AFP