Ottoman Armenians during the Demise of the Empire:
Issues of Democracy and Scientific Responsibility
23 – 24 – 25 September 2005
Boðaziçi University
Garanti Cultural Center
Ayhan Þahenk Conference Room
Organizing Committee
Murat Belge (Professor and Chair, Bilgi University Department of
Comparative Literature),
Halil Berktay (Associate Professor and Coordinator, Sabancý University
History Program),
Selim Deringil (Professor and Chair, Boðaziçi University History
Department),
Edhem Eldem (Professor, Boðaziçi University History Department),
Çaðlar Keyder (Professor, Boðaziçi University Sociology Department),
Cemil Koçak (Associate Professor, Sabancý University History Program),
Nükhet Sirman (Professor, Boðaziçi University Sociology Department)
Akþin Somel (Assistant Professor, Sabancý University History Program)
Advisory Committee
Fikret Adanýr (Professor, Bochum Ruhr University, Germany)
Engin Akarlý (Professor, Brown University, USA),
Taner Akçam (Associate Professor, University of Minnesota, USA),
Ayhan Aktar (Professor, Marmara University),
Þeyla Benhabib (Professor, Yale University, USA),
Üstün Ergüder (Professor and Director, Sabancý University, Ýstanbul
Policy Center),
Fatma Müge Göçek (Associate Professor, University of Michigan, USA)
Nilüfer Göle (Professor, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales,
France),
Cemal Kafadar (Professor, Harvard University, USA),
Metin Kunt (Professor, Sabancý University),
Þerif Mardin (Professor, Sabancý University),
Oktay Özel (Assistant Professor, Bilkent University),
Ýlhan Tekeli (Professor, Middle East Technical University),
Mete Tunçay (Professor, Bilgi University),
Stefan Yerasimos (Professor, Paris VIII University, France)
23 September Friday
Registration 08:30 a.m.
Opening Statements 09:15
Selim Deringil (Boðaziçi University History Department Chair)
Session 1 09:30-10:40
A Collective View of the Issues
Þerif Mardin
Session Chair
Halil Berktay
What Does the Official Narrative Comprise?
Selim Deringil
Archives and the Armenian Question: ‘Grabbing the Document by the Throat’
Murat Belge
The Armenian Problem from the Standpoint of Democracy
Coffee Break 10:40-11:10
Session 2 11:10-13:00
Differences in Knowledge and Perception between Turkey and the World
Üstün Ergüder
Session Chair
Osman Köker
Armenian Presence in the Ottoman State before the Deportation
Fikret Adanýr
Massacre, Genocide and the Historical Profession
Fatma Müge Göçek
What the World Knows but Turkey Does Not:
The Chicago-Salzburg Turkish-Armenian Workshop Process as an
Accumulation of Knowledge
Nazan Maksudyan
The 1915-1916 Events according to the Historians of the 20th century and
the world
Lunch 13:00-14:00
Session 3. 14:00-15:40
The ‘Old Order’ before the Balkan Wars
Hakan Erdem
Session Chair
Akþin Somel
Armenian Schools and the Regime of Abdülhamid (1876-1908)
Oktay Özel
Locals, Refugees and non-Muslims: some observations on the boundaries
of social harmony in the Black Sea Region during the late Ottoman period
Edhem Eldem
The Istanbul Armenian Incidents of 1895-96
Meltem Toksöz
Adana Armenians and the 1909 “Disturbance”
Coffee Break 15:40-16:10
Session 4. 16:10-18:00
The Point of Rupture: 1912-1915
Mete Tunçay
Session Chair
Stefan Yerasimos
Approaching
1915: Armenian Autonomy and the Zeytun and Van Incidents
Nesim Þeker
The Armenian Question and ‘Demographic Engineering’
Rober Koptaþ
The Unionist-Dashnak Negotiations and the 1914 Armenian Reform from
the pens of Krikor Zohrab, Vahan Papazyan and Karekin Pastýrmacýyan
Elif Þafak
Zabel Yesayan and the list of ‘marked Armenian intellectuals’
24 September 2005 Saturday
Registration 09:00
Session 5. 09:30-11:00
The Deportation and its Aftermath
Taha Parla
Session Chair
Fuat Dündar
The
Settlement Policy of the Union and Progress (1913-1918)
Taner Akçam
The Intent and Organization of Genocide, with both the survivors and the
destroyed, among the leaders of the Union and Progress in light of the
Ottoman documents
Cemil Koçak
How Do You Know of the Special Secret Organization (Teþkilt-ý Mahsusa)?
Coffee Break 11:00-11:30
Session 6. 11:30-13:20
Tales of Tragedy and Escape
Ferhunde Özbay
Session Chair
Sarkis Seropyan
Landscapes of conscience from within a Painful History
Fethiye Çetin
>From Heranuþ to Seher, the tale of a ‘liberation’
Ýrfan Palalý
Fatma Ane, the Child of Deportation
Aykut Kansu
Thinking through the Tales of Those Who Survived the Deportation
Lunch 13:20-14:20
Session 7. 14:20-16:00
Witnesses and Memories
Ayþe Öncü
Session Chair
Hülya Adak
The Armenian Question in Memoirs
Ahmet Kuyaþ
What Do the Unionists Say?
Gündüz Vassaf
Armenians in the Educational Calendar (Saatli Maarif Takvimi)
Cevdet Aykan
The Meaning of Memories and The Responsibility of Politics and the Times
Coffee Break 16:00-16:30
Session 8. 16:30-18:00
>From the Threshold of Confrontation to the Formation of Taboos
Selçuk Esenbel
Session Chair
Ayhan Aktar
The Armenian Question in the Ottoman Assembly, November-December 1918
Erol Köroðlu
Examples of Remembrance and Forgetting in Turkish Literature:
the Different Breaking Points of Taciturnity
Baskýn Oran
The
Roots of a Taboo: the Historical-Psychological Suffication of
Turkish Public Opinion on the Armenian Problem
25 September Sunday
Registratio 09:00
Session 9. 09:30-11:30
The States of Armenianhood
Nükhet Sirman
Session Chair
Hrant Dink
The New Sentences of Armenian Identity in Turkey and the World
Ferhat Kentel
Turkish and Republican Armenian Societies: Boundaries and Prejudice
Karin Karakaþlý,
To Be an Armenian in Turkey: community, individual, citizen
Ferhat Kentel,
Günay Göksu Özdoðan,
Füsun Üstel
Melissa Bilal
An Identity Trapped In Between the Past and Present:
the Experience of Being an Armenian in Turkey
Ayþe Gül Altýnay
Two Books and an Exhibit: The Rediscovery of Turkish Armenians
Coffee Break 11:30-12:00
Session 10. 12:00-13:40
Turkish Democracy and the Armenian Question
Murat Belge
Session Chair
Ali Bayramoðlu
Views and Approaches to the Armenian Question in Turkish Society
Etyen Mahcupyan
The Relationship between Historical Perception and Mentality as
Founding Principle of National Identity in Turkey
Ahmet Ýnsel
The Armenian Question and the Concept of the Enemy Within in Turkish
Politics
Murat Paker
Turkish Armenian Issue in the Context of a Psychoanalytic Evaluation of
Turkey’s Dominant Political Culture
Þahin Alpay
What Can Be Done to Reinstitute Turkish-Armenian Friendship?”
Lunch 13:40-14:40
Session 11. 14:30-16:00
Panel: Armenian Question and the Freedom of the Press
Ýsmet Berkan
Session Chair
Yavuz Baydar
(Sabah) newspaper
Kürþat Bumin
(Yeni Þafak)
Oral Çalýþlar
(Cumhuriyet)
Ahmet Hakan
(Hürriyet)
Fehmi Koru
(Yeni Þafak)
Coffee Break 16:00-16:30
Session 12. 16:30-18:30
Panel: Today and the Future
Halil Berktay
Session Chair
A diplomat :
Temel Ýskit
A lawyer:
Turgut Tarhanlý
A publisher:
Ragýp Zarakolu
A politician:
Cem Özdemir
A historian:
Mete Tunçay
Participants other than those on the Organizing and Advisory Committees
Hülya Adak
Sabancý University:
Assistant Professor (Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies)
Þahin Alpay
Bahçeþehir University:
Assistant Professor (Political Science); Zaman newspaper
Ayþe Gül Altýnay
Sabancý University :
Assistant Professor (Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies)
Cevdet Aykan
Mediical doctor; former deputy of Tokat and Minister of Health
Ali Bayramoðlu
Yeni Þafak newspaper
Yavuz Baydar
Sabah newspaper
Ýsmet Berkan
Radikal newspaper
Melissa Bilal
Chicago University Ph.D. student (ethnomusicology)
Kürþat Bumin
Yeni Þafak newspaper
Ahmet Hakan Coþkun
Hürriyet newspaper
Oral Çalýþlar
Cumhuriyet newspaper
Fethiye Çetin
lawyer, author of the book entitled Anneannem (My Grandmother)
Hrant Dink
Agos newspaper
Fuat Dündar
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris) : Ph.D. student
Hakan Erdem
Sabancý University: Assistant Professor (History)
Selçuk Esenbel
Boðaziçi University: Professor (History)
Ahmet Ýnsel
Galatasaray University: Professor (Economics)
Temel Ýskit
retired ambassador
Aykut Kansu
Bilgi University: Associate Professor (History)
Karin Karakaþlý
Agos newspaper
Ferhat Kentel
Bilgi University: Assistant Professor (Sociology)
BRober Koptaþ
Boðaziçi University: Ph.D. student (Atatürk Institute)
Fehmi Koru
Yeni Þafak newspaper
Osman Köker
editor in chief, Birzamanlar Publications
Erol Köroðlu
Sabancý University:
Assistant Professor (History of Literature, Cultural Studies)
Ahmet Kuyaþ
Galatasaray University: Assistant Professor (History, Political Science)
Etyen Mahcupyan
Zaman newspaper
Nazan Maksudyan
Sabancý University: Ph.D. student (History)
Baskýn Oran
Ankara University: Professor (Political Science)
Ayþe Öncü
Sabancý University: Professor (Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies)
Ferhunde Özbay
Boðaziçi University: Professor (Sociology)
Cem Özdemir
Deputy of the Green Party, Germany
Günay Göksu Özdoðan
Marmara University: Professor (Political Science and International Relations)
Murat Paker
Bilgi University: Assistant Professor (Psychology)
Ýrfan Palalý
Ege University: Associate Professor (Neurophysiology)
Taha Parla
Boðaziçi University:
Professor (Political Science and International Relations)
Sarkis Seropyan
Agos newspaper
Elif Þafak
writer, literary person; University of Arizona (USA) : Assistant Professor
(Near Eastern Studies)
Nesim Þeker
Middle East Technical University: Assistant Professor (History)
Turgut Tarhanlý
Bilgi University: Professor (Comparative Law)
Meltem Toksöz
Boðaziçi University: Assistant Professor (History)
Füsun Üstel
Marmara University: Professor (Public Administration)
Gündüz Vassaf
Associate Professor (Psychology); Radikal columnist
Ragýp Zarakolu
editor in chief, Belge Publications