TRT 2 television, Ankara, in Turkish
24 Sep 05

TURKEY: PROTESTERS AGAINST ARMENIAN CONFERENCE THROW TOMATOES

The controversial conference has started. The venue of the conference
on Armenians, which was going to be Bogazici University, has now
changed to Bilgi University, after the Istanbul Administrative Court
decided yesterday to suspend it. However, the debates are still going
on.

Tight security measures have been taken since early morning at the
Istanbul Bilgi University’s Dolapdere campus because of the
conference on “Ottoman Armenians during the demise of the Empire:
Issues of democracy and scientific responsibility”.

Nobody was allowed to enter the area except participants in the
conference and members of the press. Only members of the press with
special permits could take photographs during the conference.

Protest demonstrations were staged outside the campus as soon as the
conference started. In addition, arguments between speakers and
participants occurred during the conference.

Lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, member of the Executive Board of the Lawyers’
Association, said that it was unlawful to continue the conference at
a different venue in spite of a court order. Kerincsiz said that
demonstrations protesting against the violation of the court order
were being staged because they did not find anybody to address
themselves to at the Istanbul Governor’s Office or the Istanbul
Security Directorate.

During a briefing for members of the press, eggs and tomatoes were
thrown at journalist Cengiz Candar, one of the participants in the
conference, as a sign of protest.