Deutsche Presse-Agentur
September 24, 2005, Saturday
08:35:12 Central European Time

Protests in Istanbul as Armenian genocide conference begins

Ankara

Right and left-wing nationalists joined forces in Istanbul on
Saturday to protest the start of an academic conference looking into
the massacres of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in Turkey during
and after the First World War.

Hundreds of police officers were on duty at Bigli University ensuring
that only those invited to the conference were allowed onto the
campus while protesters shouted pro-Turkish slogans outside. There
were no reports of violence.

The conference has been extremely controversial as Turkey refuses to
accept that the deaths of as many as 1.5 million Armenians
constitutes genocide. The official state line is that massacres did
occur but they were a result of Armenians living in what was then the
Ottoman Empire rising up against the state in support of invading
Russian forces.

Armenian historians argue that the massacres and the state policy of
deporting Armenians who were forced to march into the deserts of what
is now Syria was a clear act of genocide.

More than a dozen European countries have passed resolutions
specifically stating that the events of 1915 did constitute a
genocide and that Turkey should accept this and make appropriate
apologies.

The “Ottoman Armenians during the Demise of Empire” conference has
been dogged by controversy since it was planned to go ahead in May.

It was originally postponed after Justice Minister Cemil Cicek
described those participating as stabbing Turkey in the back. After
Cicek softened his words and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
he believed it to be in the interests of democracy and history, the
organizers planned to start the conference on Friday at Bogazici and
Sabanci universities.

The conference appeared to have been put on hold once more when it
emerged on Thursday night that a court in Istanbul had banned the
conference. Organizers found a loophole in the ruling, however, and
moved the conference to Bilgi University.

The controversial conference comes two weeks after prosecutors filed
charges against Turkey’s internationally famous author Orhan Pamuk
for “denigrating the country” when he told a Swiss news magazine that
“a million Armenians were killed”. Pamuk faces up to three years
imprisonment if found guilty. dpa cw pmc