SO DID THE ARMENIAN CONFERENCE HURT OUR COUNTRY’S INTERESTS?
The New Anatolian
Sept 27 2005
View: Ilnur Cevik
The controversy-riddled Armenian conference was held over the weekend
despite all kinds of obstacles. No one expected any earth-shattering
results, but even the fact that such a conference could be held in
Turkey and the quality of the debate, even though a bit fiery at times,
shows our country is edging towards accepting free debate as part of
our culture.
The court order demanding the cancellation of the conference was
by-passed with the help of Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, with
organizers switching the venue from Bogazici to Bilgi University .
This was a purely academic occasion yet it was turned into a political
controversy thanks to Turkey ‘s ultranationalist conservative
establishment.
The conference was entitled “The Ottoman Armenians During the Collapse
of the Empire,” but in essence it was designed to debate what had
really happened in eastern Anatolia on Ottoman Empire territory just
before and during World War I. It was designed to make an academic
evaluation of what really happened; to filter the facts from the myth.
Did the Armenians collaborate with invading Russian forces? Did
they set up militia groups to attack Turkish villages and
commit atrocities? Did Turkish bands attack Armenian villages in
retaliation? Were the Armenians forced out of their settlements and
made to migrate to other parts of the empire? What happened to them
during this exodus? Did tens of thousands of Armenians perish in the
process? And, above all, who’s responsible for all this?
Bogazici, Bilgi, and Sabanci universities and their academic
staff should be praised for supporting the organization of such a
conference. This isn’t only because the Armenian issue should be
discussed in earnest, without the usual nationalist slogans, but
also because they served the cause of freedom of speech and showed
how things are starting to change for the better in Turkey despite
efforts by the conservative establishment to turn the clocks back.
It also served to show to academics at universities what liberals like
us (the International Herald Tribune on Sept. 22 described me as a
“liberal voice”) suffer when they want to bring out the truths on many
issues, not only on the Armenian claims but also on the Kurdish issue,
domestic corruption, and irregularities.
The tomatoes and eggs thrown at journalist and columnist Cengiz
Candar and former Deputy Prime Minister Erdal Inonu by a handful of
ultranationalists and ultra “left-wing” militants of the Workers Party
(IP) while they were departing from the conference, was the least
that these people could do to us liberals.
Turkey ‘s liberals are making headway thanks to Turkey ‘s quest to
join the European Union. If it weren’t for the EU accession talks,
scheduled to start on Oct. 3, even the government may not have opposed
the court ruling to block the conference. We hope the freedom-loving
and liberal-minded people of Europe realize this. We also hope that
they also realize what could happen to liberals in Turkey if we fail
to make progress for full EU membership. Tomato attacks by such mobs
would be the least of our worries.
Turkey hasn’t lost anything but has gained from this Armenian
conference. We’ve shown that we have nothing to hide and most of us
can face the challenges of history in a mature manner. The cat is
now out of the bag and we all have to start debating these issues
in earnest without falling into any nationalist pits. Let’s hope
those who had the courage to organize this conference also show the
courage to debate Turkey ‘s Kurds and its domestic corruption and
irregularities with the same boldness.