HISTORIAN HALACOGLU: LET’S EXCAVATE DISPUTED SITE TOGETHER

New Anatolian, Turkey
Feb 26 2007

Yusuf Halacoglu, head of the Turkish Historical Society (TTK), is
urging a leading Armenian historian to officially declare his intent
to work alongside Turkish historians at an alleged mass grave site
near Harput.

Speaking to the Anatolia news agency, Halacoglu said that Armenian
historian Ara Sarafian claimed Leslie Davis, who was on the Harput
Council in 1915, said 12,000 Armenian were killed and thrown into a
valley near Lake Hazar.

"Upon his allegations I told Sarafian we should open this so-called
mass grave together," said Halacoglu. "The allegations are so
groundless that it wasn’t possible to find a grave to put 12,000
people in those days. Moreover, it was impossible to cover up 12,000
people by working with shovels."

Halacoglu said that when the Armenian historian went there to do
research he didn’t find anything. "So I told him that he can’t claim
what he didn’t find as real by citing some reports as evidence,"
he continued. "Basing allegations on rumors of missionaries without
researching the Ottoman archives or other archives isn’t suitable for
a scholar or historian. I proposed to Sarafian that we investigate
together what had happened to the Armenians all over Anatolia in those
days, and what had happened to Muslims; in other words what happened
generally in 1915. Upon my offer I think they came with a suggestion
to work together regarding the alleged mass grave in Nusaybin."

Claiming that both Ottoman and Armenian archives should be researched
thoroughly regarding the issue, Halacoglu said that working alone
doesn’t work out.

The historian added that Sarafian didn’t write to him directly. "He
should have make contact directly with us," said Halacoglu. "Now
if he didn’t write to us officially his intention won’t be seen as
sincere. They should have sent us their offer officially. We can’t
solve a problem by just saying, ‘Let’s deal with an event in Harput.’
It may only be a beginning. The reason behind my accepting his
suggestion immediately was to show that we don’t have anything to
hide. We can work wherever they want."

Halacoglu said that they are ready to confront everything with every
kind of method. "If they want to open a grave, then let’s do it;
if the want to do research, let’s do it," he said.

Stating that the atrocities Armenian committees committed on Turks
and Muslims should also be dealt with, Halacoglu said that the
Armenian Dashnak organization’s atrocities were recorded in archives
in Yerevan and Boston. He added that opening these archives will shed
light on history.

Halacoglu also said that forming a tribunal to deal with the 1915
events is not possible. "If such a court is formed, then it should
deal with the deeds of many countries," he claimed. "What Armenians
or Russians or Greeks did to Turks should be investigated by the
tribunal as well. In other words, 5.5 million people were deported
in the Balkans, which can be called ethnic cleansing. This should
also be investigated."

Halacoglu said that some world parliaments say Turks should
confront their past. "But which Turks? Turks in the Middle East,
in the Caucasus, the Balkans? Turks today?" he asked. "How can they
accuse me of committing the worst crime of humanity before giving me
a chance to defend myself? If I make an application at the European
Court of Human Rights I can get compensation. Accusing them of hurting
me and humiliating me with their accusations, I can get a huge amount
of compensation. We can do it together."

Halacoglu said that rather than officials, ordinary people and
non-governmental groups should do this against the 19 countries
which have taken decisions regarding the so-called Armenian genocide,
including Italy, Germany, Belgium, Poland and France.

Armenians claim that large numbers of Armenians — with figures
ranging between 600,000 and 1.5 million — were massacred by Turks
during World War I, which they say amounts to genocide. The Turkish
side says that there were many deaths on both sides, fiercely denying
any systematic massacres.