First Person: Taner Akçam
As told to Ed Hammond
FT
December 8 2007 00:44
The Canadian immigration officer looked perplexed as he sat across the
table from me under the bright strip lighting of the interrogation room
I had been held in for five hours. He told me that even he wasn’t
really sure why I was being detained entering Canada from the US.
I had already answered the scripted questions that everyone who is
hauled over by immigration control faces; how much money I had, what
the purpose of my visit was, whether I had any contact addresses in the
country, what I was going to be doing and so on.
The official even asked me, admittedly looking slightly embarrassed, if
I could help him to figure out why I was being detained. I was tempted
to say, `If you don’t know, how do you expect me to?’ But challenging
him would only make it look like I had something to hide.
I told him that I’m a Turkish historian whose work focuses on the
subject of the Armenian genocide of 1915, and because of this certain
groups target me for my views. I had published a book on the subject
three to four months earlier and, like many Turkish intellectuals, I
had come under increasing attacks from far-right groups who disagreed
with my saying that Ottoman Turks were responsible for the deaths of
more than a million Armenians in 1915.
The campaign against me started almost as soon as I published my book.
Organised groups, who use the internet to preach hatred, turned up at
lectures I was giving to disrupt my speaking or intimidate people
attending. I also used to get death threats telling me that my life
would be cut short unless I retracted my conclusions on Turkey’s
actions in Armenia.
Once, when I was lecturing in New York, some people turned up and
started to distribute flyers claiming I was a mastermind of terrorist
violence including the assassination of Americans. They shouted abuse
at me, prevented people in the audience from asking questions and tried
to attack me physically.
Since I started work on the topic of the genocide I have had to alter
my lifestyle, I must be careful with my public appearances, with what I
publish. Not being able to voice an opinion in public is frustrating
and scary, but sometimes I have to decide not to provoke the situation.
I had to do this recently when tensions were raised by the US House
Foreign Affairs Committee passing a resolution condemning the Armenian
deaths as genocide. I have to make these decisions on an almost daily
basis.
When the immigration officers finally walked me through the Customs
barrier, I asked if they could explain why I had been detained. I was
shocked by what they showed me. It was a printed page that I
recognised. This was my Wikipedia entry ` the online encyclopedia
written by the public ` that had been vandalised. I had been held
because my entry accused me of being a terrorist and of being involved
in plots against the US.
Travel has become increasingly difficult, and I have had to clear up
the mess generated by the vandalised entry on the website. Although I
feel safe in the US, where I live and work, I try not to travel abroad
unless it is really necessary. I recently cancelled a trip to Turkey
because it would be unwise for me to show my face there at this time.
It is easy for people who do not agree with what I say to make life
difficult for me ` whether it is disrupting my lectures or impeding my
ability to move around freely ` but I don’t regret having written my
book. It is the sacrifice that any Turkish academic must make who opens
the topic of Armenia.
I am not outspoken in order to cause trouble, but because I believe
wholly in what I say and write. The consequences of this choice are
something I live with. But this is our responsibility to humanity, to
freedom of speech.
And we must all be responsible for the democracy of one’s country.