TURKISH HISTORIAN TANER AKcAM DENOUNCES PERSECUTION OF INTELLECTUALS IN TURKEY

armradio.am
18.01.2008 17:13

One year after Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated
on an Istanbul street, Taner Akcam, a Turkish historian and university
professor, says the Turkish government, media and law enforcement
bodies are working in tandem to harass, intimidate and persecute
intellectuals who challenge the government’s version of the events
of 1915, the Armenian Assembly of America reports.

During a press conference at the National Press Club Akcam, a
leading scholar in the field of Holocaust and Genocide studies at
the University of Minnesota, said that dissent and free speech are
restricted due to a dangerous mindset that exists within Turkey. He
said the atmosphere of intolerance has worsened, rather than improved,
in the year following Dink’s murder.

"A climate has been created such that to attack and persecute
intellectual is considered a patriotic act," Akcam explained. "The
media targets and attacks intellectuals and turns them into prey,
free for the hunting…the justice system punishes the intellectuals,
and thugs are used as pawns by the law enforcement agencies to attack
and kill the targeted intellectuals.

The government conceals these crimes, blurs the evidence and backs
the law enforcement officers who are involved in these crimes."

Akcam left his native Turkey and relocated to the US in 2001,
after his writing on the Armenian Genocide began to appear in
English. Following the 2006 publication of his book, "A Shameful Act:
The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility,"
Akcam says the campaign against him intensified. He has received
death threats, been physically attacked and has had his book tours
violently disrupted. He has been labeled a "traitor" to his country,
and was recently detained for hours at a Montreal airport due to a
vandalized Wikipedia entry in his online biography.

In addition to denying the historical truth, the Turkish
government maintains that the events of 1915 are a matter for
historians. Ironically, scholars and writers like Akcam and Dink
are routinely prosecuted under Turkey’s infamous Article 301 of the
penal code for acknowledging the genocide. According to Akcam, Dink
was targeted because he was a direct threat to what Turks call the
"deep state," the unelected body of government known fortargeting
reformists and other perceived enemies in the name of nationalism. As a
Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, the newspaper editor was a fierce
defender of freedom of the press and was determined to speak the truth,
even as ultra-nationalist forces were determined to silence his voice.

"What we want is very simple," Akcam explained. "We want freedom of
speech and we want justice."

Dr. Payam Akhavan, a renowned scholar of International Law at McGill
University, is representing Akcam in a case before the European Court
of Human Rights (ECHR) against the Republic of Turkey and also took
part in the press conference.

A former UN war crimes prosecutor, Akhavan provided an overview of
the criminal charges brought against Akcam in Turkey. He said the
case pending before the ECHR challenges the validity of Article 301
as a violation of freedom of speech. He argued that scholars like
Professor Akcam be allowed to engage in research and publication
without fear of prosecution or vigilante justice.

Akhavan said that Article 301 continues to be used to silence free
speech and debate on the Armenian Genocide, which only serves to
keep modern Turkey hostage to its past rather than reckoning with
historical injustices and encouraging a democratic culture in which
reconciliation with Armenians may be possible.

"The use of Article 301 is a flagrant violation of freedom of speech
under Article 10 of the European Convention," Akhavan said. "What the
Turkish government is doing through its failure to repeal Article 301
is that, instead of criminalizing hate speech, Article 301 is actually
legitimizing hate speech by denying or minimizing the destruction of
Armenians in 1915."

"If the position of the government is that the issue of the Armenian
Genocide should not be politicized, should not be debated before
the U.S.

Congress, then that position has no credibility whatsoever so long
as free speech on this issue is criminalized in Turkey," he added.

Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny said, "One year after Dink’s
murder, Ankara has done precious little to overturn the climate of
prejudice and repression that led to this unspeakable crime. Instead,
Armenians and other minorities are still at risk. All people of
goodwill should unite in calling for a repeal of Article 301."