TTK PRESIDENT HALACOGLU REMOVED FROM OFFICE

Zaman Online
July 24 2008
Turkey

Professor Yusuf Halacoglu, who has served as the president of the
Turkish Historical Society (TTK) since 1993, has been removed from
office by Cabinet decision and is to return to his post of professor
at Gazi University in Ankara.

The decision to relieve Halacoglu of his office was published in the
Official Gazette yesterday. Halacoglu will serve as a professor at
Gazi University as he did prior to his nomination as TTK president.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Halacoglu said he did not know why
he was being removed from office. "I see this duty [serving as the
president of the TTK] as a relay race. I hope a good and successful
friend will be nominated to the position," he noted.

He stated that he didn’t have prior information that he would be
removed from office and returned to his position at Gazi University. "I
read it in the newspaper. I was not warned in advance. Nevertheless,
it was no surprise to me. I don’t consider anything in my life a
surprise," he said.

Halacoglu, emphasizing that it is normal to be nominated to a new post
or to be removed from a position, said he will continue serving in any
position offered him. "As a Å~_eyhulislam [the chief religious official
in the Ottoman Empire] said, we are ready to leave our positions at
any time and be commissioned with another duty when necessary. One
day you are given a duty by the state and the next, you continue your
position as a scientist. This is pretty normal," he remarked.

He also said he will not seek legal redress against his removal from
office. "I am not the kind of man who resorts to such means. You cannot
continue serving in a post by force. I am a scientist," he stated.

Halacoglu is a strong denier of allegations that Armenians were
subjected to genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War I.

In conferences and panel discussions organized by his organization,
Halacoglu asserted that claims of genocide were completely false and
the TTK has 100,000 pages of archived documents that serve as proof,
refuting allegations that Armenians faced genocide in 1915.

"A historical committee should be established to investigate the
issue. The TTK has been collecting documents and information on
the issue from several countries, and it currently has thousands of
pages that positively refute Armenian claims of genocide," Halacoglu
had said.

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