FORMER IAGS PRESIDENTS CONSIDER HISTORICAL COMMISSION AN ATTEMPT TO DENY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
/former-iags-presidents-consider-historical-commis sion-an-attempt-to-deny-armenian-genocide/
By Weekly Staff
November 3, 2009
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan TC Basbakanlik Bakanlikir Ankara,
Turkey
FAX: 90 312 417 0476 Dear Prime Minister Erdogan:
The recent signing of protocols by the governments of Armenia and
Turkey that was brokered by leading states of the international
community marks the beginning of a process that would lead to
establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Constituencies in both countries find some or all of the protocols
problematic. We the former presidents of the International Association
of Genocide Scholars write to you to express our concern about one
of them: the establishment of a historical commission to study the
fate of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
We are sending you this amended version of the Open Letter we wrote
you in June 2005 to reiterate our objection to your insistence that
there be a historical commission, in which Turkey would be involved.
Because Turkey has denied the Armenian Genocide for the past nine
decades, and currently under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code,
public affirmation of the Genocide is a crime, it would seem impossible
for Turkey to be part of a process that would assess whether or not
Turkey committed genocide against the Armenians in 1915.
Outside of your government, there is no doubt about the facts of the
Armenian Genocide, therefore our concern is that your demand for a
historical commission is political sleight of hand designed to deny
those facts. Turkey has, in fact, shown no willingness to accept
impartial judgments made by outside commissions. Five years ago,
the Turkish members of the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission
pulled out of the commission after the arbitrator, the International
Center for Transitional Justice, rendered an assessment that the
events of 1915 were genocide.
And, Prime Minister Erdogan, you have repeatedly stated that even
if a historical commission found that the Armenian case is genocide,
Turkey would ignore the finding.
As William Schabas, the current president of the International
Association of Genocide Scholars, said in his letter to you and
President Sarkisian, "acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide must
be the starting point of any ‘impartial historical commission,’
not one of its possible conclusions."
Our previous letter, which was unanimously approved by the members
of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, lays out
the consensus among historians as to the historical reality of the
Armenian Genocide. We believe the integrity of scholarship and the
ethics of historical memory are at stake.
HELEN FEIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF GENOCIDE,
John Jay College, New York City, [email protected];
ROGER W. SMITH, PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF GOVERNMENT, COLLEGE OF WILLIAM
AND MARY IN VIRGINIA; [email protected];
FRANK CHALK, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL,
AND CO-DIRECTOR OF THE MONTREAL INSTITUTE FOR GENOCIDE STUDIES,
[email protected];
JOYCE APSEL, PROFESSOR OF GLOBAL STUDIES, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY,
[email protected];
ROBERT MELSON, PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, PURDUE
UNIVERSITY, AND PROFESSOR OF HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE STUDIES, CLARK
UNIVERSITY, [email protected];
ISRAEL W. CHARNY, PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF PSYCHOLOGY, HEBREW UNIVERSITY,
JERUSALEM, AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE ON THE HOLOCAUST AND
GENOCIDE, [email protected];
GREGORY STANTON, DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS, MARY
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, VIRGINIA, and PRESIDENT, GENOCIDE WATCH,
[email protected]