ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIER SPEAKS AT MCGILL
Matt Chesser
McGill Tribune
torage/paper234/news/2009/03/04/News/Armenian.Geno cide.Denier.Speaks.At.Mcgill-3658427.shtml
March 4 2009
Quebec, Canada
Event deteriorates into a shouting match between Turks and Armenians
Turkish university professor and prominent Armenian Genocide denier
Turkkaya Ataöv spoke on Friday, February 20, to a packed, yet
ideologically divided audience in Leacock 26.
A large number of Armenian students attended the contentious lecture
in protest, and questioned the McGill’s decision to allow a genocide
denier to speak on campus under the auspices of freedom of speech. Once
question period opened up, the forum deteriorated into a shouting
match between the Turkish and Armenian students in attendance.
Ataöv rarely addressed the Armenian Genocide directly in the lecture,
instead choosing to talk about the need to question mainstream accounts
of history and the notion that an unfair standard of blame has been
placed upon the Turkish people.
"Justice abhors a double standard," Ataöv said. "It is only when all
nations come to terms with their past that the Turks can be asked to
come to terms with their past. And if they do, we will consider every
part of the historical record, and the Turks will be among those with
the whitest records."
Ataöv claimed that "Armenian arguments" omit many facts, and made
reference to the "slaughter" of Turkish people by Armenians in
the past. He largely sidestepped the issue of genocide, however,
instead asking those in attendance to read the books and essays he
has published on the subject in the past in order to understand his
argument that Armenian deaths in the early 20th century should not
be classified as genocide.
Before the lecture started, and at various points throughout it,
a group of about 10 students held up signs that said "There is no
room in Canada for a genocide denier" and "Denial is the last step
of genocide."
According to Mardig Taslakian, vice president external of the
Armenian Students’ Association, the ASA will file an equity complaint
against the Turkish Students’ Society of McGill University later
this week. Equity complaints are reviewed by the Students’ Society
and could result in sanctions against the TSSMU.
"What would the university’s reaction be if Neo-Nazis invited someone
to come and preach that the Holocaust didn’t happen?" Taslakian
said. "The Armenian genocide, like the Holocaust, is a well-proven,
indisputable fact. … The Armenian community feels offended that
a renowned institution like McGill would allow [Ataöv] to say such
hateful things."
Prior to the lecture, the ASA met with Deputy Provost (Student Life
and Learning) Morton Mendelson to request that Ataöv’s talk be
cancelled. Mendelson denied their request, claiming that to do so
would abridge freedom of speech.
"We took the request by the Armenian Students’ Society to cancel the
lecture arranged by the Turkish Students’ Society very seriously," said
Mendelson in an email to the Tribune. "However, we could not justify
censoring open discussion at the university. … A commitment to free
speech necessitates a tolerance for the expression of views that are
at odds with our own and that we may find difficult, challenging,
or even deeply uncomfortable."
The TSSMU maintained that Ataöv’s lecture was not intended to spark
debate over the genocide.
"The lecture was not intended to make anyone upset," said TSSMU
President Aysegul Akyuz. "I understand that the lecture addressed a
controversial subject, but our purpose was to move forward from the
past. The lecture was not intended to talk about the genocide, it was
intended to talk about the relationship [between Armenians and Turks]."
Taslakian disputed Akyuz’s interpretation of the talk’s purpose.
"There should be discussion of how to deal with the results of the
genocide, and not whether or not it happened," Taslakian said. "But
[Ataöv] blamed the mass deaths of Armenians on a pandemic, among
other things, not on the genocide."
The Armenian Genocide is officially recognized by many organizations,
including the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, the
International Association of Genocide Scholars, and over 20 countries,
including Canada.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
