Turkish Press
Sept 24 2005
Preserving And Maintaining Academic Freedoms Is Important, Soysal
ISTANBUL – ”Where this meeting (the conference on the Armenians
during the Collapse of the Ottoman Empire) is being held is not
important. What is important is to preserve and maintain academic
freedoms,” said Bogazici University’s President Prof. Dr. Ayse
Soysal.
Soysal, Sabanci University’s President Prof. Dr. Tosun Terzioglu and
Bilgi University’s President Prof. Dr. Aydin Ugur took the floor at
the opening session of the Conference entitled ”The Armenians during
the Collapse of the Ottoman Empire”.
Terzioglu underlined importance of this conference for Turkey, while
Ugur said, ”for Bilgi University, this is an issue of freedom of
thought and freedom of organizing scientific activities.”
Meanwhile, around 300 people, including members of some political
parties and NGOs, carried Turkish flags and chanted slogans to
protest the conference.
Erkan Onsel, the chairman of the Labor Party’s (IP) branch in
Istanbul, said that the conference had nothing to do with history,
but had political intentions.
Also commenting on the conference, Sevgi Erenerol, the press & public
relations official of the Independent Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate,
said that Turks had never carried out ”genocide” during their
history.