Turks debate Armenian killings
Aljazeera.Net
AP
Sunday 25 September 2005, 3:11 Makka Time, 0:11 GMT
Academics have held the first-ever public discussions in Turkey about the
early 20th century mass killings of Armenians, prompting criticism from
Turkish nationalists who called it an attempt to accuse Turkey of genocide.
The European Union called the academic conference on Saturday a test of
freedom of expression in Turkey, which is hoping to begin talks for
membership in the bloc next month.
The academic conference had been cancelled twice, once in May after the
justice minister said organisers were “stabbing the people in the back,” and
again on Thursday when an Istanbul court ordered the conference closed and
demanded to know the academic qualifications of the speakers.
Heavy police presence
Police presence at the rescheduled conference was heavy, with 11 police
buses and an armoured vehicle outside the venue, and dozens of officers in
riot gear keeping hundreds of shouting protesters at bay. Some protesters
pelted arriving panellists with eggs and rotten tomatoes.
Inside, the audience of more than 300 people was quiet and respectful, as
only those invited by the organising committee and pre-approved members of
the media were allowed past security.
The Armenian issue stirs deep passions among Turks, who are being pushed by
many in the international community to say that their fathers and
grandfathers carried out the first genocide of the 20th century.
The issue has been a taboo for many years in Turkey, with those who speak
out against the killings risking prosecution by a Turkish court. But an
increasing number of Turkish academics have called for a review of the
killings.
Stating that Turks may have committed genocide offends a large percentage of
the Turkish people, who see the Ottoman Empire as a symbol of Turkish
greatness, and the war that coincided with its collapse as a heroic struggle
for national independence.
Sensitive subject
In a sign of the deep sensitivity of the subject, the panellists, all
Turkish speakers, carefully avoided any emotional language during the first
day of the two-day conference.
“Everyone waits for you to pronounce the genocide word – if you do one side
applauds and the other won’t listen,” said Halil Berktay, programme
coordinator of the history department at Sabanci University, speaking at the
conference on Saturday.
Several governments around the world have recognised the killings of as many
as 1.5 million Armenians in the late Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Turkey vehemently denies the charge, admitting that many Armenians were
killed, but saying the death toll is inflated and that Armenians were killed
along with Turks in civil unrest and intercommunal fighting as the Ottoman
Empire collapsed between 1915 and 1923.
Court order
After the conference was shut down on Thursday, Turkey drew condemnation
from the European Commission, which said it deplored the decision and would
make note of it in a progress report on Turkey to be released 9 November.
Organisers skirted the court order by changing the venue of the conference.
“This is a fight of ‘can we discuss this thing, or can we not discuss this
thing?'” Murat Belge, a member of the organising committee, said at the
conference opening.
“This is something that’s directly related to the question of what kind of
country Turkey is going to be.”
The court-ordered cancellation on Thursday was an embarrassment for the
country’s leaders, who are set to begin EU negotiations on 3 October.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul lamented that “there’s no one better at
hurting themselves than us,” and sent a letter wishing the organisers a
successful conference.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also condemned the court’s decision,
saying it did not befit a democratic country.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F2AA7446-EC57-4AA4-8182-17440C765707.htm