New York Times
Sept 24 2005
Armenian massacre conference to proceed at new site in Turkey
ISTANBUL, Turkey – After a Turkish court’s decision to cancel an
academic conference on the killing of hundreds of thousands of
Armenians during World War I, the conference’s organizers said Friday
that the event would go ahead at a new site today.
The organizers were encouraged by a wave of support from the European
Union and senior Turkish government officials.
A court on Thursday blocked Bogazici University in Istanbul from
holding the event, a debate and symposium on the killing of Armenians
by Ottoman forces in the eastern part of what is now Turkey.
In its ruling, the court called into question the credentials of the
scholars taking part.
It was the second time the courts blocked the conference at the
request of nationalist groups. The event was canceled in May, as
well, and at that time Justice Minister Cemil Cicek condemned
continued attempts to hold the meeting as “treason.”
But the conference’s organizers said it would go ahead today after
Bilgi University in Istanbul agreed to be the new host.
The conference is to be the first time in Turkey that the killings
have been publicly examined.
More than 50 intellectuals, scholars and writers are to analyze the
massacres, which took place from 1915 to 1917 and have been
recognized as genocide by several European governments.
Turkey has long maintained that the deaths were part of a war in
which an equal number of Turks died.