New York Times
Sept 23 2005
Seminar on 1915 Massacre of Armenians to Go Ahead
ISTANBUL, Sept. 23 – 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 location on Saturday. 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” and a “stab in the back of
the Turkish nation.”
But the conference’s organizers said it would go ahead on Saturday,
after Bilgi University in Istanbul agreed to be the new host. One of
the leaders of the conference, Prof. Halil Berktay, said integrity of
scholars was “beyond the judiciary” to decide.
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.
The court’s action on Thursday came as a blow to supporters of
Turkey’s application for membership in the European Union, who have
considered the conference as an opportunity to prove that the country
had the potential for greater democratization and freedom of speech.
Turkey’s chief negotiator with the European Union, Ali Babacan, said
the decision was part of an attempt by nationalists to sabotage
Turkey’s membership talks, which are to start on Oct. 3. The ruling
also was condemned by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.