Financial Times (London, England)
September 23, 2005 Friday
London Edition 1
Turkish academics grasp nettle on Armenians: Bosphorus University is
hoping to avoid trouble this weekend when it finally holds a
controversial conference,
By VINCENT BOLAND
There is no moresensitive issue in Turkey’s 20thcentury history. The
country’s most celebrated writer faces jail for mentioning it. But
this weekend Bosphorus University plans to go ahead with a
conference, on the fate of Turkish Armenians at the end of the
Ottoman empire, that has been delayed for months after a government
minister accused the university of treason.
The meeting will be the first to discuss the issue outside official
control and will be closely watched for any hint that Turkey’s
democratic credentials fail to meet the standards expected of a
candidate for European Union membership.
As it prepares to begin the long process of joining the EU, Ankara
seems ready to address many contentious issues, such as Cyprus or the
plight of the country’s ethnic Kurds. But it appears paralysed on the
question of the Armenians.
Armenia claims that 1.5m Armenians died as a result of genocide by
Ottoman troops beginning in 1915, before the republic of Turkey was
created. Turkey maintains the death toll was much lower and that the
deaths were caused by deportation, war and hunger. Many historians
and some governments take Armenia’s side.
Two recent events highlight the sensitivity of the issue and what
could be at stake in this weekend’s conference, which will be
attended and addressed solely by Turkish historians. When the
university announced the gathering, to be held originally in late
May, there were fierce protests by republican and nationalist
politicians and academics at other universities and a government
minister accused the institution of “stabbing the country in the
back”.
The university capitulated, worried that hundreds of students from
universities in Anatolia, which are far more nationalist than
Bosphorus, would descend on the conference and disrupt the
proceedings. It rescheduled the conference for this weekend, with far
less publicity and a heightened sense of security.
The second event, which has given the conference proceedings added
significance, is the prosecution of Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s most
celebrated writer. Earlier this year he told a foreign magazine that
“30,000 Kurds and 1m Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody
but me dares to talk about it”. He has now been charged with the
“public denigration of Turkish identity” for this statement, and
faces up to three years in jail if convicted in a trial set for
December.
The fact that this weekend’s conference is going ahead is a small
victory for civil rights in Turkey, while Mr Pamuk’s prosecution is a
large setback.
It is possible to discuss Armenia today in a way that was not
possible five years ago, some commentators say, but only on certain
terms. Ragip Duran, a journalist and communications lecturer at
Galatasaray University who has been jailed for his work, says: “It is
OK to talk about sensitive issues (such as Armenia), but only in a
certain national context. The Orhan Pamuk case is the best example of
the breaking of this taboo.”
The conference is not adopting Mr Pamuk’s provocative stance. Ayhan
Aktar, a professor at Marmara University who will attend, says it is
not aimed specifically at discussing or endorsing the genocide claim,
as some of its critics alleged in May, although participants may
choose to do so. The title of the proceedings – Ottoman Armenians
during the era of Ottoman decline – is neutral.
Still, it is significant that the conference is going ahead before
October 3, when Turkey begins its EU accession process.
The controversy in May rattled the government, despite the
contribution to the affair of Cemil Cicek, the justice minister, who
made the “treason” allegation against Bosphorus University.
Several participating academics say the government, which likes to
trumpet its pluralist instincts, urged the university to reschedule
the event for this weekend.
Nonetheless, ministers are being careful not to be identified too
closely with the event and the publicity it is sure to generate.
According to the university, there will be no official presence.
That is unlikely to affect the quality of the debate. But whether it
affects the public perception of the conference and its findings
remains to be seen.