McGill Tribune
Speakers on Campus: Cutting the Istan-bull
Scholar to challenge denial of genocide
Tom Quail
Posted: 2/13/07
Genocide has been at the forefront of the news recently and Taner
Akcam’s book, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question
of Turkish Responsibility, exposes the author’s views on the event
that, according to him, saw the forcible removal, deportatin and
slaughter of roughly 1.5 million Armenians by the Turkish people in
1915.
What he claims to be the first genocide of the twentieth century
continues to rip at the social fabric and pluralism within modern
Turkey. It has been likened to the Holocaust, but Akcam says the
differing factor is the accountability of those involved in the
genocide. Turkey has not accepted blame for the Armenian Genocide and
some Turkish scholars are standing up and calling for the Turkish
government to redeem the past through historical justice.
Akcam, an ethnic Turk, was imprisoned in 1976 for collaborating on a
student journal in Ankara. He escaped to Germany, where he became an
Amnesty International political prisoner of conscience and completed
his studies. He has committed much of his academic energy to
addressing the genocide, publishing two comprehensive pieces of
literature on the topic.
The event is hosted by the Centre for Human Rights and Legal
Pluralism and presented by the Zoryan Institute and the Armenian
Student Association of McGill. The Centre, attached to the faculty of
law, is involved with inter-disciplinary research in human rights law
and feels that Akcam’s book is the most comprehensive within
available literature. Law Professor Frédéric Mégret believes this
event to be of great significance.
"What’s important is that it is coming from within," Mégret said.
"It’s no longer simply Armenian intellectuals or the International
community. It’s not human rights or NGOs, it’s not U.S. scholars.
It’s coming from people who are part of the Turkish establishment."
With an increased global interest in human rights and the European
Union’s decision on Turkey’s potential accession, Turkey might be
forced to deal with these calls for recognition, despite an amendment
to the penal code two years ago and hostility between the Turkish
government and these scholars.
In 2005, the Turkish government implemented a new article into its
penal code known as "Insulting Turkishness." Article 301 has now
placed many of these outspoken scholars, including novelist and Nobel
Laureate Orham Pamuk and Akcam, under investigation.
"These eminent Turks would argue that the greatest insult to
‘Turkishness’ is the continuing denial of this historical tragedy
which brutally ripped Turkey’s multiethnic fibre apart," said Dr.
Payam Akhavan, a former UN War Crimes Prosecutor and McGill professor
of international law.
"The event is being held because recognition of the 1915 Armenian
genocide is a matter of considerable historical and moral
importance," Akhavan said. "Professor Akcam’s book is one of the most
significant scholarly works on the subject."
Akcam will be speaking in the Moot Court in the Chancellor Day Law
building on Feb. 16 at 5:00 p.m. More information can be found
through the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism at
hrwg.mcgill.ca.
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