Tweet
Reuters, UK
May 25 2005
Turkey postpones conference on Armenian killings
Wed May 25, 2005 11:30 AM BST
By Ayla Jean Yackley
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish university facing accusations of
"treason" has postponed a conference that offered a platform to
academics questioning Ankara's official policy denying any World War
One genocide of Armenians.
The conference, due to start on Wednesday at Istanbul's Bosphorus
University, was organised as Muslim Turkey faces mounting
international pressure to accept that mass killings of Christian
Armenians starting in 1915 was genocide.
Turkey's pro-European government has broken with past administrations
and said it is willing to discuss historical differences with
Armenians, but official policy still vehemently rejects claims that
1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered.
It accepts that hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks but says even more Turks died in a partisan conflict
that erupted as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said in parliament on Tuesday the
conference by Turkish historians who say genocide occurred was a
"stab in the back of the Turkish people".
"We must end this treason, the spreading of propaganda against Turkey
by the people who belong to it," he said.
Bosphorus University said it had decided to put off the conference
because of the prevailing climate.
"We are anxious that, as a state university, scientific freedom will
be compromised due to prejudices about a conference that has not yet
occurred," it said.
"We have decided it would be more appropriate to postpone the
conference because of the results that could occur if the conference
were held under these circumstances."
EU PRESSURE
The European Union has said it wants to see Turkey improve ties with
neighbouring Armenia before it begins EU entry talks later this year.
Some European officials have gone further, saying Turkey must
acknowledge wrongdoing before starting talks.
An EU diplomat called Cicek's remarks "unbelievable".
"It not only kills the government's policy on the Armenian issue. It
will also kill support for Turkey's EU drive," the Turkey-based
diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
Several European nations, including Poland, France and Germany, have
passed resolutions that recognise genocide. Turkey has accused Europe
of using the Armenian issue to mask efforts against Turkey's
inclusion in the affluent bloc.
"This strengthens the hand of those outside Turkey who say, 'Turkey
has not changed, it is not democratic enough to discuss the Armenian
issue,'" Hrant Dink, editor of the Armenian weekly Agos and a
conference participant, told Reuters.
"It also shows there is a difference between what the government says
and its intentions."
May 25 2005
Turkey postpones conference on Armenian killings
Wed May 25, 2005 11:30 AM BST
By Ayla Jean Yackley
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish university facing accusations of
"treason" has postponed a conference that offered a platform to
academics questioning Ankara's official policy denying any World War
One genocide of Armenians.
The conference, due to start on Wednesday at Istanbul's Bosphorus
University, was organised as Muslim Turkey faces mounting
international pressure to accept that mass killings of Christian
Armenians starting in 1915 was genocide.
Turkey's pro-European government has broken with past administrations
and said it is willing to discuss historical differences with
Armenians, but official policy still vehemently rejects claims that
1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered.
It accepts that hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks but says even more Turks died in a partisan conflict
that erupted as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said in parliament on Tuesday the
conference by Turkish historians who say genocide occurred was a
"stab in the back of the Turkish people".
"We must end this treason, the spreading of propaganda against Turkey
by the people who belong to it," he said.
Bosphorus University said it had decided to put off the conference
because of the prevailing climate.
"We are anxious that, as a state university, scientific freedom will
be compromised due to prejudices about a conference that has not yet
occurred," it said.
"We have decided it would be more appropriate to postpone the
conference because of the results that could occur if the conference
were held under these circumstances."
EU PRESSURE
The European Union has said it wants to see Turkey improve ties with
neighbouring Armenia before it begins EU entry talks later this year.
Some European officials have gone further, saying Turkey must
acknowledge wrongdoing before starting talks.
An EU diplomat called Cicek's remarks "unbelievable".
"It not only kills the government's policy on the Armenian issue. It
will also kill support for Turkey's EU drive," the Turkey-based
diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
Several European nations, including Poland, France and Germany, have
passed resolutions that recognise genocide. Turkey has accused Europe
of using the Armenian issue to mask efforts against Turkey's
inclusion in the affluent bloc.
"This strengthens the hand of those outside Turkey who say, 'Turkey
has not changed, it is not democratic enough to discuss the Armenian
issue,'" Hrant Dink, editor of the Armenian weekly Agos and a
conference participant, told Reuters.
"It also shows there is a difference between what the government says
and its intentions."