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Turkish universities postpone Armenian conference under pressure

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  • Turkish universities postpone Armenian conference under pressure

    Detroit Free Press, MI
    May 25 2005

    Turkish universities postpone Armenian conference under pressure
    May 25, 2005, 8:06 AM


    ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Three Turkish universities announced that they
    were postponing a conference to discuss last century's mass killings
    of Armenians by Ottoman Turks after a government minister accused
    organizers of "treachery," officials said Wednesday.

    In the three-day conference, which would have opened Wednesday at
    Istanbul's Bosporus University, academics were to question Turkey's
    official position on the deaths that occurred as the Ottoman Empire
    forced Armenians from eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1923.

    The postponement -- a sign that Turkey may not be ready to tolerate
    dissenting voices on sensitive subjects -- could be a blow to
    Turkey's efforts to join the European Union, which is pressuring the
    country to adopt greater freedoms. The country is scheduled to start
    membership talks on Oct. 3.

    In a speech in parliament Tuesday, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek
    severely criticized the conference, saying it went against government
    efforts to counter an Armenian campaign to have the killings
    recognized as genocide.

    Some "say there is no freedom, well there is the freedom of stabbing
    the people in the back and of telling lies ... We have to put an end
    to this period of propaganda against the (nation), of treachery,"
    Cicek said.

    Armenians say some 1.5 million of their people were killed in a
    deliberate campaign of genocide. Turkey says the death count is
    inflated and insists that Armenians were killed or displaced in civil
    unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

    The issue, a dark chapter in Turkish history, is rarely discussed or
    taught in schools, and it would have been the first time a conference
    questioned the official line was held.

    Organizers issued a statement hours after Cicek's speech saying the
    conference was postponed. Hundreds of people were scheduled to take
    part in the conference, organized by Bosporus, Bilgi and Sabanci
    universities.

    Muge Gocek, a professor of sociology at University of Michigan who
    traveled to Istanbul for the conference, said she was disillusioned.

    "I am very sad and disappointed," Gocek said Wednesday. "It would
    have been a forum that showed that democracy worked in Turkey and
    that different voices can be heard."

    "How can anyone judge me without hearing what I have to say?" she
    asked.

    Turkey is eager to counter Armenian diaspora groups that are pushing
    European governments and the United States to declare the killings
    genocide. The issue has gained new urgency as Turkey seeks EU
    membership. French President Jacques Chirac has said Turkey must
    acknowledge the killings before it can join.

    Several countries, including Argentina, Canada, France and Russia,
    have declared the killings a genocide.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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