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ANCA: TURKEY MAKES MOCKERY OF ITS CLAIMS TO SEEK DIALOGUE WITH
ARMENIANS
WASHINGTON, MAY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The Turkish government's actions
reflect a long-standing, profoundly troubling, and increasingly
aggressive policy of seeking to silence any discussion of the Armenian
Genocide - domestically, through coercion and threats of prosecution,
and abroad through blackmail and intimidation. This declared Aram
Hamparian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA), commenting on the fact of indefinitely postponing
under Turkey Government's pressure the conference which would have to
focuse on the Armenian Genocide. He underlined that by taking these
steps, Turkey's leadership had made a mockery of its claims to seek a
dialogue with Armenians, compounded international skepticism about its
willingness to meet even minimal standards for freedom of expression,
and underscored the need for our government and the international
community to press Turkey - once and for all - to end its campaign to
deny justice for this crime against humanity. The Conference, titled
"Ottoman Armenians During the Decline of the Empire: Issues of
Scientific Responsibility and Democracy," was jointly organized by the
Comparative Literature Department of Bilgi University, the History
Department of Bogazici University and the History Program at Sabanci
University. Originally set to take place May 25th-27th at Bosphorus
University, the schedule was to include over 30 papers by Turkish
scholars from Turkey and abroad. In the days leading up to the the
conference, Turkish Government officials spoke stridently against the
conference and its organizers. Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek,
in a speech before the Turkish Parliament on May 24, went so far as to
accuse the academics of "treason." The Minister described the
conference as a "a stab in the back to the Turkish nation." Opposition
parliament members concurred with the government's views. According to
the Agence France Presse, senior Republican People's Party Parliament
member and former Turkish Ambassador to the U.S., Sukru Elekdag,
qualified the conference as a "treacherous project." The government
crackdown on the conference is the most recent chapter in the Turkish
government's 90-year campaign of genocide denial. This effort has
intensified in recent years. In 2003, Education Minister Hikmet Cetin
issued a decree making student participation in a nation-wide essay
contest denying the Armenian Genocide compulsory. The most recent
revisions to the Turkish Penal Code criminalize references to the
Armenian Genocide and the removal of troops from Turkish occupied
northern Cyprus. World- renowned Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, is the
latest to be charged with violation of the Turkish penal code for
references to the Armenian Genocide. According to news reports, Pamuk
stated, "30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in
Turkey. Almost no one dares to speak out this but me, and the
nationalists hate me for that."
ARMENIANS
WASHINGTON, MAY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The Turkish government's actions
reflect a long-standing, profoundly troubling, and increasingly
aggressive policy of seeking to silence any discussion of the Armenian
Genocide - domestically, through coercion and threats of prosecution,
and abroad through blackmail and intimidation. This declared Aram
Hamparian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA), commenting on the fact of indefinitely postponing
under Turkey Government's pressure the conference which would have to
focuse on the Armenian Genocide. He underlined that by taking these
steps, Turkey's leadership had made a mockery of its claims to seek a
dialogue with Armenians, compounded international skepticism about its
willingness to meet even minimal standards for freedom of expression,
and underscored the need for our government and the international
community to press Turkey - once and for all - to end its campaign to
deny justice for this crime against humanity. The Conference, titled
"Ottoman Armenians During the Decline of the Empire: Issues of
Scientific Responsibility and Democracy," was jointly organized by the
Comparative Literature Department of Bilgi University, the History
Department of Bogazici University and the History Program at Sabanci
University. Originally set to take place May 25th-27th at Bosphorus
University, the schedule was to include over 30 papers by Turkish
scholars from Turkey and abroad. In the days leading up to the the
conference, Turkish Government officials spoke stridently against the
conference and its organizers. Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek,
in a speech before the Turkish Parliament on May 24, went so far as to
accuse the academics of "treason." The Minister described the
conference as a "a stab in the back to the Turkish nation." Opposition
parliament members concurred with the government's views. According to
the Agence France Presse, senior Republican People's Party Parliament
member and former Turkish Ambassador to the U.S., Sukru Elekdag,
qualified the conference as a "treacherous project." The government
crackdown on the conference is the most recent chapter in the Turkish
government's 90-year campaign of genocide denial. This effort has
intensified in recent years. In 2003, Education Minister Hikmet Cetin
issued a decree making student participation in a nation-wide essay
contest denying the Armenian Genocide compulsory. The most recent
revisions to the Turkish Penal Code criminalize references to the
Armenian Genocide and the removal of troops from Turkish occupied
northern Cyprus. World- renowned Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, is the
latest to be charged with violation of the Turkish penal code for
references to the Armenian Genocide. According to news reports, Pamuk
stated, "30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in
Turkey. Almost no one dares to speak out this but me, and the
nationalists hate me for that."