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Scholars in Turkey cautiously discuss Armenian massacre

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  • Scholars in Turkey cautiously discuss Armenian massacre

    Chicago Sun-Times, IL
    Sept 25 2005

    Scholars in Turkey cautiously discuss Armenian massacre

    September 25, 2005

    BY BENJAMIN HARVEY

    ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Scholars held the first public discussions in
    Turkey on Saturday about the early 20th century massacre of
    Armenians, choosing words carefully, avoiding emotional language and
    picking apart history year by year at a gathering that nationalists
    denounced as traitorous.

    The European Union called the academic conference a test of freedom
    of expression in Turkey, which hopes to start talks for membership in
    the bloc next month.

    The academic conference had been canceled twice, once in May after
    the justice minister said organizers were "stabbing the people in the
    back," and again Thursday when an Istanbul court ordered the
    conference closed and demanded to know the academic qualifications of
    the speakers.

    "This is a fight of 'can we discuss this thing, or can we not discuss
    this thing?'" Murat Belge, a member of the organizing committee, said
    at the conference opening. "This is something that's directly related
    to the question of what kind of country Turkey is going to be."

    Genocide?



    The Armenian issue stirs deep passions among Turks, who are being
    pushed by many in the international community to say that their
    fathers and grandfathers carried out the first genocide of the 20th
    century.

    Dozens of officers in riot gear kept hundreds of shouting protesters
    at bay. Some protesters pelted arriving panelists with eggs and
    rotten tomatoes.

    Inside, the audience of more than 300 was restrained, as only those
    invited by the organizing committee and preapproved members of the
    media were allowed past security.

    The issue has been a taboo for many years, with those who speak out
    against the killings risking prosecution by a Turkish court. But an
    increasing number of Turkish academics have called for a review of
    the killings in a country where many see the Ottoman Empire as a
    symbol of Turkish greatness.

    Several governments around the world have said the killings of as
    many as 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923, the late Ottoman
    Empire, were genocide.
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