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Anatolia news agency, Ankara, in English
24 Sep 05
TURKISH ACADEMICS VIEW ASPECTS OF "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE"
Istanbul, 24 September: Associate Professor Halil Berktay of Sabanci
University said on Saturday [24 September] that the word "genocide"
should be left aside and noted that everybody should try to
understand what had happened in 1915 and 1916. The conference
entitled "The Armenians during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire" is
being held at Istanbul's Bogazici University.
During the conference, Prof Fikret Adanir of Faculty of History in
German Ruhr University said, "A Turkish government may have to accept
genocide accusation one day due to impositions. This may please some
circles. But I don't think a concession made as a result of such
impositions will be beneficial for the future of Turkish-Armenian
relations." Adanir said that "he was using the expression 'Armenian
genocide' in his academic works", and added, "The dimension of the
1915-16 relocation is far beyond than mass killings. A whole nation,
regardless of whether they were women, men, elderly or children, were
relocated and died on the roads. Their properties were seized, while
those who survived this incident were not allowed to return. There
was an Armenian nationalism and a project to establish an Armenian
state. Majority of the Ottoman Armenians might have a sympathy
towards the enemies of the state (Ottoman Empire) those days. But all
these cannot compensate the tragedy which was intentionally caused by
the Ottoman government and which it (the empire) ignored."
On the other hand, Associate Professor Oktay Ozel of Bilkent
University said that days between the War of 93 and 1923 was a period
of tension and clashes. "At the end of this period, the Black Sea
region was purified from non-Muslim population," added Ozel.
24 Sep 05
TURKISH ACADEMICS VIEW ASPECTS OF "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE"
Istanbul, 24 September: Associate Professor Halil Berktay of Sabanci
University said on Saturday [24 September] that the word "genocide"
should be left aside and noted that everybody should try to
understand what had happened in 1915 and 1916. The conference
entitled "The Armenians during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire" is
being held at Istanbul's Bogazici University.
During the conference, Prof Fikret Adanir of Faculty of History in
German Ruhr University said, "A Turkish government may have to accept
genocide accusation one day due to impositions. This may please some
circles. But I don't think a concession made as a result of such
impositions will be beneficial for the future of Turkish-Armenian
relations." Adanir said that "he was using the expression 'Armenian
genocide' in his academic works", and added, "The dimension of the
1915-16 relocation is far beyond than mass killings. A whole nation,
regardless of whether they were women, men, elderly or children, were
relocated and died on the roads. Their properties were seized, while
those who survived this incident were not allowed to return. There
was an Armenian nationalism and a project to establish an Armenian
state. Majority of the Ottoman Armenians might have a sympathy
towards the enemies of the state (Ottoman Empire) those days. But all
these cannot compensate the tragedy which was intentionally caused by
the Ottoman government and which it (the empire) ignored."
On the other hand, Associate Professor Oktay Ozel of Bilkent
University said that days between the War of 93 and 1923 was a period
of tension and clashes. "At the end of this period, the Black Sea
region was purified from non-Muslim population," added Ozel.