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Scholars Speak Out Against Legitimizing Genocide Deniers
http://asbarez.com/110550/scholars-speak-out-against-legitimizing-genocide-deniers/
Friday, June 7th, 2013
Genocide denial
[The] willingness to ascribe to the deniers and their myths the legitimacy
of a point of view is of as great, if not greater,
concern than are the activities of the deniers themselves.
- Deborah Lipstadt
WATERTOWN, Mass. (Armenian Weekly) - The participation of a number of
Armenian studies and genocide studies scholars in the conference `The
Caucasus at the Imperial Twilight' in Tbilisi, Georgia, organized by
Prof. M. Hakan Yavuz of the University of Utah and sponsored by the
Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) has generated a controversy in the
diaspora as well as in Armenia over the enabling of genocide denial.
The individual and organization at the heart of this conference have
for much of the past decade been actively engaged in efforts to extend
denial of the Armenian genocide into academia as well as in the
political realm in North America.
Since 2009, the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA), established in
2007, has pumped at least $900,000 into the Yavuz-directed Utah
Turkish Studies Project as a continuation of the decades-long campaign
to deny, diminish, or otherwise distort the history of the Armenian
Genocide. Denial within academia has reached new heights through the
publication of genocide denying books by the Utah University Press and
other outlets and the organization of four (2010-2013) conferences of
which the most recent is the conference in Tbilisi.
The TCA has also lobbied aggressively to block recognition of the
Armenian genocide and has engaged in legal actions against, most
notoriously, the University of Minnesota and its Center for Holocaust
and Genocide Studies (CHGS). The suit alleged defamation because the
CHGS website had identified the TCA as an `unreliable' source on the
Armenian genocide that engaged in genocide denial. The suit was
dismissed and the dismissal upheld, with the decision stating that
`the Center's statement about the TCA is true and, therefore, not
actionable.' In addition, in 2011 the U.S. House of Representatives
Ethics Committee ruled that the TCA had provided some $500,000 in
improper gifts in the form of legal counsel to now former Ohio
Representative Jean Schmidt.
A key element of the TCA's mission is to normalize the presentation of
denial of the Armenian Genocide within academia. This approach seeks
to establish the Turkish state's denialist narrative as a legitimate
historical viewpoint, as just another scholarly `perspective.' In
order to succeed, however, they need legitimate scholars to function
as `the other side.'
By participating in the Tbilisi conference, scholars, whether
intentionally or not, are providing just that `other side' of the
`debate' over the Armenian genocide, argued several prominent scholars
contacted by the Armenian Weekly.
Prof. Richard Hovannisian
`I learned a long time ago that providing a platform for deniers,
under any guise, is a serious mistake because it affords them a claim
to legitimacy. It is no less harmful to the cause of serious
scholarship to participate in a conference organized and sponsored by
a deceptive university professor and an organization that has
repeatedly supported the publication of denial literature and
initiated legal proceedings against institutions that exclude denial
materials from their programs,' said Prof. Richard Hovannisian, former
holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian
History at UCLA.
`No matter how well-intended it may be, participation in such a
conference confers on those behind it an unmerited status as partners
in a scholarly dialogue when, I believe, the real purpose is to create
doubt and undermine honest scholarly investigation,' added Prof.
Hovannisian.
Prof. Roger Smith
Prof. Roger Smith, a founding member of the International Association
of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) and a former president of the association,
concurred. `Invitations to conferences such as the one organized by
Hakan Yavuz of the University of Utah, a university that has numerous
graduate students who are churning out denial of the Armenian
Genocide, are simply lures and traps,' he said. `Lures in the sense
that it gives the appearance of welcoming dissenting views and appears
to offer an opportunity to refute the narrative upheld by `historians
who hold other views of what took place in 1915.' It suggests a debate
and an assessment of the evidence: a normal process in scholarly
inquiry. Some scholars may, not unreasonably, jump at the bait, and
hope to dislodge the claims of those who argue that the Genocide never
took place, that the Young Turk regime is not responsible for whatever
happened, and that, in any case, the term `genocide' is not applicable
for a variety of reasons. But the trap is when such well-known,
non-denialist, scholars participate in such conferences, they
inescapably offer legitimacy to the whole conference, to its
framework. And that is precisely what the organizers seek: the
appearance of legitimacy for bogus history,' he added.
Marc Mamigonian
Marc Mamigonian, the Director of Academic Affairs of the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), said, `Deniers
have already hijacked the discussion of the Armenian genocide to an
unhealthy extent through their efforts to manufacture doubt about
established historical facts. Participating in forums organized and
funded by individuals and entities who promote the Turkish state's
denial of the Armenian genocide only contributes to the myth of a
scholarly debate. This also undermines scholars who strive to create
honest scholarship in the face of denial and intimidation. Denial - even
if it carries a university imprint - must not legitimized and granted a
place at the same table as scholarship, because it does not belong
there.'
Prof. Keith Watenpaugh
Prof. Keith Watenpaugh, Associate Professor of Modern Islam, Human
Rights and Peace at UC Davis, said, `The Turkish Studies Project (TSP)
at the University of Utah, which is the sponsor of this conference is
funded by the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA). As a federal judge
recently ruled, the TCA is a denialist organization. It uses its money
and relationship with the University of Utah to support Armenian
Genocide denial through publications and through conferences like the
one in Tbilisi. Given the genocide denial framework established by the
TSP and its director, the Political Scientist M. Hakan Yavuz, the
participation by scholars - Armenian or otherwise - cannot help but lend
legitimacy to its broader denialist enterprise. I would not
participate in something like this. I am reluctant to criticize the
few Armenian scholars who did participate, because I stand in
solidarity with all those who resist denial and its corrosive effects,
even if I don't agree with the way they go about doing it.'
Watenpaugh added, `Instead we should be asking questions about the
continued relationship between the University of Utah and the TCA. It
is hard for me to understand why an important American research
university would lend its good name to a political organization that
seeks to violate academic freedom by, for example, bringing suit
against the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the
University of Minnesota, and by promoting the falsification of history
through its grants and political advocacy. The real issue here is the
fact that the University of Utah has provided an institutional home to
genocide denial.'
`Armenians and others should be confident that there are more and
better venues of interchange between Turks and Armenians in which
elements of their shared past can be examined honestly and in a
framework of legitimate historical enquiry. In fact scholarship on
late-Ottoman Armenian society and history is one of the most vital
fields of history today and the Armenian Genocide is firmly
established in the global history of human rights and genocide
studies,' Watenpaugh concluded.
Prof. Debórah Dwork
In turn, Prof. Debórah Dwork, the Director of the Strassler Center for
Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, told the Armenian
Weekly that `there is no reason - none! - to engage genocide deniers,
whether they are deniers of the Armenian Genocide or of the Holocaust,
or of any other genocide.' She explained, `A conference or debate
offers them an arena to make their arguments. Why would I offer them
such an arena? Speaking to them, or arguing with them elevates them to
the status of legitimate scholars, and their positions to the status
of legitimate history. We are not equals and there aren't two
legitimate, equally historically valid `sides.''
According to Prof. Dwork, `engaging with deniers allows them to set
the issues to be discussed; it allows them to hijack the historical
account. Why should I talk about the points they wish to raise? And
please, would someone tell me why I should I waste my time refuting
their arguments? Time is the coin of the scholarly realm, and if we
spend it on deniers, we are not moving our research forward.' She
concluded, `Engaging with deniers thus undermines history thrice over:
it offers them a platform; it confers legitimacy upon them, and it
diverts scholars from their own research which, of course, plumbs
precisely the genocide the deniers refute.'
http://asbarez.com/110550/scholars-speak-out-against-legitimizing-genocide-deniers/
Friday, June 7th, 2013
Genocide denial
[The] willingness to ascribe to the deniers and their myths the legitimacy
of a point of view is of as great, if not greater,
concern than are the activities of the deniers themselves.
- Deborah Lipstadt
WATERTOWN, Mass. (Armenian Weekly) - The participation of a number of
Armenian studies and genocide studies scholars in the conference `The
Caucasus at the Imperial Twilight' in Tbilisi, Georgia, organized by
Prof. M. Hakan Yavuz of the University of Utah and sponsored by the
Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) has generated a controversy in the
diaspora as well as in Armenia over the enabling of genocide denial.
The individual and organization at the heart of this conference have
for much of the past decade been actively engaged in efforts to extend
denial of the Armenian genocide into academia as well as in the
political realm in North America.
Since 2009, the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA), established in
2007, has pumped at least $900,000 into the Yavuz-directed Utah
Turkish Studies Project as a continuation of the decades-long campaign
to deny, diminish, or otherwise distort the history of the Armenian
Genocide. Denial within academia has reached new heights through the
publication of genocide denying books by the Utah University Press and
other outlets and the organization of four (2010-2013) conferences of
which the most recent is the conference in Tbilisi.
The TCA has also lobbied aggressively to block recognition of the
Armenian genocide and has engaged in legal actions against, most
notoriously, the University of Minnesota and its Center for Holocaust
and Genocide Studies (CHGS). The suit alleged defamation because the
CHGS website had identified the TCA as an `unreliable' source on the
Armenian genocide that engaged in genocide denial. The suit was
dismissed and the dismissal upheld, with the decision stating that
`the Center's statement about the TCA is true and, therefore, not
actionable.' In addition, in 2011 the U.S. House of Representatives
Ethics Committee ruled that the TCA had provided some $500,000 in
improper gifts in the form of legal counsel to now former Ohio
Representative Jean Schmidt.
A key element of the TCA's mission is to normalize the presentation of
denial of the Armenian Genocide within academia. This approach seeks
to establish the Turkish state's denialist narrative as a legitimate
historical viewpoint, as just another scholarly `perspective.' In
order to succeed, however, they need legitimate scholars to function
as `the other side.'
By participating in the Tbilisi conference, scholars, whether
intentionally or not, are providing just that `other side' of the
`debate' over the Armenian genocide, argued several prominent scholars
contacted by the Armenian Weekly.
Prof. Richard Hovannisian
`I learned a long time ago that providing a platform for deniers,
under any guise, is a serious mistake because it affords them a claim
to legitimacy. It is no less harmful to the cause of serious
scholarship to participate in a conference organized and sponsored by
a deceptive university professor and an organization that has
repeatedly supported the publication of denial literature and
initiated legal proceedings against institutions that exclude denial
materials from their programs,' said Prof. Richard Hovannisian, former
holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian
History at UCLA.
`No matter how well-intended it may be, participation in such a
conference confers on those behind it an unmerited status as partners
in a scholarly dialogue when, I believe, the real purpose is to create
doubt and undermine honest scholarly investigation,' added Prof.
Hovannisian.
Prof. Roger Smith
Prof. Roger Smith, a founding member of the International Association
of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) and a former president of the association,
concurred. `Invitations to conferences such as the one organized by
Hakan Yavuz of the University of Utah, a university that has numerous
graduate students who are churning out denial of the Armenian
Genocide, are simply lures and traps,' he said. `Lures in the sense
that it gives the appearance of welcoming dissenting views and appears
to offer an opportunity to refute the narrative upheld by `historians
who hold other views of what took place in 1915.' It suggests a debate
and an assessment of the evidence: a normal process in scholarly
inquiry. Some scholars may, not unreasonably, jump at the bait, and
hope to dislodge the claims of those who argue that the Genocide never
took place, that the Young Turk regime is not responsible for whatever
happened, and that, in any case, the term `genocide' is not applicable
for a variety of reasons. But the trap is when such well-known,
non-denialist, scholars participate in such conferences, they
inescapably offer legitimacy to the whole conference, to its
framework. And that is precisely what the organizers seek: the
appearance of legitimacy for bogus history,' he added.
Marc Mamigonian
Marc Mamigonian, the Director of Academic Affairs of the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), said, `Deniers
have already hijacked the discussion of the Armenian genocide to an
unhealthy extent through their efforts to manufacture doubt about
established historical facts. Participating in forums organized and
funded by individuals and entities who promote the Turkish state's
denial of the Armenian genocide only contributes to the myth of a
scholarly debate. This also undermines scholars who strive to create
honest scholarship in the face of denial and intimidation. Denial - even
if it carries a university imprint - must not legitimized and granted a
place at the same table as scholarship, because it does not belong
there.'
Prof. Keith Watenpaugh
Prof. Keith Watenpaugh, Associate Professor of Modern Islam, Human
Rights and Peace at UC Davis, said, `The Turkish Studies Project (TSP)
at the University of Utah, which is the sponsor of this conference is
funded by the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA). As a federal judge
recently ruled, the TCA is a denialist organization. It uses its money
and relationship with the University of Utah to support Armenian
Genocide denial through publications and through conferences like the
one in Tbilisi. Given the genocide denial framework established by the
TSP and its director, the Political Scientist M. Hakan Yavuz, the
participation by scholars - Armenian or otherwise - cannot help but lend
legitimacy to its broader denialist enterprise. I would not
participate in something like this. I am reluctant to criticize the
few Armenian scholars who did participate, because I stand in
solidarity with all those who resist denial and its corrosive effects,
even if I don't agree with the way they go about doing it.'
Watenpaugh added, `Instead we should be asking questions about the
continued relationship between the University of Utah and the TCA. It
is hard for me to understand why an important American research
university would lend its good name to a political organization that
seeks to violate academic freedom by, for example, bringing suit
against the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the
University of Minnesota, and by promoting the falsification of history
through its grants and political advocacy. The real issue here is the
fact that the University of Utah has provided an institutional home to
genocide denial.'
`Armenians and others should be confident that there are more and
better venues of interchange between Turks and Armenians in which
elements of their shared past can be examined honestly and in a
framework of legitimate historical enquiry. In fact scholarship on
late-Ottoman Armenian society and history is one of the most vital
fields of history today and the Armenian Genocide is firmly
established in the global history of human rights and genocide
studies,' Watenpaugh concluded.
Prof. Debórah Dwork
In turn, Prof. Debórah Dwork, the Director of the Strassler Center for
Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, told the Armenian
Weekly that `there is no reason - none! - to engage genocide deniers,
whether they are deniers of the Armenian Genocide or of the Holocaust,
or of any other genocide.' She explained, `A conference or debate
offers them an arena to make their arguments. Why would I offer them
such an arena? Speaking to them, or arguing with them elevates them to
the status of legitimate scholars, and their positions to the status
of legitimate history. We are not equals and there aren't two
legitimate, equally historically valid `sides.''
According to Prof. Dwork, `engaging with deniers allows them to set
the issues to be discussed; it allows them to hijack the historical
account. Why should I talk about the points they wish to raise? And
please, would someone tell me why I should I waste my time refuting
their arguments? Time is the coin of the scholarly realm, and if we
spend it on deniers, we are not moving our research forward.' She
concluded, `Engaging with deniers thus undermines history thrice over:
it offers them a platform; it confers legitimacy upon them, and it
diverts scholars from their own research which, of course, plumbs
precisely the genocide the deniers refute.'