Turkey begins self reflection over Armenia

Jan 21, 2005
Yahoo News

ISTANBUL (AFP) - While an exhibition in Istanbul devoted to the daily life of the Armenians in Anatolia at the start of the 20th century is breaking attendance records, Turkish society is beginning to reflect on the Armenian question, erased from official history for the past 90 years.

"In Turkey, history has always been taught about one people -- the Turks, as if there had never been any other people on the territory. When we speak of Armenians, they are not described as an integral group of society but as a source of problems," explained Osman Koker, exhibition director.

"It's to fill this void, because I have an 11-year-old daughter who is getting this kind of education at school, that I have decided to publish a book and put on this exhibition," said Koker, an historian turned editor.

"Without this realisation, it will remain impossible to discuss the events of 1915," he said, referring to the Armenian massacres committed between 1915 and 1917 by the Ottoman armies.

Several state-subsidised organisations continue to conduct research aimed at showing that if there was a genocide, it was more likely committed by Armenians against the Turks.

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