Armenian conference invites academics of all convictions to floor

March 19, 2006
Turkish Daily News

A three-day conference at an Istanbul state university last week offered the floor to dozens of academics of all convictions even though it was largely dominated by historians and officials who defend Turkey's official position on an alleged Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in the last century.

Seventy-five academics participated in the conference, titled “New Approaches to Turkish-Armenian Relations,” which came six months after an earlier gathering convened under harsh criticism, including that of a Cabinet minister.

“This conference will bring to light many points that have remained obscure. From now on, nobody will be able to simply say what they want [on the Armenian issue],” Istanbul University Rector Mesut Parlak said prior to the opening of the conference. [...].
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Organizers of this second Armenian conference said they had also invited academics who defend that there was a genocide but most of them cited various reasons for not being able to attend.
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“If we fail to explain this problem to our own people, we cannot explain it to others. In order to explain it, we should discuss it in all its aspects. It is possible to do so by giving the floor to opposite views in an academic platform within the framework of objective criteria,” Professor Şafak Ural, one of the organizers, said before the conference opened on Wednesday.
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In a positive step on the second day of the international conference, the leading Turkish historian who contests the definition of the controversial killing of the Armenians during World War I as genocide offered to conduct joint research with an Armenian researcher on the issue.

“Let's carry out a project together, dig up common graves if there are some, to put an end to numerous demagogical arguments,” said Yusuf Halaçoğlu, president of the Turkish History Society, to Ara Sarafian, a British historian of Armenian origin who describes the killing of the Armenians as “genocide.”

What a nice way Yusuf Halaçoğlu to begin discussions by qualifying those who do not agree with you as demagogues? I suppose this is part of you wanting to say what you want as academician. And in itself it is not demagoguery.

Sarafian, a researcher at the Gomidas Institute in London, said he had accepted the offer.

In a speech during the conference Sarafian defended the “Blue Book,” which was written by the British during World War I, when Britain was fighting the Ottomans.
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Şükrü Elekdağ, a retired ambassador and a deputy from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said the Blue Book was a product of propaganda and emphasized that it was U.S. Professor Justin McCarthy who “pulled the mask off of the Blue Book.” McCarthy had said that the source known as the “Blue Book” chosen by Armenians to prove their claims of genocide is one of the products of the British war propaganda bureau's efforts at misinformation during World War I.

In the first session of the conference Yair Auron, an Israeli researcher of Jewish archives from Ottoman times, openly used the term “genocide” and appealed to Turks to question their past.

Another speaker at the conference, renowned historian Professor McCarthy, said: “There are people who assert claims without doing any research. One professor alleges that such [alleged inhumane] treatment is in the character of the Turks. How stupid of a comment is that.”

How stupid is Professor McCarthy who qualifies all researches to-date on the Armenian Genocide based on one writing by a professor.

He went on to say, “No matter whether you agree or not with the participants here, their speeches are based on documents.”

Well how about the Blue Book Professor McCarthy? You sir qualified a fact as propaganda, see HERE. Now how believable are you and consequently all your research?

The three-day conference was generally quiet except for a moment of tension sparked during a book exhibition held by Sarafian, publisher of the Blue Book, on the second day of the conference.

Academic Ali Emin Özsoy reacted angrily to Sarafian, who displayed a book whose cover depicted the Turkish flag in the form of a dagger. The tension calmed down when the Sarafian removed the cover and placed it in his bag.

Well Ali Emin Özsoy, if we remove all the things that offend your sensitivities then there will be no proof to incriminate the Ottoman Turks on the Armenian Genocide. May be if you cannot stand the heat you should not be in the discussion group.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.