Turkish archives may shed light on history of 30 countries

24.09.2007
Today's Zaman, Turkey

ERCAN YAVUZ ANKARA

I find this frank admission below:

"Since access to the state archives became forbidden or restricted, many archived documents were either damaged or lost. The bill contains tight measures against such acts. Any person who steals, destroys or removes documents from the state archives may be sentenced to one to six years in prison and fined up to YTL 5,000."

I wonder which documents were these. See Missing Ottoman Archival Records on the Armenian Genocide, 1915.

The General Directorate of State Archives and the Turkish Historical Society (TTK) have conducted joint work to classify the Ottoman archives.

This classification showed that Ottoman archives contained records and documents that contain important information about the history of 30 countries, established after the disintegration of the Ottoman State. Upon request, these documents and records will be provided to the respective countries. Translation of the archives into English, German and French has already started. The classification work has been under progress for many years and it is about to be finalized to a great extent. During this work, important documents and records have been unearthed which will shed light on the history of not only Turkey, but also of 30 countries in the Balkans, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

In particular, it was discovered that the Ottoman archives contained very important documents and records pertaining to Armenia, about which Turkey offered to open all archives to international researchers in connection with the so-called Armenian genocide.

The records in the Ottoman archives cover 400-500 years of the history of these countries, which include Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Romania, Moldova, Macedonia, Greece, Albania, Georgia, Armenia and Cyprus. Officials from the General Directorate of State Archives note that the number of countries that make use of the Ottoman archives had been low, adding that individual researchers will now be given access to the archives.

National archives bill

The bill on national archives, prepared after the conclusion of research and classification work in the Ottoman archives, is expected to be enacted after the opening of the Turkish Parliament on Oct. 1. During the previous parliamentary term, the bill had been negotiated at the parliamentary Plan and Budget Commission, which referred it to a sub-commission. The government is preparing to enact this bill as soon as Parliament reconvenes. This bill will ensure that the archives are handled in accordance with scientific methods.

Since access to the state archives became forbidden or restricted, many archived documents were either damaged or lost. The bill contains tight measures against such acts. Any person who steals, destroys or removes documents from the state archives may be sentenced to one to six years in prison and fined up to YTL 5,000.

The bill empowers the General Directorate of State Archives for the determination of archive documents and documents capable of being archived, their protection, their usage in line with national and public interests and their elimination and destruction when necessary.

Documents produced by public organizations and institutions except those of the Presidency, the Parliament, the General Staff, the Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) will be archived by the General Directorate of State Archives. The records of the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) and the Turkish Aviation Association (THK) will also be archived.

Archived documents will not be taken out of the archive buildings or the places where they are kept. Permission of the general director will be required for their display at exhibitions or other scientific or cultural activities.

The documents archived at the General Directorate or other archive buildings will be opened for access 30 years after their first processing and classification. Real or corporate persons will not be allowed to keep archive documents other than those relating to their correspondence with public authorities, nor sell, purchase, reproduce, destroy or make them accessible to third parties.

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.