|
© 2008 ARMENICA.ORG
|
Print
|
|
|
The earlier categorical denial of Turkey had been replaced in the 1980s with a vague admission regarding the occurrences of some massacres, but only allowing that 300,000 Armenians had lost their lives. The Turkish stance adjusted again at the end of the 20th century when the question of the genocide repeatedly occurred on the political agenda of European countries, and in particular within the EU, to which Turkey wished to gain membership. In defence, Turkey claimed that, whilst the number of Armenian victims numbered at most a couple of tens of thousands, between 1915 and 1919 the Armenians had massacred approximately 2,100,000 Turks and other Muslim citizens in the Ottoman Empire. In other words, Turkey was the real victim, not Armenia. The chairman of the Turkish Historical Association, Professor Yusuf Halacoglu, claimed that 438 758 Armenians had been subjected to compulsory emigration and 382,148 of them had reached their destinations safely. Thus the total number of the victims of the "so-called genocide" was merely 56,610. 3 In 2003, he uncovered a grave in the village of Gedikli, in the presence of western reporters and researchers, which he claimed to contain the remains of 150 Turks who had fallen victim to Armenian violence. He asserted that there were many similar graves. "Through these graves we have proved that the Armenians massacred the Turks" claims Halacoglu, "If they have similar proof, let them show it to us. They should say ‘They massacred us here. There is a mass-grave here' so that we can open it and take a look inside." 4
Professor Halacoglu represents the elite of Turkish intellectuals in the field of historical research (his work is frequently used by the Turkish foreign ministry as a reference source in "the Armenian Question"), who argue against the existence of the genocide for the reasons above. By the end of the 20th century, however, certain people inside Turkey were daring to reconsider the "so-called genocide". During a government sponsored seminar, entitled "Unfounded accusations about the Armenian Genocide", which was held on June 3, 2003, in Elbeyli district in the province of Killis (south eastern Turkey), some bravely speculated on the consequences that recognition might bring. Hulya Akpinar, member of the executive committee of the teacher's association in Elbeyli, quoted Taner Akcam, a well known Turkish researcher within the field. On May 25 of the same year, Akcam had posed the following hypothetical question in an article: "If the powerful lobbies manage to achieve recognition of the Armenian Genocide, has Turkey any policy in response?" According to the local officials, the question infuriated Professor Mehmet Kabacik, who hissed with rage: "Who do you think you are?" The teacher was arrested but freed on bail so that later, together with his colleagues, he could be charged with "disturbance of the general order". The teacher's association in Ankara diffused the situation and claimed that the local media had exaggerated the entire incident. 5
|
|
3) Turkish Daily News, Death Toll for Armenians is 56 610, Ankara, February 5, 2001
4) Habib Güler and Emin Oztop, Armenian Masacare of Turks Revealed After 84 Years, Tidningen Zaman, Igdir, Turkiet, May 28, 2003
5) Adnan Keskin, Article in Radikal, Turkiet, June 4, 2003, Published in Groong
|
|
|
