more stories like thisThe Worcester school recently named a Turkish historian to be chairman of Armenian genocide studies.

Taner Akçam, who was imprisoned in Turkey in the 1970s for his work on the slaughter of Armenians at the end of the Ottoman period in Turkey, was selected over several candidates of Armenian descent to hold the Armenian genocide studies post and to become an associate professor in the history department.

Despite a century of friction between Turks and Armenians, Akçam’s appointment has sparked little concern in the state’s vocal Armenian community.

“My appointment is a sign of change, with symbolic meaning,” said Akçam, who is leaving a post as a visiting professor of history at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

“It is not important, the ethnic origin of the individual in this position; what is important is the approach of the individual to the historic wrongdoing,” Akçam said. “The position should not be an issue between Turks and Armenians; this is an issue between those who violated human rights and scholars and human beings who fight against abuses of human rights.”

Some local Armenians lamented that Akçam does not support Armenian claims to Turkish land and that there are not enough positions in academia to be filled by more scholars of Armenian descent.

Armenians have long called for more scholarship on the massacre of more than 1 million Armenians during and after World War I in what is modern-day Turkey.

Armenians, as well as nations including France, Argentina, and Canada have recognized the killings as genocide. But the Turkish government rejects the label and has opposed efforts in Congress to pass a genocide resolution.

The issue has led some municipalities in Massachusetts to split from the Anti-Defamation League-sponsored No Place for Hate program, because the group has been hesitant to refine its stance on what many consider genocide.

Local Armenians said they support the appointment of Akçam, who after being released from a Turkish prison received a doctorate in Germany and has since written extensively on the Armenian genocide, including his most recent book, “A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility,” published in 2006.

“It’s not troubling that he’s of Turkish descent; if anything it’s encouraging,” said Marc Mamigonian, director of programs at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research in Belmont.

“It’s important that non-Armenians be involved in this sort of work,” he said. “. . . It’s hard to miss the symbolism of it. But my hope is that this is more than just symbolic and that he will continue to make important contributions to the scholarship.”

Sharistan Melkonian, chairwoman of the Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts, said Akçam’s willingness to go to prison for his views shows the wisdom of his appointment.

“In this case, you put ethnicity aside for people who speak the truth, and that’s exactly what he has done,” Melkonian said. “This is a scholar who has distinguished himself.”

Local Turks, however, questioned Akçam’s appointment, as well as the position, which they consider biased.

“Some Armenians may be very happy with his appointment, but how productive will he be in creating an academic platform to resolve these issues?” said Erkut Gomulu, president of the Turkish American Cultural Society of New England in Boston.

“Akçam seems a little bit biased, and I don’t know how objective he will be,” Gomulu said. “I would like to see more dialogue between Turks and Armenians, but I don’t think the academician should be taking sides. He should be trying to find out what happened during that period. This seems more like a political appointment.”

Deborah Dwork, director of the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark, said Akçam was chosen from more than a dozen people who interviewed for the position. She said the appointment follows her department’s naming of Thomas Kühne, a German Catholic professor of Holocaust studies.

“Ethnic or religious identity is not crucial to any appointment,” she said. “We hire the best scholars in the pool.”

Akçam will become an associate professor and teach four classes next semester at Clark, which has about 1,900 undergraduates and 650 graduate students.

He expects to face criticism.

“I assume that I will be the target of hate by Turkish nationalists – I’m sure about that,” he said.

He said his goal is to find ways to prod both Armenians and Turks “to rectify the historic injustices.”

“This is a position to educate students and the community about the human rights abuses in the past,” he said.

“This is hard to explain to the Armenian community but the countdown process has already been started in Turkey. It is not visible from outside because the politicians are still using the “old-conventional” language. However, I would like to emphasize that the time for people like Halaçoğlu or Elekdağ is over. We will experience a change in the policy towards 1915 but I personally think that this will probably happen after the next election in 2011,” Akçam told PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

“The AKP won’t move on this issue much because they have other priorities such as a new constitution, the Kurdish issue and pushing back the military into barracks… It could be too risky for the AKP to put the Genocide issue on their agenda at this juncture,” Clark University Professor stated.

Born in the province of Ardahan, Taner Akçam graduated from Middle East Technical University in Ankara and emigrated to Germany, where he worked as a research scientist in the sociology department at the Hamburg Institute for Social Research. Akçam earned his doctorate from the University of Hannover with a dissertation on The Turkish National Movement and the Armenian Genocide Against the Background of the Military Tribunals in Istanbul Between 1919 and 1922.

Akçam’s initial research topic was the history of political violence and torture in late Ottoman and early Republican Turkey. Since 1990, however, he has focused his attention on Turkish nationalism and the Armenian Genocide, with eleven books and numerous articles to his credit.

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

To date, twenty countries and 44 U.S. states have officially recognized the events of the period as genocide, and most genocide scholars and historians accept this view. The Armenian Genocide has been also recognized by influential media including The New York Times, BBC, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

The Justice and Development Party (Turkish: Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, abbreviated AK Parti or AKP) is a Turkish political party. The AKP portrays itself as a moderate, conservative, pro-Western party that advocates a liberal market economy and Turkish membership in the European Union. In 2005, the AKP was granted observer membership in the European People’s Party. The AKP won 46.6% of the popular vote and was allocated 341 seats in the rescheduled 22 July 2007 elections. Abdullah Gül, a prominent AKP leader and former Foreign Minister, is currently the President of Turkey, while Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the head of the party and the Prime Minister.

Now I want to ask the Armenian diaspora:

‘If all the scholars of the world, including the international scholars of genocide, support your thesis of genocide, then WHY HAVE YOU SPENT THIS EFFORT TO FALSIFY ALL THESE DOCUMENTS? WHY HAVE YOU NEEDED LIES? WHY ARE YOU AFRAID OF DOCUMENTS SO MUCH? What is the reason of your strict resistance to present your thesisin historical commissions made up of historians from both sides and other countries?

What kind of a truth are you seeking? The one which exists or the one you want to imagine?

And I want to ask the world opinion:

Your sensitivity about the news condemning genocides, mass murders is appreciable. But while doing this, are you ready to be unbiased? Will you be able to discard all the prejudices the history has instilled you up till now? Will you be able to prefer scholar research rather than your prejudices?

Will you be able to acknowledge the great massacres inflicted on the Turks and Muslims by the Armenians before and after 1915 and condemn the Armenians who slaughtered the Turks and Muslims and buried them into large holes and even threw alive children into these holes in the Eastern Anatolia?(see diary of Russian Lieutenant Colonel Twerdo-Khlebof ‘I wittnessed and I Lived Through Erzurum, 1917-1918′; http://www.tsk.mil.tr/ermeni_sorunu/arsiv_belgeleriyle...).
(Ahmet Refik Altınay. İki Komite ve İki Kıtal. İstanbul, 1919;p.71-72; 321-23).
So, I am afraid, it is actually you the world opinion who faces a big examination!

*In a report prepared by the Armenian Patriarchate in 1921, the Armenians who lived on the Ottoman territory in Anatolia, Middle East and those who returned to their previous locations were shown as 644 900. It was added that the Armenians who became Muslim, who were hidden and who did not encourage to return their homes were not included but they were assumed to be 20 000 (US ARCHIVES NARA, Mikrofilm No.T1192, Roll8; Department of State Papers….,860).

*In an article published in Der Neue Orient Magazine, it was reported that the number of Armenians in Ottoman Armenia was thought to be 470 000 (including those who lived in İzmir and İstanbul but excluding the Armenians who escaped to Caucasia). Additionally more than 30 000 Armenians lived in Adana and 40 000 in Aleppo (Der Neue Orient May 1919, p.178)

*The Armenian population in Cilicia (Çukurova) was reported as 218 000 in a document dated July 1920 (US ARCHIVES NARA, Mikrofilm No: T 1192R 2;860J.01/395. Appendix. From Acting High Commissioner Dulles to the Foreign Minister).

* In a memorandum presented by Bogos Nubar Pasha, chief of the Armenian delegation in Paris Conference which started in December 1918, it was announced that 150 000 Armenians were given financial support and taken to Cilicia from Syria, by the French government (US ARCHIVES NARA T1192. Roll 4.860J.01/431).

*In a report presented to American Congress by Near East Relief (NER) dated December 31, 1921, it was reported that nearly 300 000 Armenians returned to Cilicia and they were protected by France and England. …However the poor Armenians had to escape after the French abandoned the region (US ARCHIVES NARA T1192. Roll 4.860J.01/431 and US ARCHIVES NARA M353 Roll 55. Report of the NER to the Congress for the year ending).

And here are evidences about the Armenians who returned to their houses: These Armenians cooperated with the French and English armies and fought in these armies individually wearing their uniforms. Here are archive evidences:

*Boghos Nubar Pasha: ‘In 1919 and 1920, when the Kemalists attacked to the French soldiers, the Armenians made war for France in Maraş, Haçin, Pozantı and Sis. The French succeeded to take back Antep, by the help of the Armenians. Therefore, the Armenians are an ally of France’ (USARCHIVES NARA T1192. Roll 4.860J.01/431).

*A decision made by The American Committee for the Independence of Armenia which was presented to the Lausanne Conference on January 16, 1923: ‘As the minister Bellet declared, the Armenian legionelles (lejyonerler) joined to France after being promised that autonomy would be introduced to Cilicia and therefore they occupied Cilicia in 1918 (carrying the flag of France) . (US ARCHIVES NARA T1192. Roll 4. 860J.01/562).
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*A list of the Armenians who fought in the French Army and died had been displayed under the title of ‘The Armenians who died for France’. In the list, the cities where these soldiers were born were also stated and nearly all of them were Ottoman Armenians (http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Palais/2230/ww2.html)

*’The Armenians informed the Allies that they would establish an army of 150 000 soldiers and attempt to establish an independent Armenia in the east (From Berlin November 6, 1917; vorzulegen z.G.K.:W.L.R.Nadolny. German Archives of the Foreign Ministry, Bd.48,R.14097, No.7169).

*’ Armenians massacred many Turks, in the district of Erzincan and surroundings where the Russian retreated’ (The telegram sent by Kühlmann, German ambassador of İstanbul to German Foreign Ministry. German Archives of the Foreign Ministry, Bd. 47, R.14096, No.7165, No.591)

The photo depicts the founder of the Turkish Republic, Ataturk, sitting on a chair outside a house with the corpse of a young girl with her innards exposed to the elements. Soon, the original of this photo was found by the Turks: It was a photograph of Ataturk for his wife Latife Hanım as a souvenir, posing with some ‘cute dog puppies’ at his feet. Two photos were printed in the July 1, 2005 issue of Hurriyet (http://webarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/2005/07/01/665930.asp), as ‘a forgery scandal’.

Then, what UCLA’s ethical committee did was to erase the handwritten note and doctor a photo of Armin Wengler in place of the puppies.
It is another outstanding point that no dissenting comments were ever heard. What UCLA’s ethical committee did was to erase the handwritten note and doctor a photo of Armin Wengler in place of the puppies.

6) Falcified allegations of speeches attributed to Atatürk: The first claim about Atatürk was that he was one of the witnesses, who supported Armenians in the “Court Martials” in İstanbul. In this claim, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was confused with the Chairman of the “Court Martials”, Mustafa Kemal, whose nickname was Nemrud. During the trials in İstanbul, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was in Ankara as a leader of the national struggle. James H. Tashjian, the Armenian editor of the Armenian periodic ‘The Armenian Review’ stated that Mustafa Kemal, then a Pasha, never appeared before such a tribunal, nor did he render such a statement (The Armenian Weekly Boston, Mass, USA, March 20, 1982 and The Armenian Review Volume thirty five, Autumn 1982); however James H. Tashjian was fired from his work later on.

The second claim was about the statement, which attributed to Atatürk, given to Los Angeles Examiner in 1926. However, it was proven that this claim, which was made by Armenians in various platforms, was false. There was no evidence that a Swiss journalist, who was called Emile Hilderband, came to Turkey. Moreover, it was not found a journalist named Hilderband in the documents of Swiss authorities.

The third claim about Atatürk was put forward in Yeni Binyıl newspaper on 8 October 2000. According to this claim in his speech in Turkish Grand National Assembly, on 24th of April 1920, Atatürk condemned the leaders of Jön Turks for their genocide policies. After the research of the speech records of Turkish Grand National Assembly in both open and secret sessions, it was proven that Mustafa Kemal did not make such speech.

One of the last claims about Atatürk was put forward by European Parliament, Foreign Affairs Committee’s report on Turkey on 22nd of November 2001. In the footnote of this report claimed that Mustafa Kemal gave a speech in Turkish Grand National Assembly on 10th of April 1921, in which he said Jön Turk regime followed genocide policy against Armenians in the First World War. After the research of the speech reports of Turkish Grand National Assembly, it was seen that Mustafa Kemal did not speak in Turkish Grand National Assembly in April 1920. He even did not attend any session of Assembly during April 1920.

7) A quote attributed to Adolf Hitler in which he purportedly responded to a query about his planned annihilation of European Jewry, by quipping: ‘Who, after all, speaks today of the extermination of the Armenians?’, on August 22, 1939, a few days prior to his invasion of Poland (Obersalzberg speeches).

Contrary to Richard Hovannisian and other Armenians, the Nuremberg transcripts through their preservation of U.S.-29 (798-PS), U.S.-30 (1014-PS), and the notes of Admiral Boehm (which are corroborated by the relevant passages from the diary of General Halder), in no way authenticate the infamous Hitler quote. On the contrary, by establishing the actual texts of Hitler’s Obersalzberg speeches they demonstrate that the statement is conspicuously absent from Hitler’s remarks. The assertion that Hitler made a reference to the Armenians in any context whatsoever is without foundation. (Heath W Lowry, The U.S. Congress and Adolf Hitler on the Armenians, Political Communication and Persuasion. Vol 3, No 2, 1985 Crane, Russak & Company Inc