|
There is no moresensitive issue in Turkey's
20thcentury history. The country's most celebrated
writer faces jail for mentioning it. But this
weekend Bosphorus University plans to go ahead with
a conference, on the fate of Turkish Armenians at
the end of the Ottoman empire, that has been delayed
for months after a government minister accused the
university of treason.
The meeting will be the first to discuss the issue
outside official control and will be closely watched
for any hint that Turkey's democratic credentials
fail to meet the standards expected of a candidate
for European Union membership.
As it prepares to begin the long process of joining
the EU, Ankara seems ready to address many
contentious issues, such as Cyprus or the plight of
the country's ethnic Kurds. But it appears paralysed
on the question of the Armenians.
Armenia claims that 1.5m Armenians died as a result
of genocide by Ottoman troops beginning in 1915,
before the republic of Turkey was created. Turkey
maintains the death toll was much lower and that the
deaths were caused by deportation, war and hunger.
Many historians and some governments take Armenia's
side.
Two recent events highlight the sensitivity of the
issue and what could be at stake in this weekend's
conference, which will be attended and addressed
solely by Turkish historians. When the university
announced the gathering, to be held originally in
late May, there were fierce protests by republican
and nationalist politicians and academics at other
universities and a government minister accused the
institution of "stabbing the country in the back".
The university capitulated, worried that hundreds of
students from universities in Anatolia, which are
far more nationalist than Bosphorus, would descend
on the conference and disrupt the proceedings. It
rescheduled the conference for this weekend, with
far less publicity and a heightened sense of
security.
The second event, which has given the conference
proceedings added significance, is the prosecution
of Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's most celebrated writer.
Earlier this year he told a foreign magazine that
"30,000 Kurds and 1m Armenians were killed in these
lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it". He
has now been charged with the "public denigration of
Turkish identity" for this statement, and faces up
to three years in jail if convicted in a trial set
for December.
The fact that this weekend's conference is going
ahead is a small victory for civil rights in Turkey,
while Mr Pamuk's prosecution is a large setback.
It is possible to discuss Armenia today in a way
that was not possible five years ago, some
commentators say, but only on certain terms. Ragip
Duran, a journalist and communications lecturer at
Galatasaray University who has been jailed for his
work, says: "It is OK to talk about sensitive issues
[such as Armenia], but only in a certain national
context. The Orhan Pamuk case is the best example of
the breaking of this taboo."
The conference is not adopting Mr Pamuk's
provocative stance. Ayhan Aktar, a professor at
Marmara University who will attend, says it is not
aimed specifically at discussing or endorsing the
genocide claim, as some of its critics alleged in
May, although participants may choose to do so. The
title of the proceedings - Ottoman Armenians during
the era of Ottoman decline - is neutral.
Still, it is significant that the conference is
going ahead before October 3, when Turkey begins its
EU accession process.
The controversy in May rattled the government,
despite the contribution to the affair of Cemil
Cicek, the justice minister, who made the "treason"
allegation against Bosphorus University.
Several participating academics say the government,
which likes to trumpet its pluralist instincts,
urged the university to reschedule the event for
this weekend.
Nonetheless, ministers are being careful not to be
identified too closely with the event and the
publicity it is sure to generate. According to the
university, there will be no official presence.
That is unlikely to affect the quality of the
debate. But whether it affects the public perception
of the conference and its findings remains to be
seen.
www.ft.com
Top |
® 