Turkish history and the Armenians

Aug 4th 2005 | ANKARA 
   From The Economist print edition 



Times are tough for outspoken scholars 

IF TURKEY is ever to join the European Union, it will need to 
acknowledge-and allow free discussion of-the mass slaughter of the 
Ottoman empire's Armenian subjects both during and after the first 
world war. That, at least, is the opinion of some EU members-especially 
France, where many Armenians live, and where objections to Turkish 
entry run high. 

In theory, Turkey's rendezvous with the Union-entry talks are due 
to start in October-should be good news for the Turkish scholars 
who have risked prosecution by challenging the official line, which 
holds that the mass deportation of Armenians in 1915 did not amount 
to a conspiracy to kill them. And earlier this year, there were some 
good signs. 

After decades of denying that the killings-which Armenians round 
the world regard as genocide-ever took place, Turkey in April called 
on international scholars to determine once and for all what really 
happened, saying they were free to examine the Ottoman archives. This 
invitation from Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, won strong 
praise from EU governments. But the few intrepid souls who took him 
at his word have had nothing but trouble ever since. 

In May, a group of Turkish historians (many of whom challenge the 
official view that the main cause of death among deported Armenians 
was exposure and disease) suffered a sharp setback. They had to cancel 
a conference which was due to debate the Armenian tragedy after the 
justice minister, Cemil Cicek, accused them of "stabbing Turkey in 
the back". 

Another bad sign: Hrant Dink, the publisher of Agos, an Armenian 
weekly in Istanbul, is facing up to three years in jail for telling 
an audience in 2002 that he was "not Turkish" but "an Armenian of 
Turkey". In a separate case, also filed this year, Mr Dink is facing 
up to six years for urging Armenians and Turks to stop hating one 
another. In both instances, Mr Dink was said to have "insulted the 
Turkish state". 

How do these prosecutions square with Mr Erdogan's stated wish to take 
the sting out of Turkish-Armenian relations by allowing some honest 
research? "Easily," insists Mr Dink. "There are forces in this country 
who are working night and day to stop Turkey from joining the EU and 
part of that is silencing people like me." 

But these days, the problems of liberal Turkish scholars-and advocates 
of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation-are not all caused by their own 
country. Take the case of Yektan Turkyilmaz, an internationally 
acclaimed Turkish scholar who was arrested in Armenia on June 
17th on charges of seeking to smuggle antique books out of the 
country. Fluent in Armenian, Mr Turkyilmaz is among the few Turks 
who say the Ottoman policy in 1915 did amount to deliberate killing. 
The first Turkish academic to be granted access to Armenia's national 
archives, Mr Turkyilmaz is being held in a maximum security prison in 
Yerevan. He will face trial next month for violating Article 215 of 
the Armenian Criminal Code, which equates the smuggling of antiquities 
with trafficking in weapons of mass destruction. He could incur a 
jail sentence of up to eight years. 

Mr Turkyilmaz insists he had no idea about the law, and that the 
dealers who sold him some 100 volumes never said he would need 
permission to take them out. In an open letter to Armenia's president, 
Robert Kocharian, some 200 academics, campaigning for the historian's 
freedom, said the arrest would "raise serious doubts as to whether 
Armenia encourages independent scholarly research on its history." 

Whatever view you take of the Armenian tragedy, it can get you into 
trouble-in unexpected places. Dogu Perincek, an eccentric Turkish 
leftist, was briefly detained in Switzerland on July 23rd. The Swiss 
authorities say he breached article 261 of their penal code, which 
makes the denial or justification of genocide a punishable offence. 
Mr Perincek had told a conference that to speak of Armenian genocide 
was an "imperialist lie". Oddly enough, the Turkish authorities 
seem far more indignant about his minor travails than they are about 
Mr Turkyilmaz.