ARMENIAN ISSUE CONFERENCE STARTED IN ISTANBUL

PanARMENIAN.Net - Two-day international conference titled "Ottoman Armenians During the Decline of the Empire: Issues of Scientific Responsibility and Democracy" started in the Bilgi University in Istanbul September 24. The building is guarded by the police and strict security measures have been undertaken. However several hundreds of nationalists are holding a protest action in the neighborhood. "The meeting is illegal. We will prevent it," a representative of a Turkish right wing party stated. To remind, the conference was scheduled for September 23. However one of the Turkish courts has complied with the suit of the Union of Lawyers and banned the meeting. Earlier it was supposed to hold the conference in May but it was delayed since Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek called the idea "the dagger stuck into the back of the Turkish nation." Some people voiced opinion that Turkish historians are oppressed and deprived of the possibility to express their scientific viewpoint. The majority knows that the conference was barred over the possibility of discussion of the Armenian Genocide issue. Meanwhile Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the court resolution and called it incompatible with the norms of democracy and civilized society. Spokesperson for the EU Commissioner for Enlargement Krisztina Nagy characterized the court decision as a «recurrent provocation», IA Regnum reported.