Turkey reconsidering Genocide denial policy

February 15, 2010 - 17:56 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net -
Turkey is reconsidering Genocide denial policy. This is the process that we are in now, said Taner Akçam Associate Professor of History at Clark University, the author of “A Shameful Act: the Armenian Genocide and Turkish Responsibility” book.

“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.

The Armenian Genocide

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.

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

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.