USF hosts Turkish scholar’s lecture on Armenian Genocide

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish scholar Taner Akçam, a Clark University professor who studies the Armenian Genocide, spoke about Turkish interpretations of the Genocide at University of South Florida second annual Armenian Studies symposium, hosted by the USF Library's Holocaust and Genocide Center, The Oracle reports.

In 2009, Akçam's name was one of five listed in a file that was confiscated by Turkish police from a Turkish ultra-nationalist organization, Ergenekon, which is composed mostly of Genocide deniers. Akçam and the four other men on the list were assassination targets.

Some of the other men on the assassination list are in jail now, Akçam said. One was assassinated. The police intercepted the list just in time, he said, before he was killed for his work.

"One can, therefore, draw that conclusion that to be outspoken about the Armenian Genocide is to be considered a threat by certain groups," he said.

Akçam has written 11 books on the genocide and has spoken about it for about 21 years, making him a prime target by groups who deny the existence of the Armenian Genocide.

Mark Greenberg, director of the Library's Holocaust and Genocide center, said he invited Akçam to speak because "the number of Turkish scholars who speak openly in support of recognizing the Armenian Genocide is very small."

Akçam said if it were illegal to discuss slavery or the displacement of Native Americans in the U.S., it would mirror the current situation in Turkey.

"What we have here in the U.S., we should demand the exact same thing for Turkey," he said. "Can you imagine that the federal government websites, where these historic events are uniformly, slavery and Native American cases were referred to as ‘so called' or ‘alleged' and filled with openly racist, hate-filled propaganda, or that forcing American children and Native American children to watch films denying that slavery of Africans or subjugation of Native Americans ever took place would be viewed here in this country as secure?"

Rachel May, director of the USF Institute for the Study of Latin America and the Caribbean, spoke after Akçam and said a main issue in today's society is acknowledging genocide when it happens. "The issue here is calling it ‘genocide,'" she said. "The implications are fairly straightforward: Those who deny it are on the other side of the wall."

Merrell Dickey, the USF Library's director of development, said the USF Holocaust & Genocide Studies Center, founded in 2008, is working toward raising grant money to fund future speakers and expand the Armenian Studies program at USF.

"We want to really bring alive the implications of genocide and the denial of genocide and holocaust," he said. "(By) understanding today we do not continue to violate human rights, we heal the past."