Gagrule.net

Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • GagruleLive
  • Armenia profile

Taner Akcam: Armenian Genocide denial can only be defeated politically

June 22, 2018 By administrator

Turkish historian Taner Akcam,

Turkish historian Taner Akcam, who has been studying the Armenian Genocide for decades, says he came across the topic by coincidence.

“When I was studying at Hamburg Institute of Social Research, my first topic was history of torture in the Ottoman Empire. This is how I started reading about the Abdul Hamid period massacre and other events related to the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Mr. Akcam said in an interview with Public Radio of Armenia.

“When I was reading I was not even aware there were Armenians living in Turkey. During that period, when I was researching on the history of torture, our institute launched a big project on Nuremberg Tribunals, on whether Nuremberg could be taken as a standard for all macro-crimes. My project was almost coming to an end, and I was looking for another topic to research, and I thought I might maybe do something on the trials in Istanbul, because I knew there was a relation between Istanbul military tribunals and Holocaust. I made the proposal without knowing how complicated the topic is. The institute accepted my proposal. And so I started working on Armenian genocide and it never ended,” he said.

Turkish historian Taner Akcam, who has been studying the Armenian Genocide for decades, says he came across the topic by coincidence.

“When I was studying at Hamburg Institute of Social Research, my first topic was history of torture in the Ottoman Empire. This is how I started reading about the Abdul Hamid period massacre and other events related to the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Mr. Akcam said in an interview with Public Radio of Armenia.

“When I was reading I was not even aware there were Armenians living in Turkey. During that period, when I was researching on the history of torture, our institute launched a big project on Nuremberg Tribunals, on whether Nuremberg could be taken as a standard for all macro-crimes. My project was almost coming to an end, and I was looking for another topic to research, and I thought I might maybe do something on the trials in Istanbul, because I knew there was a relation between Istanbul military tribunals and Holocaust. I made the proposal without knowing how complicated the topic is. The institute accepted my proposal. And so I started working on Armenian genocide and it never ended,” he said.

When in Turkey, as any common Turk and as a progressive leftist young university student, Taner Akcam knew there happened something in the past – Turks killed Armenians, Armenians killed Turks, but thought it was way back and there are more important problems to solve.

“Another important perception I had was that Turkey was actually established in a fight against great power, imperialist power, and mainly Armenians and the Greeks were with these colonialists to partition our country. So this was my mindset. Over the years during my research I changed this perception, although this was difficult. This is what I have been writing since then, that Turkey actually should face own history and acknowledge these wrongdoing,” Taner Akcam said.

Mr. Akcam does not see a perspective for Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide any time soon.

“Turkey is now in its winter again. Turkey is back up to its traditional policies, this is the original setup of the Turkish Republic, to deny the Armenian Genocide. There was an opening between 2002 and 2012, but after that Turkey went back to its traditional policies, because the ruling Justice and Democracy Party (AKP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan started to ally themselves with the traditional force in Turkey – the bureaucracy and the military, who established the Turkish republic and who are the core of the denialist policy,” the historian said.

He does not expect anything to change in Turkey regarding the Armenian genocide after the elections expected on June 24. According to him, only a small Kurdish party with about 10 percent support recognizes this as a fact, while the remaining political parties vehemently deny the Armenian Genocide. “Even if the opposition comes to power, they won’t change this traditional denialist policy.”

As for international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Mr. Akcam says only recognition by the United States could make a change.

“All other countries might have some moral impact or affect the international politics, but could hardly have any impact with regard to recognition. Why United States is different? Because if the US characterizes the events of 1915 as crimes against humanity or genocide, then legally all Armenians or all other parties can file lawsuits against Turkey in the United States, which can end with a big loss of Turkish assets in the US and even a kind of an embargo against Turkey. Legally, the American government would have to do that. This is the reason why the American government denies the recognition of the Armenian Genocide,” Mr. Akcam stated.

Taner Akcam destroys all Turkish arguments with his studies, as he presents original documents, but says that “denialism has nothing to do with academic work.”

“My recent publication was an important blow to this Turkish denialist policy. They might not continue their traditional arguments to deny the Armenian Genocide, but they will find new ways, new policies, I have no doubt about it. Denial can only be defeated politically, not academically,” he said.

In his groundbreaking new book, “Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide,” published in March Taner Akcam destroys the Turkish government’s denial strategy. The book represents an earthquake in genocide studies, particularly in the field of Armenian Genocide research.

A unique feature of the Armenian Genocide has been the long-standing efforts of successive Turkish governments to deny its historicity and to hide the documentary evidence surrounding it.

This book provides a major clarification of the often blurred lines between facts and truth in regard to these events. The authenticity of the killing orders signed by Ottoman Interior Minister Talat Pasha and the memoirs of the Ottoman bureaucrat Naim Efendi have been two of the most contested topics in this regard.

The denialist school has long argued that these documents and memoirs were all forgeries, produced by Armenians to further their claims. Taner Akcam provides the evidence to refute the basis of these claims and demonstrates clearly why the documents can be trusted as authentic, revealing the genocidal intent of the Ottoman-Turkish government towards its Armenian population.

The book includes the “smoking gun of the Armenian Genocide” – an original telegram sent from Ezrum by Behaeddin Shakir to Kharberd Governor Sabit Bey.

“Are the Armenians who were deported from there being liquidated? Are the troublesome individuals whom you have reported as having been exiled and expelled being exterminated or merely being sent off and deported? Please report back honestly,” the telegram reads.

Taner Akcam said in an earlier interview with Public Radio of Armenia that the uncovered telegram will force the Turkish government seek new ways of denying the Armenian Genocide.

The historian is now working on Jerusalem Patriarchate archives and has been working on a book project related to Armenian orphans in Aleppo in 1920-1921, as well as on Cemal Pasha. He is not confident which study will be completed and published first.

Filed Under: Articles, Books, Genocide Tagged With: Taner Akçam, Turkish historian

Taner Akçam: Turkey’s apologies for Genocide ‘not enough’ to reinstate historical justice

June 15, 2018 By administrator

Turkey’s repeated statements, offering apologies to the Armenians for the 1915 Genocide, are not absolutely enough to reinstate historical justice, a leading Turkish-German historian and genocide scholar said in Yerevan. At a public lecture delivered at the American University of Armenia (AUA), Taner Akçam stressed the urgent  need of serious efforts towards providing material redress.

“For me, as a scholar, apologies by Turkey are really enough,” he said, referring to his extensive scholarly research devoted to the topic. “But what I propose for my government, i.e. – the government of the Republic of Turkey, is to follow Germany’s example. After World War II, Germany not only acknowledged the [Jewish] Holocaust but also initiated a process with representatives of Israel and the Jewish community.

And they eventually concluded the 1952 Luxemburg Accord, which proposed tremendous compensation,” he noted.Akçam, whom the New York Times described as the “Sherlock Holmes of Armenian Genocide” in an April 2017 review, also called for a consistently serious attention to the future fight for justice. “Justice must be reinstated. This process, involving Turkey, Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora, must be finally initiated. And it must be an open debate; agreements or disagreements are really possible … but apologies alone are not enough for re-establishing justice. What matters is material redress,” the historian added.

He also admitted the impossibility of measuring the losses suffered. “It isn’t just about a certain amount of money. We can never ‘transport’ the big civilization which the Armenians created in their historical homeland. Material [values] are not something to satisfy the Armenians,” he added.

Filed Under: Articles, Genocide Tagged With: Taner Akçam, Turkey’s apologies

Taner Akçam’s new book includes ‘smoking gun’ of Armenian Genocide “Killing Orders”

January 22, 2018 By administrator

 “Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide,”

“Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide,”

By Angela Bazydlo

In his groundbreaking new book, “Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide,” due out in March, Clark University historian Taner Akçamdestroys the Turkish government’s denial strategy. Akçam includes a recently discovered document — a “smoking gun” — that points to the Ottoman government’s central role in planning the elimination of its Armenian population. Furthermore, he successfully demonstrates that the killing orders signed by Ottoman Interior Minister Talat Pasha, which the Turkish government has long discredited, are authentic.

Akçam, described as “the Sherlock Holmes of Armenian Genocide” in a New York Times article in April 2017, made these landmark discoveries in a private archive. He argues that the documents he uncovered remove a cornerstone from the denialist edifice and definitively prove the historicity of the Armenian Genocide.

“Successive Turkish governments have gone to great lengths to ensure that evidence of the intent to extinguish the Armenian people could not be located,” Akçam says. “These findings are ‘an earthquake in the field of genocide studies.’ They will make it impossible for the Turkish government to continue to deny the Armenian Genocide.”

Dirk Moses of the University of Sydney in Australia, says the book is “essential reading for all those interested in genocide and human rights studies.”

Akçam holds the Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Chair in Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark’s Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. An internationally recognized human rights activist, Akçam was one of the first Turkish intellectuals to acknowledge and openly discuss the Armenian Genocide.

Akcam has lectured widely and published numerous articles and books, translated into many languages. His 2012 book, “The Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire,” was co-winner of the Middle East Studies Association’s Albert Hourani Book Award and one of ForeignAffairs.com’s “Best Books on the Middle East.”

Akçam’s many honors include the Hrant Dink Spirit of Freedom and Justice Medal from the Organization of Istanbul Armenians and the Hrant Dink Freedom Award from the Armenian Bar Association (both in 2015), and the “Heroes of Justice and Truth” awarded at the Armenian Genocide Centennial commemoration in May 2015. The Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) recognized him as a Friend of the Armenians in 2016.

In May, he will receive the 2018 Outstanding Upstander Award from the World Without Genocide organization.

Filed Under: Books, Interviews, News Tagged With: Killing Orders, Taner Akçam

College Town: Clark prof Taner Akcam receives honors from World Without Genocide

December 31, 2017 By administrator

Clark University history professor Taner Akcam evidence to document the 1915 Armenian genocide,

By Bonnie Russell / Telegram & Gazette Staff.

Clark University history professor Taner Akcam will be honored for the decades he has spent gathering historical evidence to document the 1915 Armenian genocide, the mass killings of 1.5 million Armenians that took place at the hands of the government during the Ottoman Empire.

Mr. Akcam will be honored with the 2018 Outstanding Upstander Award from the World Without Genocide organization.

According to its website, World Without Genocide, housed at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, works “to protect innocent people around the world; prevent genocide by combating racism and prejudice; advocate for the prosecution of perpetrators; and remember those whose lives and cultures have been destroyed by violence.”

Mr. Akçam, one of the first Turkish intellectuals to acknowledge and openly discuss the Armenian genocide, holds an endowed chair at Clark’s Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. An outspoken advocate of democracy and free expression since his student days at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, he is an internationally recognized human rights activist.

“We have long admired your bold and dedicated work to document the atrocities perpetrated by the Ottoman government against the Armenian people. You have persisted in speaking out about the genocide, despite being marked for death by Turkish ultranationalists,” Ellen J. Kennedy, executive director of World Without Genocide, wrote to Mr. Akçam.

One example is Mr. Akcam’s challenging of Article 301, a provision of Turkey’s criminal code that permits the arrest of individuals who use the term “genocide” to describe the killing of about 1.5 Armenians during the Ottoman Empire. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in Mr. Akcam’s favor stating that Turkey violated his right to free expression, which was reported in an Oct. 29, 2011, Telegram & Gazette article by Bronislaus B. Kush.

Mr. Akçam presented the case in 2007, following the murder of journalist Hrant Dink, who had been convicted under Article 301.

Mr. Akçam’s most recent discovery, an Ottoman document that he states is “the smoking gun,” which demonstrates the government’s knowledge of and involvement in the systematic elimination of the Armenian population, was discussed in an article by Tim Arango published on April 22 in The New York Times.

In an email, Mr. Akcam explained that he had first discovered “a memoir of an Ottoman bureaucrat Naim Efendi, which is considered lost.” The memoir includes about 52 telegrams belonging to the Ottoman Government regarding the deportation and extermination of Armenians.

“The second discovery is a different telegram sent by a central committee member of the Union and Progress Party (which organized the genocide). The telegram is a smoking gun and includes the killing orders,” he said.

Mr. Akcam’s forthcoming book, “Killing Orders,” combines these two different areas of research to provide evidence that refutes arguments by Turkish denialists regarding the inauthenticity of the telegrams.

Previous recipients of the World Without Genocide award include Eli Rosenbaum, director of human rights enforcement strategy and policy at the U.S. Department of Justice; Claudia Paz y Paz, former Attorney General of Guatemala; and Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo, former prosecutor at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.

Mr. Akçam will formally receive the award at the organization’s annual gala in May 2018 in Minneapolis.

Filed Under: Genocide, News Tagged With: armenian genocide, Taner Akçam

Turkish historian, recognizing Armenian Genocide, meets Sevan Nisanyan

December 19, 2017 By administrator

Famous Istanbul writer of Armenian origin Sevan Nisanyan posted a photo with famous Turkish historian Taner Akçam on his Twitter account.

Sevan Nisanyan commented the photo with the words: “With Taner Akçam, in the process of creating projects concerning the future of Turkey. Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

It should be noted that Taner Akçam is the author of numerous works proving the fact of the Armenian Genocide.

Sevan Nişanyan took a vacation from prison but never showed up again. It was later found out that the Greek authorities granted him temporary residence.

Nişanyan was sentenced to 11 years in prison by the Turkish courts for illegal construction. He has always openly spoken about the Armenian Genocide and showed courageous stance.

Filed Under: Genocide, News Tagged With: Sevan Nişanyan, Taner Akçam

Turkey-Armenia rapprochement left for different spring – Taner Akcam

November 20, 2017 By administrator

Taner Akcam, a Turkish-German historian and professor, and the first academic in Turkey to openly address the Armenian Genocide issue, compares the current crisis in the country to the “dark periods” faced in 1970s-1990s.In an interview with Tert.am, Akcam shared his concerns over the continuing uncertainty, and the population’s wide support to violence and oppression.  “The developments in Turkey today are indeed very concerning – no one can figure out what will happen tomorrow. Leaving out the Ottoman period, Turkey faced similar dark periods in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, especially after the 1971 and 1980 military coups. However, there is a fundamental difference between what occurred then and what is happening now. In the past, a military regime was attacking the entirety of the population. Everyone faced oppression but everyone also knew this oppression would end sooner or later. Furthermore, these oppressive tactics did not have large popular support. Now, unfortunately, 50-60% of the population unquestioningly supports the type of oppression and violence taking place today. This mass support is the most worry-inducing factor today,” he said.

Akcam, who is honored with the  2018 Outstanding Upstander Award from the World Without Genocide organization, also addressed Turkey’s policy of denial and the differences in the public attitudes towards the Armenian Genocide recognition.

“It is difficult to speak about a single attitude of the Turkish population on the matter of the events of 1915. If we were to compare Turkey to a train, this train has many different wagons. Each wagon develops an attitude towards history in a different manner. For example, the Kurds are more inclined to accept the crimes committed in the past. Denial is more widespread among the Turks. Furthermore, the most important problems are a lack of knowledge or awareness and the ‘who cares’ attitude. Turkish society feels that there are more urgent and pressing problems to deal with and that what happened 100 years ago is less important. In the 2000s, and especially after the assassination of Hrant Dink, we experienced some important developments on the topic of opening up to facing history. However, this was also removed in the current oppressive regime. I believe that the success achieved on the civil society level is very important. However, in the short term, I do not expect any positive steps being taken by either the government or the population regarding the denial of the genocide.

Asked to comment on the Turkey-Armenia relations and President Serzh Sargsyan’s strong-worded statement regarding the 2009 Zurich Protocols (that Turkey’s  leadership is mistaken if they think those documents can be held hostage forever and ratified only at the most opportune occasion from their very point of view), the historian said he has little hope that the issue will ever be brought to the agenda.  “It seems that on the Turkish front, the protocols have long been buried. I do not think that they will be brought up again in the near future. It seems that the softening of Turkish-Armenian relations is left for a different spring…” he noted.

Filed Under: Articles, Genocide Tagged With: rapprochement, Taner Akçam, Turkey-Armenia

Authors Taner Akçam, New 2018 Book Killing Orders Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide

October 2, 2017 By administrator

This book represents an earthquake in genocide studies, particularly in the field of Armenian Genocide research. A unique feature of the Armenian Genocide has been the long-standing efforts of successive Turkish governments to deny its historicity and to hide the documentary evidence surrounding it. This book provides a major clarification of the often blurred lines between facts and truth in regard to these events.

The authenticity of the killing orders signed by Ottoman Interior Minister Talat Pasha and the memoirs of the Ottoman bureaucrat Naim Efendi have been two of the most contested topic in this regard. The denialist school has long argued that these documents and memoirs were all forgeries, produced by Armenians to further their claims. Taner Akçam provides the evidence to refute the basis of these claims and demonstrates clearly why the documents can be trusted as authentic, providing more evidence as to the intent of the Ottoman-Turkish government towards its Armenian population. As such, this work removes a cornerstone from the denialist edifice, and further establishes the historicity of the Armenian Genocide.

http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319697864

Filed Under: Books, Genocide, News Tagged With: book, Killing Orders, Taner Akçam

World Without Genocide honors Turkish scholar Taner Akcam

September 7, 2017 By administrator

Clark University history professor Taner Akcam who is among the Turkish intellectuals who recognize the Armenian Genocide will be honored with the 2018 Outstanding Upstander Award from the World Without Genocide organization for his work promoting justice and the rule of law.

He will formally receive the award at the organization’s annual gala in May of 2018 in Minneapolis.

Akcam is one of the first Turkish intellectuals to openly discuss the Armenian Genocide, he holds the only endowed chair dedicated to research and teaching on this subject.

Akcam is an outspoken advocate of democracy and free expression since his student days at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, he is an internationally recognized human rights activist.

Previous recipients of the World Without Genocide award include Eli Rosenbaum, Director of Human Rights Enforcement Strategy and Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice; Claudia Paz y Paz, former Attorney General of Guatemala; and Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo, a former prosecutor at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.

Related links:

«Աշխարհն առանց ցեղասպանության» կազմակերպությունը մրցանակ է շնորհել թուրք պատմաբանին.Ermenihaber.am
Agos: Taner Akçam’a ‘Soykırımsız Dünya’ Örgütü’nden ödül
Go Local Worcester. Clark Professor Akçam Receives ‘Upstander’ Award From World Without Genocide

Filed Under: Genocide, News Tagged With: Genocide honors, Taner Akçam

Germany The name of a shoreline dedicated to the father of Taner Akçam

September 1, 2015 By administrator

d_akcam-480x218-480x218On 29 August 2015, the municipality of Wilhelmsburg district of Hamburg, surrounded by the Elbe, inaugurated a plaque on behalf of the father of the writer and historian Taner Akcam, Dursun Akcam, born in 1930 in Ölcec near Ardahan in the east of Turkey, and died in Ankara September 19, 2003.

Dursun Akcam is a scholar, humanist, author of Comedy (1955) in which he describes life in northern Anatolia; the fight against natural disasters, hunger and misery, and the strict rules of a social system closed under pressure from religious and landowners.

As a journalist he denounced social inequality compared to the more developed regions of western Turkey by writing articles to improve the living conditions of his countrymen living in misery East regions.

Democrat, he is prohibited from publication by the military junta in 1980, accused of insulting Turkish national feelings.

arton115572-480x419Exiled in Germany until 1991, Dursun Akcam is allowed to return to Turkey. In 1999, he founded an association of human rights. After his death in 2003, suites from cancer, his family founded the “Cultural Foundation Dursun Akcam” to promote culture and improve the educational opportunities of the population of Ardahan. Will be created the first and only city library. The Foundation also organizes free performances of theater, music and workshops of folk music. It also provides financial support to students from poor families.

The plaque was dedicated to him, “Akçam Dursun Shore” is on the way he drove every day cycling Wilhelmsburg.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: father, Germany, shoreline, Taner Akçam

Turkish History Professor Taner Akcam, Said was “a shame” that Obama again avoid the term Genocide

April 22, 2015 By administrator

Noah Rayman @noahrayman,

arton17444-bb5bbPresident Barack Obama won’t use the term “genocide” in remarks Friday marking the 100th anniversary of the killing of more than a million Armenians, officials said Tuesday, igniting disappointment from critics who say the President is catering too much to Turkey. Report Time

Activists had hoped that the President would realize a 2008 campaign pledge and use the term for the first time in office, particularly as other governments and world leaders, including Pope Francis, have referred to the massacres as “genocide” in recent days.

But in a meeting with Armenian American leaders on Tuesday, administration officials said Obama would not use the term. “President Obama’s surrender to Turkey represents a national disgrace. It is, very simply, a betrayal of truth, a betrayal of trust,” ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian said in a statement Tuesday.

The Turkish government has consistently rejected the term—President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the Pope not to repeat the “mistake” of using it—and the White House has long been reluctant to risk relations with a key ally in a tumultuous region.

Taner Akcam, a history professor at Clark University who was one of the first Turkish academics to openly call the killings “genocide,” said it was “a shame” that Obama was set to again avoid the term.

“The United States is always emphasizing its exceptionalism in supporting liberal values and human rights at home and across the world,” Akcam said. “But Obama and the Americans should also recognize that one should uphold human rights not only when it’s convenient.”

Filed Under: Genocide, News Tagged With: Armenian, Genocide, Obama, Taner Akçam

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »

Support Gagrule.net

Subscribe Free News & Update

Search

GagruleLive with Harut Sassounian

Can activist run a Government?

Wally Sarkeesian Interview Onnik Dinkjian and son

https://youtu.be/BiI8_TJzHEM

Khachic Moradian

https://youtu.be/-NkIYpCAIII
https://youtu.be/9_Xi7FA3tGQ
https://youtu.be/Arg8gAhcIb0
https://youtu.be/zzh-WpjGltY





gagrulenet Twitter-Timeline

Tweets by @gagrulenet

Archives

Books

Recent Posts

  • From Revolution to Repression Pashinyan Has Reduced Armenians to ‘Toothless, Barking Dogs’
  • Armenia: Letter from the leader of the Sacred Struggle, political prisoner Bagrat Archbishop Galstanyan
  • U.S. Judge Dismisses $500 Million Lawsuit By Azeri Lawyer Against ANCA & 29 Others
  • These Are the Social Security Offices Expected to Close This Year, Musk call SS Ponzi Scheme
  • Breaking News, Pashinyan regime has filed charges against public figure Edgar Ghazaryan,

Recent Comments

  • administrator on Turkish Agent Pashinyan will not attend the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State
  • David on Turkish Agent Pashinyan will not attend the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State
  • Ara Arakelian on A democratic nation has been allowed to die – the UN has failed once more “Nagorno-Karabakh”
  • DV on A democratic nation has been allowed to die – the UN has failed once more “Nagorno-Karabakh”
  • Tavo on I’d call on the people of Syunik to arm themselves, and defend your country – Vazgen Manukyan

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in