Three Turkish Voices on the Ottoman Armenians

[Tongue]

Sorry this is late notice... but I just found out.

Featured Professors:
Tener Ackam, Elif Sharak, Fatma Muge Gocek.

Sunday, November 6, 2:00 - 5:30pm
UCLA - Court of Science 50 (Young Hall)

Free and open to the public, parking is available in structure 2 for $8.

It should be very interesting... if you don't have anything to do today and you live in the LA area, try to make it.

[Gavur]

http://www.armeniangenocide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1043

[maral_m79]

Sorry this is late notice... but I just found out.

Featured Professors:
Tener Ackam, Elif Sharak, Fatma Muge Gocek.

Sunday, November 6, 2:00 - 5:30pm
UCLA - Court of Science 50 (Young Hall)

Free and open to the public, parking is available in structure 2 for $8.

It should be very interesting... if you don't have anything to do today and you live in the LA area, try to make it.

So is there any news from the lectures yet ?!

[Tongue]

So is there any news from the lectures yet ?!

I went and just got home... I was 10 minutes late (because of my friend ) and there was no room in the main lecture hall. I guess they weren't expecting this huge crowd. So many young people... people were amazed. It was great! So they opened another lecture hall and had the rest of the attendees sit there (and there were still people left outside) and once Tener Ackam was done in the first room, he came to ours. His main focus was on the Turkish documents and that not only they don't dismiss the genocide, but they actually prove it. He gave some examples. It was VERY interesting. I might write more on his speech later, I'm too tired.

Elif Shafak... her speech was unique. I loved it!!! She said in Turkey today, when they use the word "Armenian" it's a stereotype. There is no face to go with the word cause they don't know any Armenians, unlike their grand parents who grew up with them. He also said, we should try to understand why Turks are so ignorant.. the history they were taught is completely different from the reality that happened and not everyone has the ability to question the things he's already learned. She also said it's amazing how young Armenian teenagers that she sees and talk to have a memory of an old survivor... but Turkish teenagers, same age, their memory starts from 1923. They don't think what happened before that is not part of their country's history, it happened in another country, and they don't care to learn about it much. I'll probably write more on her speech later on too.

And Fatma Muge Gocek, very funny lady . She talked about the conference that was held in Turkey last month and how it kept getting cancelled and that actually 3 thousand Turkish people were interested in attending it, but only 120 attendees were allowed! She said it's a big step for Turkey. She also said people threw tomatoes and eggs at the attendees when it was finally held . She said some of her fathers friends consider her a traitor, and she said I tell my dad, I'm a scholar. I read alot - probably more than I should. Ask your friends to read my books and I'll be happy to discuss it with them but after they read my writings. She said she never hears from them again. haha.

I loved it... and best of luck to all three professors. They are very well educated in our cause and are determined to get the truth out.

BTW I didn't mention this in my original post:
Tener Akcam is from the University of Minesota.
Elif Shafak is from the University of Arizona.
And Fatma Muge Gocek is from the University of Michigan.

[Tongue]

http://www.armeniangenocide.com/foru...ead.php?t=1043

I should've browsed the foum before posting.

My bad.

[Gavur]

I'm curious was there any protests outside?
or inside .

[Tongue]

I'm curious was there any protests outside?
or inside .

No there wasn't.
Though, they said the Turkish students association at UCLA wanted to have a representative from their side present to speak at the conference, but they didn't agree. They said, this is a free country, you can hold your own conference whenever/wherever you want, and whoever's interested, will attend it.

[Tongue]

If anyone finds their exact speech, or even a summary of it, can you please post it in this thread.

[Tongue]

UCLA hosts genocide talks

By Julia Erlandson
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]

Fatma Gocek, a Turkish scholar and professor of sociology and women’s studies at the University of Michigan, discuses the Armenian genocide at UCLA on Sunday.

A conference on the Armenian Genocide held at UCLA on Sunday marked the first time Turkish scholars outside Turkey have challenged their native government's position on the genocide, organizers said.

The Armenian Genocide comprises a series of killings by the Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1918, during which as many as 1.5 million Armenians died, but the Turkish government has historically denied that a genocide occurred. The U.S. government also has not officially recognized the genocide.

About 650 to 700 people attended the event, said history Professor Richard Hovannisian, an organizer of the event and the Armenian Educational Foundation chairman in Modern Armenian History.

"This is a historic, momentous event," Hovannisian said. "It was overwhelming. This was a highly appreciative audience, obviously."

Hovannisian said he was contacted prior to the event by the UCLA Turkish Students Association, who offered to bring a speaker representing the Turkish government's point of view to the conference. Hovannisian declined.

"We know what the government of Turkey and its supporters have to say," he said.

Elif Shafak, professor of Near Eastern studies at the University of Arizona and one of the Turkish speakers at the conference, attributed the interest in the event to the strong historical memory Armenians have of the genocide, since accounts have been passed down through their families.

Turkish families, however, are much more detached from the memory of the genocide, Shafak said, and so do not have as strong of a knowledge as many Armenians do.

A bigger problem in studying the genocide is posed by the Ottoman documents from that period, said Taner Akcam, a history professor at the University of Minnesota and another Turkish speaker.

These documents have been tampered with and therefore do not contain accurate information, so anyone trying to study the genocide would have difficulty doing so and would receive skewed information, Akcam said.

Third-year psychology student Nora Kayserian attended the event and said she found it enlightening.

"They were saying a lot of things I hadn't heard before. You don't usually hear from the Turkish (perspective on the genocide)," she said.

Lerna Kayserian, a member of the Armenian National Committee, an Armenian-American grassroots political organization, agreed.

"It was historic, considering that there are not many Turkish scholars talking about this," she said. "This was a very different conference. ... Hopefully this will start a trend."

Still, not everyone praised the event. Though no protestors showed up to the conference itself, Shafak said she received threats and criticism beforehand from people and groups supporting the Turkish government's position. Via e-mail, she was insulted and accused of treason, she said.

Additionally, a Turkish nationalist Web site criticized the three scholars for going against the Turkish government's position and acknowledging the genocide, according to an article in the AZG Armenian Daily.

Fatma Gocek, professor of sociology at the University of Michigan and another Turkish speaker at the event, said she hopes conferences like this one will help create recognition for the conflict.

"As a human being, it is unbearable for me that there are people who have been wronged and who can't mourn that because of denial," she said. "(Turkish admittance of the genocide) will happen. I want it by 2015. Everyone should be able to live in the society equally with equal chances. That is what we are aiming for."

[Tongue]

Turkish Scholars Discuss Genocide With Overflow Crowd

Yerevan, November 8, Yerkir - More than 800 people flocked to UCLA Sunday, where three prominent Turkish scholars challenged the official position of their country on the Armenian genocide at a historic conference titled "Three Turkish Voices on the Ottoman Armenians"--the first time such a forum was held outside Turkey.

As reported by Asbarez, the event was sponsored by the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History and the GE Von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern studies.

Despite threats and angry reactions from some Turkish groups, the crowd filled the aisles and listened in through doorways, as the speakers agreed to a repeat presentation for those left waiting outside.

In his introductory remarks, conference organizer Professor Richard G.
Hovannisian acknowledged the speakers for breaking down the walls of denial and encouraging the free exchange of ideas in Turkey. Hovannisian also said that the time had come to abandon old stereotypes.

Taner Akcam, a well known Genocide scholar, presented "A New Assessment of Ottoman Documents," in which he used the existing Ottoman documents to corroborate and reconstruct the events of the Armenian genocide. Akcam emphasized the need to use Ottoman and foreign archives side-by-side to prove the occurrence of Genocide in 1915.

In a more individualistic approach, Elif Shafak stressed the importance of creating a more personal connection to the past for modern-day Turkish youth.

Compared to Armenians, she said, most Turks have a ruptured historical memory that does not extend past 1923. She attributed Turkish ignorance about the Genocide to this fact and also to the lack of interaction between Armenians and Turks.

The final Turkish presenter, Fatma Muge Gocek, addressed the recent Istanbul conference on Ottoman Armenians, which was originally scheduled to take place in May. The conference was canceled by the government and postponed to September after serious legal obstacles. Gocek also discussed other developments in Turkey such as people of Armenian ancestry rediscovering their past and said: "We are in this together as human beings."

After their presentations, the speakers answered questions from the crowd, many of whom wondered what the next step was in gaining Turkish recognition of the Genocide. Akcam and Gocek stressed the importance of approaching the Armenian genocide as a human rights issue that still goes on today, citing the events in Darfur. Both gave 2015 as the ideal date by which Turkey will have recognized the Genocide.