Taner Akcam
Taner Akcam, is a political dissident. He was member of Revolutionary path in 70s.
His ethnicity is not important, he has the same diaspora feeling(right or wrong thats not the point) like the Armenian political diaspora leaders.
I had the chance to listen him in Austin, Texas.
BEcause of his background he can not be objective on this issue(as you might see it is hard to find unbiased study on this because it is highly politicized).
THis issue for this reason should be left to open historical studies apart from political influence.
I personally prefer Roland SUny of university of Chicago(he is an Armenian and a supporter of Genocide claims) or Gerard Libardian( i think he is from NYU) another Armenian historian over Taner Akcam.
During his conference at University of Texas my friend asked him about the Crimean Genocide against Tatar Turks(Akcam was saying studying Armenian genocide is an humanitarian duty or something like that), why Taner Akcam is not interested in those part of history(may be thats done by his comrade Stalin thats why).
As you see Armenians can only find political dissidents noone else.
This is not to discredit him, but this what he is. There are important historians in Turkey, ask your own Armenian historians about their credits.
I recommend you, Prof Halil Inalcik, or Prof. Cemal Kafadar.
I know your first reaction, would be these historian are TUrkish version supporters. For this reason I challange you to ask these names to your own historians before your expected(but not suprising) reactions.
One other thing. Who would ever hear the name Prof. Taner Akcam if he hadnt study Armenian events???
He studies an event which is highly politisized and popular the Armenian sense. So you can see him on TVs radios, newspaper interviews etc etc. What kind of scientific merit does he have other than studying a popular topic?
I suggest you guys to find historians who are known by their studies on the the science of history, not *popular* history.
An other question is, does Taner Akcam have the ability to study Ottoman Archieves?
So Taner Akcam being a political diaspora and dissident + study same resources as the Armenians do(or given by Armenians) could arrive any other conclusion than official Armenian version??
Maybe Taner Akcam differs 2 things from Armenian version
1) He also acknowledges(very rarely) European involvement, and asks Europe(including France, britain etc) to claim their share of responsibilty
2) He opposed land raparations, land to be given to state of Armenia.
As you can see these are very little to do with history but mostly political conclusions of this problem. He is mostly %100 with Armenian version.
PS: I remember also that his wife is Armenian, but I am not sure, just correct me if I am wrong ok?
Taner Akcam, is a political dissident. He was member of Revolutionary path in 70s.
His ethnicity is not important, he has the same diaspora feeling(right or wrong thats not the point) like the Armenian political diaspora leaders.
I had the chance to listen him in Austin, Texas.
BEcause of his background he can not be objective on this issue(as you might see it is hard to find unbiased study on this because it is highly politicized).
THis issue for this reason should be left to open historical studies apart from political influence.
I personally prefer Roland SUny of university of Chicago(he is an Armenian and a supporter of Genocide claims) or Gerard Libardian( i think he is from NYU) another Armenian historian over Taner Akcam.
During his conference at University of Texas my friend asked him about the Crimean Genocide against Tatar Turks(Akcam was saying studying Armenian genocide is an humanitarian duty or something like that), why Taner Akcam is not interested in those part of history(may be thats done by his comrade Stalin thats why).
As you see Armenians can only find political dissidents noone else.
This is not to discredit him, but this what he is. There are important historians in Turkey, ask your own Armenian historians about their credits.
I recommend you, Prof Halil Inalcik, or Prof. Cemal Kafadar.
I know your first reaction, would be these historian are TUrkish version supporters. For this reason I challange you to ask these names to your own historians before your expected(but not suprising) reactions.
One other thing. Who would ever hear the name Prof. Taner Akcam if he hadnt study Armenian events???
He studies an event which is highly politisized and popular the Armenian sense. So you can see him on TVs radios, newspaper interviews etc etc. What kind of scientific merit does he have other than studying a popular topic?
I suggest you guys to find historians who are known by their studies on the the science of history, not *popular* history.
An other question is, does Taner Akcam have the ability to study Ottoman Archieves?
So Taner Akcam being a political diaspora and dissident + study same resources as the Armenians do(or given by Armenians) could arrive any other conclusion than official Armenian version??
Maybe Taner Akcam differs 2 things from Armenian version
1) He also acknowledges(very rarely) European involvement, and asks Europe(including France, britain etc) to claim their share of responsibilty
2) He opposed land raparations, land to be given to state of Armenia.
As you can see these are very little to do with history but mostly political conclusions of this problem. He is mostly %100 with Armenian version.
PS: I remember also that his wife is Armenian, but I am not sure, just correct me if I am wrong ok?
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