Circassian Turk banned from the Turkish Archives

[Joseph]

It appears that a Turk of Circassian descent was doing research in the Turkish archives related to the Circassian role in the Armenian Genocide and was banned further reentry due to his studies that went against the official position of the Turkish state.



Turkish Press Scanner

Monday, January 7, 2008

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=92968

Historian not allowed entry to Turkey Mehmet Sait Uluışık, a German citizen of Turkish origins and a journalist-publisher, was banned from entering Turkey without any explanation, the daily Taraf reported yesterday.

Uluışık has been carrying out studies on Circassian history since 1860 and the role of Circassians in Armenian events in 1915 by using the Prime Ministry's Ottoman archives. He said while he was working in the archives officials employed there kept him under close observation. “Some people were following me when I left the building, they must have recorded me as persona non grata at that time,” said Uluışık.

Uluışık has been living in Germany since 1984 and his Turkish citizenship was revoked in 1991 since he didn't perform his military service. Uluışık, 47, applied for and was granted German citizenship in 1997.

Since 2005 he has been working on the Circassian history and has visited Turkey almost 20 times during the last two years for his research. The last time he arrived in Turkey was at Yeşilköy Airport in Istanbul on Nov. 20, 2007, where he was handed a paper from the Interior Ministry that declared he is barred from entering Turkey and was deported to Berlin. When Uluışık asked the police officer that handed him the paper for the reason behind it, he learned that the ban was not issued by the police department but came directly from the Interior Ministry. The daily quoted Uluışık as saying that he requested to talk to a parliamentarian to learn the reason behind his ban. “The deputy told me that the ban had nothing to do with the revocation of my citizenship for completing my military duty,” said Uluışık.

[Joseph]

TURKEY BANS TURKISH GENOCIDE SCHOLAR

Taraf
Monday, January 7, 2008

BERLIN (Taraf)--Historian Mehmet Sait Uluishik, a German citizen
of Turkish origin has been banned from entering Turkey without any
explanation, the daily Taraf reported Sunday. Uluishik has been
researching the role of Circassian's in the Armenian Genocide in the
Prime Ministry's Ottoman Archives.

He said while he was working in the archives officials employed there
kept him under close observation.

Uluishik has been living in Germany since 1984. His Turkish citizenship
was revoked in 1991 for not performing his military service. Uluishik
has been a German citizen since 1997.

Since 2005 he has been working on Circassian history and has visited
Turkey almost 20 times during the last two years for his research. The
last time he arrived in Turkey was in November of 2007. When he
arrived at the airport in Istanbul he was handed a paper from the
Interior Ministry that declared he is barred from entering Turkey. He
was immediately deported to Berlin. When Uluishik asked the police
officer that handed him the paper for the reason behind it, he learned
that the ban was not issued by the police department but came directly
from the Interior Ministry.

Uluishik told the daily Taraf that he requested to talk to a
parliamentarian to learn the reason behind his ban. "The deputy told
me that the ban had nothing to do with the revocation of my citizenship
for completing my military duty," he added.

[Joseph]

Notice to Press and Public

My name is Mehmet Sait Uluışık and I was born in Eskişehir
(Turkey) on July 10, 1959. On November 20, 2007, at Yeşilköy Airport
(Istanbul), without presenting any justification but based upon an
order from the Ministry of the Interior, I was declared a suspicious
person, denied entry into Turkey and sent back to Berlin on the first
return flight.
I have been living in Germany since 1984 and have worked
as a journalist and publisher since 1992. Because of my Circassian
ethnic background I have been interested in Circassian history and
since 2005 have stopped working actively as a journalist and publisher
and started devoting all of my time to gathering documents on the
subject.
I was stripped of my Turkish citizenship in 1991 because
of my failure to perform obligatory military service (based on Order
#1956, dated June 7, 1991, supported by Statute 403, Section 25,
paragraph ç). Since 1997, the year I became a German citizen, I have
been entering and exiting Turkey regularly without incident.
I was not provided with the official reason for denying my
entry into Turkey. Despite this, based upon information that I was
able to gather from contacts I made, the reason I was denied entry
into Turkey is apparently to prevent my performing research at the
Presidential Ottoman Archives (Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşiv, hereinafter
"BOA") in Istanbul.
There is a very simple reason why my entry to Turkey was
blocked instead of directly prohibiting my research at the
archives. If the latter had occurred, it would have made an obvious
statement that would have belied the arguments of the governing AK
Party administration that "Our archives are open to all. Everyone's
welcome to come in and examine them," or "let the historians form a
commission." By using a different strategy and preventing my entry
into the country, it allows for the raising of a suspicion that there
are perhaps other issues in my personal background.
Recently, I started to wonder about the history of
Circassians and I want to write a book about the subject. The actual
topic that interests me is "Did the Circassians play any role in the
events of 1915 and if so, what?" Also, I have been trying to find the
answers to the question, "What was the relationship between
Circassians and other minorities during the period in question, prior
to that and afterwards?" For the past two years, I have been working
in a regular, disciplined manner at the BOA and systematically
gathering documents on the subject. A large part of my life during the
past two years has been taken up this way at the archives in Istanbul.
During my work at the archives I was frequently blocked in
my efforts by the employees, who are known as followers of
Turkish-Islamic synthesis (mostly supporters of the Turkish
nationalist party). I believe that the denial of my entry into Turkey
was the result of efforts by these same individuals. At the airport I
was presented with a "Record of Denial of Entry" form. On the form was
all of my identification information. This information taken from my
German ID card is available in only one place, and that is the
Presidential Ottoman Archives.
The police officer at the airport informed me that the
order [to deny entry] came directly from the Ministry of the Interior,
not from the General Directorate of Security. Based upon his
investigation of the issue, parliamentarian Mr. Ufuk Uras informed me
that the entry denial did not come from the Ministry of National
Defense nor did it have anything to do with military service.
Since the issuance of the entry denial on Nov. 20, 2007, I
have made no effort to broadcast this information. I believed that the
ban was an effort to discredit the AK Party administration. I had
hoped that the AK Party administration would quickly rectify the
situation when it so obviously contradicts the government's policies
as stated to the public. I tried to remain silent because if the
incident were revealed, it would create an obstacle in Turkey's
relations with the European Union and lead the way to lowering opinion
towards the current administration and Turkey in general, especially
after recent discourse regarding the events of 1915. I tried to
resolve it through private channels.
Unfortunately both my own efforts and those of my attorney
to reach the authorities within the AK Party have come to a
standstill. I was unable to get anywhere with my efforts. That leaves
only one option: letting the public know, through the media, about a
mindset that attempts to prevent an individual from conducting
research in the archives by denying them entry into the country.
It is obvious what sort of difficulty is going to befall
someone like me who is doing nothing other than gathering documents in
a systematic manner from the archives, if a government that claims
"Our archives are open to all; we welcome the formation of a
historians commission" turns around and not only denies that person
access to the archives but even entry to the country itself. Nothing
that Turkey and its administrations say on the subject can be
considered credible. One can only smirk at a statement like "Let's
solve our problems from the past" when it comes out of a mindset that
views working in the archives and gathering documents as
criminal. This can only be answered with the statement, "Do your
homework first, then open up the archives to everyone."
I want this disrespectful action against me resolved
immediately and my work, which has been delayed because of it,
compensated for as soon as possible.

Respectfully,

Mehmet Sait Uluışık
Jan. 2, 2008 - Berlin

Mehmet Sait Uluışık
Berlin, Germany
Email: [email protected]