Noted Turkish Scholar Taner Akçam Lectures on Turkish-Armenian Relations

In Toronto recently to speak about his new book, From Empire to Republic: Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide, noted Turkish scholar Dr. Taner Akçam addressed a diverse audience of 200, primarily of Turkish and Armenian extraction, at York University’s Glendon College.

This is a significant event for the Armenian and Turkish communities of Toronto, since it is the first time that members of these communities have been able to discuss the turbulent events preceding and during the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the establishment of the modern republic, 1915-1923. During this period, the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians took place as the result of a deliberate policy of genocide by the leaders of the ruling Young Turk party. To this day, the Turkish government denies there was a genocide, and this has made calm discussion about this era virtually impossible. It is therefore remarkable that this group of Turkish and Armenian Torontonians gathered for this lecture. It represents a dramatic shift in the willingness of individuals from these two groups to engage in a dialogue about their shared history. Dr. Akçam has worked for years to create such a dialogue. He is one of the first Turkish academics to acknowledge and discuss openly the genocide of the Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish government in 1915.

His new book represents the first scholarly attempt to both document the Armenian Genocide and discuss it from a perpetrator rather than a victim perspective. It contextualizes fully the events of 1915 within the broader context of both Ottoman history and western European international policy towards the region.

This book is an attempt to show the danger of assuming that genocides are “…exceptional events, aberrations that are unlikely to recur, and which should be treated as isolated accidents of history.” Rather, the real value of genocide study is in the illumination of the “historical-cultural process” which led to a particular genocide. In the case of Turkey, this is critical because, according to Akçam, Turkey today is still faced with boundary disputes, national identity issues and mistrust among ethnic groups in the region, all of which were critical factors in the events of 1915. Akçam stated that Turkey is still in transition and vacillates in its foreign and domestic policy, sometimes formulating policy based on a 19th century, “imperial perspective” which is based on ethnicity, and sometimes on a 21st century democratic nation state. As a result of the continued dominance of this “imperial perspective”, it “has deviated from the principles of modern nation-statehood and citizenship based on universal rights, and rather has formulated its policies based on ethnic and religious kinship.” The policy of maintaining ethnic Armenians, Kurds or other non-Turkic members of society as “alien” elements “contradicts the founding principles of the Republic and the concept of a democratic nation-state.”

Akçam sees a direct link between the current process of democratization underway in Turkey and open dialogue about the Genocide and its causes both in Turkish society and between members of Turkish and Armenian communities all over the world. Akçam stressed that there is a large gap between the position of the Turkish state and that of a significant segment of Turkish society with respect to the Armenian Genocide. Nevertheless, he noted that many Armenians see all Turks today as if they are all in agreement with Turkish government policies of denial, and the same people who committed the atrocities three or four generations ago. His work describes some of the obstacles to dialogue between the two peoples and suggested ways these obstacles could be overcome.

Dr. Akçam is the author of numerous books and articles in Turkish, English, German, Arabic and Hebrew. Through his research, writings, and lectures, he has worked tirelessly and courageously to help the Turkish people come to terms with their history and to bridge the gap between Turks and Armenians. He is currently Visiting Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.

He will return to Toronto in August to participate in the Genocide and Human Rights University Program, sponsored by the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (A Division of The Zoryan Institute). This is a unique, accredited, two-week graduate-level course in the comparative study of genocide, which brings together faculty and students from around the world each year.

Dr. Akçam’s new book, From Empire to Republic, is published by Zed Books of London, England, and is available through the Zoryan Institute’s Toronto office. For more information, go to www.zoryaninstitute.org.