425) Now, Let’s Talk About The Armenians During the Collapse of the Ottoman Empire Conference

The conference, “The Armenians During the Collapse of the Ottoman Empire,� which was banned, postponed and finally took place through an act of civil disobedience on the part of the three most prestigious universities in the country, has almost never been discussed since it materialized, compared to the row that erupted on the eve of the gathering. . . .

The reason for this silence seems to be Turkey’s perception of the issue in question in an entirely political context and having no desire to understand its past. The ignorant, bigoted and ridiculous objection that the conference would advocate the genocide thesis was in fact a sign that discussions moved away from the so-called “national� view, and this could not be tolerated. Whereas the conference engendered a pluralistic platform that perhaps even went beyond the expectations of the organizers. We once again realized how prosaic, scrubby and superficial the Turkish and Armenian national views were in the face of the erudition that was manifested. Those who maintain that the conference was not scientific because the proponents of the Turkish view were not invited, appear to be altogether ignorant of what science is about. Because science is not an area for a clash of political positions, but an endeavor to grasp the truth in all aspects of its plurality. Above all, this in turn requires those who stand up and speak up in the name of science to present what they say within the criteria of scientific discipline and also respect scientific moral in the face of truth. To be more explicit, the spokespersons for both national views do not satisfy these criteria… Nationalism in its historical perspective that grants privileges to “national interest,� to the extent that it legitimizes the distortion of truth, does not develop the texts produced beyond mere brash demagogy. In other words, supporters of an ideology should change their attitudes in order to be regarded as “historians,� in a scientific sense.

The attitude of those who expected an “outcome� at the end of the conference was another proof of our inability to perceive history as a politics-free realm. Because scientific conferences do not produce “outcomes� as political ones do. On the contrary, if they are good ones, they bring the subject they are dealing with to the edge of new unknowns by deepening it. The Turkish society expecting an outcome is an indicator of how superficially we regard ourselves and our issues and how we are afraid to go deeper… On the other side, the conference in fact produced two outcomes. Firstly, it established that one section of the academic community and the intellectual circle in Turkey had the courage to openheartedly confront their past. This solemn and self-confident stance that emerged from a society that has not been speaking, that has regarded non-speaking as normal, and that has become timorous to speak for more than 80 years, is a move which would block low-level manipulations that would come from the West. Secondly, the high scientific level of the conference evinced Turkey was the right place to discuss this issue. The scientific content, which has been ignored so far because the public had not heard of it, has been discussed in an almost “ordinary� debate habitude with all the diversity and philosophical background that belong to it. Consequently, the conference established the differences in level between scientific people who respect their profession and the proponents of the official view, in a way that it cannot be ignored.

Finally a few words about the protesters… Naturally, there will be a few protesters in a country where the past is not known but is produced on the basis of an imaginary identity, and made the subject of “nationalism.�

What is surprising is the scantiness of their number… Maybe, even those who describe themselves as “nationalists� sense that what was experienced in the past is quite different from what we have been told. Otherwise, how we can explain the rumor that some of the protesters who throw eggs receive daily allowances.


ETYEN MAHCUPYAN
10.24.2005 Monday - ISTANBUL 10:35
e-mail:e.mahcupyan@zaman.com.tr