1279) McCarthy: Turkish people are victims of prejudice

LEADING Ottoman historian and American professor Justin McCarthy claimed there is a general, global prejudice against Turks at a meeting with the Turkish Ambassador this week. .

Professor McCarthy, who was in London as a guest of the Turkish British Chamber of Commerce and Industry and to promote his new book on Turko-Armenian relations, spoke of the importance of researching and teaching history accurately and well.

He said: "A great responsibility falls on Turkish women, who must teach their children to discover and promote the truth.

"I will defend Turkey on the Aremenian genocide question for the rest of my life, but I would like to see Ayşes and Fatmas doing the same."

The history professor from the University of Louisville in Kentucky, USA, has recently released The Armenian Rebellion at Van, in which he examines the effects of uprisings by the Armenian population of southeastern Anatolia during the First World War which he claims compromised national security and prompted a policy of forced migration.

Published by the University of Utah press, the work has been hailed "a substantial contribution to Turkish-Ottoman and Armenian studies" by Andrew Mango at the London Middle East Institute, University of London.

The academic, who has come under attack by members of the Armenian diaspora on account of his views on the genocide question, claimed the debate should be left to historians and not complicated by politicians.

7 Dec 2006
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