In an Al-Monitor article titled “Turkish academia and the Armenian genocide,” author Orhan Kemal Cengiz asks “Are there no academics willing to write dissertations contesting Turkey’s official history line and argue, for instance, that the 1915 events were a genocide? Or is there a state mechanism in place that doesn’t leave it up to chance?”
He also elaborates on several recent media reports which suggest that Turkish academicians engaging in the study of the Armenian Genocide are being targeted by national institutions, such as the Turkish Historical Society (TTK), which has asked Turkey’s Higher Education Board (YOK) to provide the names of all academicians researching the Armenian Genocide.
The author says this effort aims to control academia. The academicians are also secretly profiled by the government.
Cengiz is a human rights lawyer, columnist and former president of the Human Rights Agenda Association, a Turkish NGO that works on human rights issues ranging from the prevention of torture to the rights of the mentally disabled. Since 2002, Cengiz has been the lawyer for the Alliance of Turkish Protestant Churches.
How can Armenia and Armenians negotiate with Turkey if academicians engaging in the study of the Armenian Genocide are targeted, until freedom of speech is not implemented in Turkey, all negotiations should be stopped.
The cat’s been out of the bag for some years now.
And the tide has turned and will be out for an eternity.
There’s no going back for the man in the street.
Not so long ago one of their sacred icons referred to our blessed people as some cancer. If it made them happy bestowing that adjective on us. So be it.
Resorting to panic strategies at this late hour is like knocking on the deaf-man’s door.
Is Mr Erdogan also going to deny the resignation of his 3 Ministers, who were caught up in a corruption scandal,
and as always blame the Britts and Israelis for framing him and his party a conspiracy? The cracks are growing
larger and larger with a domino effect. Official turkey riecks from within!!!