The Alleged conference

Score Turkey 1, Armenia 1. Turkey denies the Genocide, while Armenia denies the conference. I'm referring to the Genocide conference that is alleged to have taken place in Vienna. It was subsequently denied that anyone from Armenia had gone to take part.

Several Turkish newspapers said that experts from the Armenian National Academy of Sciences had gone to attend the conference, taking place in Vienna in July, and organised by the Armenian-Turkish platform of Vienna and a certain Vienna University professor Mr. Biehl. Azg reports on the follow up to this bizarre story. Apparently the Turkish newspaper Radical reported that Armenia was represented by the president of the Museum-Institute of Armenian Genocide and by a professor of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences.

Ashot Melkonian, president of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences, wrote to Azg Daily saying that the Turkish information about the Armenian scientists participating in the Vienna meeting was a blatant lie, and the president of the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide Dr. Lavrenti Barseghian wrote about the translations from the Turkish press that "the journalist published false materials of the Anatolu news agency without checking them out."

What was the intention of this conference, if it really took place at all? Was it perhaps to be used by the Turkish side to show to the international community the next time the Genocide issue comes up, such as Turkey's continuing efforts to join the EU? Turkey's Prime Minister and foreign minister always say "leave it the historians" when the G word is brought up, but if the "conference" was dreamt up by the government, then it could back-fire on them. Whatever, the issue should be brought into the open

Posted by Matt on August 05, 2004 | TrackBack | Email to a friend