Reform History Research Center and Ataturk Principles, based at Turkey’s Gazi University, have awarded several Turkish students for participating in a contest denying the Armenian Genocide, writes the Turkish Daily News.

Armenian issue discussed in students’ research papers

Thursday, November 1, 2007

ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

  The research paper of a university student who rejects the claims that the 1915-1917 killings of Armenians by the Ottomans are ”genocide” won an essay competition titled “Psychology, Sociology and the legal aspects of the Armenian issue: Reflections on societies and the measures to be taken,” organized by Gazi University.

   The award ceremony took place yesterday at Gazi University and the students of the winning essays were presented with their awards. The ceremony was organized by Gazi University’s Atatürk Principles and Reform History Research Center. Present at the ceremony were Meral Akşener, deputy speaker of Parliament, Onur Öymen the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) deputy, Gazi University rector, Professor Kadri Yamaç and Professor Hale Şıvgın from the center. 

  The jury consisting of eight academics selected Mustafa Arıkan’s paper as the winning one. Arıkan is a history graduate student and in his article is titled “A Small Side Note to the Armenian Issue.” In it he says that the forced resettlement of the Armenians in 1915 was a necessity for the Ottoman Empire, setting his in-depth archival work as basis for his paper.

  “Because, in cooperation with the enemy, Armenians were killing the Muslims behind the scene. Forced resettlement, in this sense, was a kind of ‘self-defense’,” he said. “The amount Armenians who were subject to resettlement or the issue of how many died aren’t a matter of question. Because, the governors of the period were judged in Malta just after the World War I for the issue on forced resettlement of the Armenians but they were acquitted.”

  Arıkan also drew attention to the fact that archives indicated no evidence marking the Armenian genocide. “The mass graves which are expected to be found because of the supposed genocide haven’t been found despite all the intensive work. Hence, there is no ‘real’ evidence which supports the Armenian allegations except for the books published for publicity purposes during the war,” he said in his paper.

  Arıkan added that history exists in order to provide information and offer experience for humanity but it is used as an ideological apparatus today. “The Armenian issue, which came on the agenda for the political weakness of Turks, could solely be solved by being powerful in the political and (of course economical and military) sense,” he concluded.

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