Orhan Kemal Cengiz
Translated by Sibel Utku Bila
Thousands of master’s theses and Ph.D. dissertations in the social
sciences are written each year in Turkey. The Higher Education Board
(YOK) keeps an electronic database of their topics and titles. A search
in the database of dissertations on the Armenian genocide returns a
striking result: Only four theses have been written on the issue and, as
their titles immediately suggest, they all reflect Turkey’s official
position on the massacres.
The four titles are as follows:
“Armenian Genocide Claims in View of International Law,” “The Importance
of Pressure Groups, Lobby Activities within the Context of the So-called Armenian Genocide,” “Turkish-Armenian Relations in History and
the Impact of Armenian Genocide Claims on Turkey’s European Union Membership Process” and “Armenian Genocide Claims in International Law.”
That is all Turkish universities
have been able to produce in terms of theses on the topic of the
Armenian genocide. How is this possible? 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?
A Dec. 12 report in the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos
reveals that academics working on dissertations about the Armenian
genocide are under the close scrutiny of the Turkish Historical Society
(TTK). According to Agos, the TTK has asked YOK for the details
of academics studying the Armenian issue and the YOK chairman, in turn,
has asked universities to provide that information. A document Agos
published indicates that the YOK chairman had asked universities to
supply “the names of master’s and doctoral students working on the
Armenian problem, the titles of their researches and contact
information, in view of making them available to the Turkish Historical
Society in the work it conducts.”
As I mentioned in my previous article for Al-Monitor,
various government institutions in Turkey are busy making counter
preparations for 2015, the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
The TTK is one of them. The society is likely to have requested the said
information from YOK with a view of using it in those preparations.
When Agos asked the TTK why they needed that information, a
TTK official stated that scholarships might be offered to academics
working in this realm. Agos then asked whether the TTK would
give a scholarship to someone whose thesis qualifies the 1915 events as
genocide. The official responded that, since the TTK does not officially
recognize the Armenian genocide, providing a scholarship to such a
study might not be possible.
Agos argues that the TTK’s real motive is to control the academia and keep records of those working on the Armenian problem.
A subsequent report in the Taraf daily backed up Agos’
argument that those studying the Armenian genocide are being secretly
profiled. Two former presidents of Istanbul’s Bogazici University,
interviewed by Taraf, shed light on how the censorship mechanism works in the academia.
Ustun Erguder confirmed he had received letters from YOK with
requests for information. “During my term as university president, YOK
would send such letters, but we would dismiss them as [those requests]
had nothing to do with our understanding of academic freedom. That’s
something that has been done for years. We had even received letters
suggesting we made sure that theses 'supporting Turkish unity' were
written. … It is out of the question for me to approve of YOK requests
seeking out the names and details of those writing theses on the
Armenian problem,” Erguder said.
Another former Bogazici University president, Ayse Soysal, made the
following comments: “I used to receive similar letters from YOK, while I
was university president. It was routine. Two types of letters would
come from YOK. One would be in the form of [suggestions] that we support
studies backing the state’s official view on subject X or subject Y.”
The insight the two former presidents provide on how the system
functions explains why only four dissertations have been written on the
Armenian genocide and why all happen to be in line with Turkey’s
official view.
In another article for Al-Monitor, I had written also about how Turkey’s non-Muslims' birth registries were marked with secret codes and
how the non-Muslims could not become army officers, judges or
policemen. And this latest example — the lack of even one academic
thesis contesting Turkey’s official position on the Armenian problem
— is another indication that certain taboo realms are besieged by
unwritten but stern rules.
True, the Armenian taboo has been broken in Turkish civil society and
intellectual life. Yet, it continues to exist in this or that form in
the “official” realm. Thanks to the exposure of practices such as the
TTK request for information about academics studying the Armenian
problem, we are getting clues on how Turkey’s official theses are being
produced and sustained.
No doubt, the exposed practices represent only part of the whole
picture. To understand fully why, how and in what atmosphere Turkey’s
official theses remain intact, the known pieces need to be brought
together with the pieces that remain beyond our knowledge. Only then
will we be able to know how Turkey’s official history theses are able to
survive unchanged.
"Al-Monitor," December 22, 2013 (www.al-monitor.com)
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