"TURKISH SCHOLARS SEEK TO ENGAGE ARMENIAN COUNTERPARTS IN HISTORICAL DEBATE
Igor Torbakov 2/01/05
As Turkey prepares for what promises to be a lengthy European Union accession process, officials in Ankara are striving to remove obstacles that stand in the way of their integration ambitions. Accordingly, authorities appear to be welcoming a research project by Turkish historians designed to shed additional light on the circumstances surrounding the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians from 1915-1923.
Armenian leaders have campaigned for international recognition of what they insist was genocide committed by Turkish forces amid the chaos of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Yerevan�s calls have received support in the capitals of some influential EU capitals, in particular France, which has a sizeable Armenian �migr� population.
In early January, the Turkish Historical Society � a semi-official institution founded in the beginning of the 1930s � announced that it had finished a large research project commenced in 2001. The result of the historical exploration is four volumes of documents in which 'the allegations made by Armenians are answered one by one,' according to a Turkish journalist familiar with the research. The project marks the first comprehensive attempt by Turkish scholars to challenge the Armenian version of the tragic events of the past."
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