"Forum examining Armenian massacre is a first for Turkey
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Benjamin Harvey
Associated Press
Istanbul, Turkey- Scholars held the first-ever public discussions in Turkey on Saturday about the early 20th-century massacre of Armenians, choosing words carefully, avoiding emotional language and picking apart history year by year at a gathering that nationalists denounced as traitorous.
The European Union called the academic conference a test of freedom of expression in Turkey, which is hoping to begin talks for membership in the bloc next month.
The participants were all Turkish speakers and included members of Turkey's Armenian minority like Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of Agos, a weekly Armenian newspaper in Istanbul. Some 70,000 Armenians are living in Istanbul."
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