"Turkey After The Armenian Genocide Conference
(AINA) -- After efforts of deterrence by the executive in May and obstruction of the 4th Istanbul Administrative Court on September 23rd, the conference entitled, 'Ottoman Armenians in the Final Period of the Empire: Scientific Responsibility and Problems of Democracy' has been successfully completed on the 25th of September. The venue of the event had to be changed from one university to the other and a three-day conference had to be telescoped to two days. The participants and audience had to pass through a barrier of slandering nationalist protestors throwing eggs and tomatoes. Yet two and half institutions deserve credit for standing behind academic autonomy, freedom of expression and culture of deliberation. The first is the government who spoke through the Prime Minister. His resolve dwarfed the initial resistance of the Minister of Justice who called the initiative 'treason' and 'back stabbing the nation' in May. The second is the university as an institution who defended the rights and liberties that make it a center and advocate of freedom. The third institution is the media; of course some of it, which is conscious of the fact that, this conference was not all about the Armenian issue that needs to be discussed impartially but it is rather a matter of democracy."
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