Taner Akçam

Taner Akçam

Akçam in Toronto, 2013
Born October 23, 1953 (1953-10-23) (age 62)
Ölçek, Ardahan Province, Turkey
Nationality German
Ethnicity Meskhetian Turkic
Alma mater Middle East Technical University
Occupation historian
Known for discussion of Armenian Genocide, 1977 imprisonment

Altuğ Taner Akçam (born in Ardahan, Turkey, October 23, 1953) is a Turkish-German historian[1] and sociologist. He is one of the first Turkish academics to acknowledge and openly discuss the Armenian Genocide,[2] and is recognized as a "leading international authority" on the subject.[3]

Akçam argues for an attempt to reconcile the differing Armenian and Turkish narratives of the genocide, and to move away from the behaviour which uses those narratives to support national stereotypes. "We have to re-think the problem and place both societies in the centre of our analysis. This change of paradigm should focus on creating a new cultural space that includes both societies, a space in which both sides have the chance to learn from each other." (Akcam, 2004, p. 262).[4]

Life and career

Akçam was born in Ölçek village near Ardahan, Turkey to Dursun and Perihan Akçam.[5] He has stated that he was raised in "a very secular family," with his father being an atheist.[6] He studied economics at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, and graduated in 1976. In 1974, Akçam was arrested for participating in student protests against the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.[7] In 1975 he was arrested for distributing leaflets and placing posters around the city. (Akçam notes that "one had to obtain permission from what is now called the Security General Directorate’s Special Inspection Branch Directorate for the Associations, and that even with a special permit in hand, one could be arbitrarily arrested and apprehended at police headquarters for 3–5 days."[8]) On March 9, 1976, soon after graduating from university, while a graduate student at the same department, he was arrested for his involvement in producing a student journal that focused on the treatment of Turkey’s Kurdish minority.[9][10] Devrimci Gençlik ("Revolutionary Youth"),[11][12][13][14][15] was the journal of a radical leftist organization,[16][17][18] called Devrimci Yol ("Revolutionary Path").[19] Akçam explained that he accepted the editorship position, aged 22, since none of his peers stepped up to the plate, knowing that it could land him in jail.[20] His fears materialized when he received a nine-year sentence in early 1977, which resulted in Amnesty International adopting him in 1976 as a prisoner of conscience.[10] He served for a year before escaping from Ankara Central Prison on March 12, 1977,[9][12][20] using the leg of an iron stove to dig a hole.[21] He received political asylum from Germany in 1978, where he obtained citizenship and resided until obtaining his doctorate degree in 1995.[9][10][22][23]

In August 1988 Akçam began work as a research scientist at the Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung (Hamburg Institute for Social Research).[24][25] He received his PhD from the University of Hanover with a dissertation titled, Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide: On the Background of the Military Tribunals in Istanbul between 1919 and 1922.[26] Akçam is a former student of fellow genocide scholar, Vahakn Dadrian.[27] In 1997, a Dutch documentary titled "Een Muur van Stilte" (A Wall of Silence), written and directed by Dorothée Forma of the Humanist Broadcasting Foundation (Dutch: Humanistische Omroep Stichting),[28][29] was made about their "academic relationship."[30]

Akçam was Visiting Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota, United States before joining Clark University's Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.[1]

After the assassination of Hrant Dink in 2007, Akçam attended Dink's funeral in Istanbul. According to Intelligence Report journal of Southern Poverty Law Center,

"Dink's friend and ideological ally Taner Akçam, a distinguished Turkish historian and sociologist on the faculty of the University of Minnesota's Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, attended Dink's funeral in Turkey, despite the considerable risk to his own life. Akçam, a leading international authority on the Armenian genocide, was marked for death by Turkish ultranationalists following the November 2006 publication of his book A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and The Question of Turkish Responsibility. The book is a definitive history based in large part on official documents from Turkish government archives."[3]

In 2008 when Akçam's appointment as the chairman of Armenian genocide studies at Clark University was questioned by local Turks as biased, Deborah Dwork, director of the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark, said that "ethnic or religious identity is not crucial to any appointment," and that "they hire the best scholars in the pool".[31]

Legal disputes

In January 2007, the Turkish government officially launched an investigation against Akçam regarding an October 6, 2006, newspaper column in the Turkish-Armenian journal Agos.[32] In it Akçam criticized the prosecution of Agos managing editor Hrant Dink for using the term "genocide", regarding the Armenian Genocide. The use of the term was construed by the prosecutor's office as the criminal offense of "insulting Turkishness" under Article 301 of Turkey's penal code.[33] Highlighting the term "genocide", Akçam declared himself an accessory to the charges against Hrant Dink, and urged readers to join in Dink's support. Later in January 2007 an Istanbul court decided not to pursue the charges against Akçam.[34]

Akçam faced harassment after discovering the identity of the creator of the Web site Tall Armenian Tale,[8][35][36] which had called Akçam a "turncoat" and posted his personal information.[37] Fearing reprisals after the assassination of Hrant Dink, Akçam entreated the Coordination Council of Armenian Organisations in France and president Sarkozy to pressure Ankara to protect him.[38]

On February 16, 2007 Akçam was detained in Canada at the airport in Montreal for nearly four hours after arriving on a flight from the United States.[39] He was due to give a lecture at the invitation of the McGill University Faculty of Law and Concordia University. In explaining his detention, Taner Akçam says that Canadian authorities referred to an inaccurate version of his biography on Wikipedia from around December 24, 2006, which called him a terrorist.[39][40]

On February 18, 2007 he was also detained at the US border and has been so far unable to find out the reason for his being detained there.[39] While on a lecture tour in 2007 he faced further harassment by various persons turning up and disrupting his various speaking engagements.[36]

In October 2011, Akçam won a judgment in the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that the Turkish laws against "denigrating Turkishness" were a violation of freedom of expression.[41]

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 "Taner Akçam - scholar, author, ex-political prisoner, and courageous champion of civil liberties - joins the Strassler Center" (Press release). Office of University Communications, Clark University. 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2008-07-02. Clark University has appointed prominent historian Taner Akçam to occupy the Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marion Mugar Professorship in Armenian Genocide Studies
  2. ↑ "Turkish Scholar Taner Akçam Lectures on New Book". Zoryan Institute. 2004-05-22. Retrieved 2008-07-01. Dr. Akçam is one of the first Turkish academics to acknowledge and discuss openly the genocide of the Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish government in 1915.
  3. 1 2 David Holthouse, Southern Poverty Law Center, State of Denial: Turkey Spends Millions to Cover Up Armenian Genocide Intelligence Report, Summer 2008
  4. ↑ "Gariwo: the gardens of the Righteous > Taner Akcam - 1953 [biography]". gariwo.net.
  5. ↑ Şişli State Head Prosecutor, Suspect’s Statement Form. Investigation № 2006/49047.
  6. ↑ Is It Still Genocide if Your Allies Did It?, lawandpolitics.com.
  7. ↑ Whittell, Giles (2007-08-18). "Non-fiction book reviews: History that dares to speak its name". Times Online. Retrieved 2008-08-18. ...a 1974 arrest for protesting at Turkey’s invasion of northern Cyprus...
  8. 1 2 Akçam, Taner. Nazım Dikbaş, ed. "Holdwater: 'Murad Gümen: The Mysterious American Who Drives the Armenians Mad'" (DOC). Originally published in Agos as "Holdwater: The Mysterious American who Drives Armenians Mad," May 18, 2007, and “Holdwater: The Golden Rule,” May 25, 2007, by Ali Murat Güven.
  9. 1 2 3 Schilling, Peter (January 2008). "Is It Still Genocide if Your Allies Did It?". Law & Politics 167. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  10. 1 2 3 Christoff, Stefan (2007-02-22). "No shame in slaughter". Montreal Mirror 22 (34). Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  11. ↑ "Taner Akçam'a Özgurluk". Devrimci Gençlik (in Turkish). September 1976. Dergimiz Sorumlu Yazı İşleri müdürü Taner Akçam... (English: Our magazine's managing editor Taner Akçam...)
  12. 1 2 "Taner Akçam: Biography". İletişim Yayınları (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  13. ↑ "ST Center for International Studies Presents Taner Akcam, author of "A Shameful Act"" (PDF). University of St. Thomas. 2007-02-19. Retrieved 2008-08-18. In the mid-1970s, Akçam became a leading member of the militant group Dev Yol (Devrimci Yol-Revolutionary Path) and the editor of its periodical Devrimci Genclik Dergisi (Revolutionary Youth Magazine).
  14. ↑ "A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility". Armenian Studies Program. California State University, Fresno. 2007-01-21. Retrieved 2008-08-18. As the editor in chief of a student political journal
  15. ↑ "The Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Sources" (PDF). Mershon Center. Ohio State University Knowledge Bank. 2006-01-11. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
  16. ↑ Burgess, Mark (2002-05-21). "Terrorism — PKK (a.k.a. KADEK): Kurdish Worker’s Party (a.k.a. Kurdish Freedom and Democracy Congress)". Terrorism Project. Center for Defense Information. Retrieved 2008-07-12.
  17. ↑ Munro, David; Day, Alan John (1990). A World Record of Major Conflict Areas. St. James Press. p. 143. ISBN 1-55862-066-4.
  18. ↑ Özcan, Ali Kemal (2006). Turkey's Kurds: A Theoretical Analysis of the PKK and Abdullah Öcalan. Routledge. p. 200. ISBN 0-415-36687-9.
  19. ↑ Karpat, Kemal H. (1975). "Turkish and Arab-Israeli Relations". Turkey's Foreign Policy in Transition: 1950–1974. Brill Archive. p. 131. ISBN 90-04-04323-3.
  20. 1 2 Dundar, Can (2002-01-08). "Bir rüya gördü hapisten kaçtı". Milliyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-08-26. Çıkaracağımız Devrimci Gençlik dergisinin sorumlu yazı işleri müdürünün kim olacağını tartışıyorduk. Herkes birbirinin gözünün içine bakıyordu. Bu görevi üstlenecek olan, geleceğini tehlikeye atmayı, en azından hapse düşmeyi kabul etmiş olacaktı. Beklemekten nefret ederim. Dayanamadım, 'Ben olurum' dedim.
  21. ↑ Kolbert, Elizabeth (2006-11-06). "Dead Reckoning". New Yorker. Retrieved 2008-09-02. Using a stove leg to dig a tunnel...
  22. ↑ Mozingo, Joe (1999-04-26). "Turkish Writer Breaks Ranks on Genocide". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-09-09. Akcam, once a student dissident who tunneled out of a Turkish prison with the leg of an iron stove...had his own run-ins with the Turkish government in the 1970s. He was jailed for printing Marxist articles and eventually escaped from a primitive prison converted from an old stable, he said. Turkish authorities confirmed his arrest and escape, and said he was linked to a pro-Soviet revolutionary group.
  23. ↑ Macmillan, Jonathan Q (2007-03-15). "Author Argues That Armenian Genocide Happened". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  24. ↑ Taner Akçam, Dr. phil., Hamburg Institute for Social Research (German)
  25. ↑ Akçam, Taner (March 2000). "The process of state formation in Turkey". Hamburg Foundation for the Advancement of Research and Culture. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  26. ↑ "Faculty: Taner Akcam , Ph.D.". Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Clark University. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  27. ↑ Kouyoumdjian, Nina (2006-04-30). "Dadrian and Taner Akcam come to Harvard to Discuss Future of Turkey-Armenia Relations". Harvard Armenian Society. Retrieved 2008-08-19. Professor Akcam, one of Dadrian’s former students...
  28. ↑ Ghazarian, Salpi Haroutinian (March 1999). "A Dutch Filmmaker". Armenian International Magazine. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
  29. ↑ Dorothée Forma at the Internet Movie Database
  30. ↑ "Bir Ziyaretin Dusundurdukleri" (in Turkish). 2000-04-11. Retrieved 2008-08-19. [Filmin] konusu, doktora tezimin yazimi sirasinda ... Amerika’da yasayan Ermeni asilli Prof. Dadrian ile kurdugum 'akademik iliski' idi.
  31. ↑ Abel, David (2008-05-29). "Turkish historian to study genocide". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
  32. ↑ Akçam, Taner (2006-10-06). "Hrant Dink, 301 ve bir suç duyurusu". Agos. (Hrant Dink, 301, and a criminal complaint)
  33. ↑ Labi, Aisha (2008-05-16). "Turkish Scholar Sues to Overturn Law on 'Denigrating Turkishness'". Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  34. ↑ "Turkish historian cleared of charges for declaring 'genocide'". New Anatolian. 2007-04-02. Archived from the original on 2008-05-15.
  35. ↑ Ozcan, Emine (2007-09-04). "Akçam: I Have Never Been So Scared". bianet. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  36. 1 2 Cole, Juan (2007-04-14). "Detained in Two Worlds: The Taner Akçam Story". Informed Comment. Retrieved 2008-05-16. Contains Akçam's essay, "The Circle Closes In: A shameful campaign", dated March 17, 2007.
  37. ↑ "Turkish Scholars". Tall Armenian Tale. Retrieved 2008-09-03. It makes sense, then, to understand why Turncoat Turks like Taner Akcam...
  38. ↑ "'Akçam, Hrant Dink olmasın' kampanyası". Sabah (in Turkish). 2007-07-27. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
  39. 1 2 3 Fisk, Robert (2007-04-21). "Caught in the deadly web of the Internet". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  40. ↑ Jay, Paul (2007-06-22). "A question of authority". CBC News. In Depth: Technology. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  41. ↑ "European Court Rules for American Scholar in Freedom-of-Expression Case" Chronicle of Higher Education Oct. 28, 2011
  42. ↑ Atmaca, Efnan (2008-01-25). "Amaç Ermenileri yok etmekti". Radikal (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-07-12.
  43. ↑ "The objective was to get rid of all Armenians (English translation)" (PDF). The Armenian Reporter. February 16, 2008. p. A3. Retrieved July 12, 2008.
  44. ↑ "Minnesota Book Awards". Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2008-05-16.

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