HOW DO SCHOLARS REACT TO ALLEGATIONS OF GENOCIDE?

ATTENTION MEMBERS OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

(May 19, 1985)

The undersigned American academicians who specialize in Turkish, Ottoman and Middle Eastern Studies are concerned that the current language embodied in House Joint Resolution 192 is misleading and/or inaccurate in several respects. Specifically, while fully supporting the concept of a "National Day of Remembrance of Man's Inhumanity to Man," we respectfully take exception to that portion of the text, which singles out for special recognition:

". . . the one and one half million people of Armenian ancestry who were victims of genocide perpetrated in Turkey between 1915 and 1923 . . .."

Our reservations focus on the use of the words "Turkey" and "genocide" and may be summarized as follows:

From the fourteenth century until 1922, the area currently known as Turkey, or more correctly, the Republic of Turkey, was part of the territory encompassing the multi-national, multi-religious state known as the Ottoman Empire. It is wrong to equate the Ottoman Empire with the Republic of Turkey in the same way that it is wrong to equate the Hapsburg Empire with the Republic of Austria. The Ottoman Empire, which was brought to an end in 1922, by the successful conclusion of the Turkish Revolution which established the present day Republic of Turkey in 1923, incorporated lands and people which today account for more than twenty-five distinct countries in Southeastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, only one of which is the Republic of Turkey. The Republic of Turkey bears no responsibility for any events which occurred in Ottoman times, yet by naming Turkey' in the Resolution, its authors have implicitly labeled it as guilty of "genocide" it charges transpired between 1915 and 1923; As for the charge of "genocide" no signatory of this statement wishes to minimize the scope of Armenian suffering. We are likewise cognizant that it cannot be viewed as separate from the suffering experienced by the Muslim inhabitants of the region. The weight of evidence so far uncovered points in the direct of serious inter communal warfare (perpetrated by Muslim and Christian irregular forces), complicated by disease, famine, suffering and massacres in Anatolia and adjoining areas during the First World War. Indeed, throughout the years in question, the region was the scene of more or less continuous warfare, not unlike the tragedy which has gone on in Lebanon for the past decade. The resulting death toll among both Muslim and Christian communities of the region was immense. But much more remains to be discovered before historians will be able to sort out precisely responsibility between warring and innocent, and to identify the causes for the events which resulted in the death or removal of large numbers of the eastern Anatolian population, Christian and Muslim alike.

Statesmen and politicians make history, and scholars write it. For this process to work scholars must be given access to the written records of the statesmen and politicians of the past. To date, the relevant archives in the Soviet Union, Syria, Bulgaria and Turkey all remain, for the most part, closed to dispassionate historians. Until they become available, the history of the Ottoman Empire in the period encompassed by H.J. Res. 192 (1915-1923) cannot be adequately known.

We believe that the proper position for the United States Congress to take on this and related issues is to encourage full and open access to all historical archives and not to make charges on historical events before they are fully understood. Such charges as those contained H.J. Res. 192 would inevitably reflect unjustly upon the people of Turkey and perhaps set back progress irreparably. Historians are just now beginning to achieve in understanding these tragic events.

As the above comments illustrate, the history of the Ottoman-Armenians is much debated among scholars, many of whom do not agree with the historical assumptions embodied in the wording of H.J. Res. 192. By passing the resolution Congress will be attempting to determine by legislation which side of the historical question is correct. Such a resolution, based on historically questionable assumptions, can only damage the cause of honest historical inquiry, and damage the credibility of the American legislative process.

SIGNATORIES TO THE STATEMENT ON H.J. RES. 192 ADDRESSED TO THE MEMBERS OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

RIFAAT ABOU-EL-HAJ

Professor of History

California State University at Long Beach

SARAH MOMENT ATIS

Professor of Turkish Language & Literature

University of Wisconsin at Madison

KARL BARBIR

Associate Professor of History

Siena College (New York)

ILHAN BASGOZ

Director of the Turkish Studies Program at the Department of Uralic & Altaic Studies

Indiana University

DANIEL G. BATES

Professor of Anthropology

Hunter College,

City University of New York

ULKU BATES

Professor of Art History

Hunter College

City University of New York

GUSTAV BAYERLE

Professor of Uralic & Altaic Studies

Indiana University

ANDREAS G. E. BODROGLIGETTI

Professor of Turkic & Iranian languages

University of California at Los Angeles

KATHLEEN BURRILL

Associate Professor of Turkish Studies

Columbia University

RODERIC DAVISON

Professor of History

George Washington University

WALTER DENNY

Associate Professor of Art History &

Near Eastern Studies

University of Massachusetts

DR. ALAN DUBEN

Anthropologist, Researcher

New York City

ELLEN ERVIN

Research Assistant Professor of Turkish

New York University

CAESAR FARAH

Professor of Islamic

& Middle Eastern History

University of Minnesota

CARTER FINDLEY

Associate Professor of History

The Ohio State University

MICHAEL FINEFROCK,

Professor of History

College of Charleston

ALAN FISHER

Professor of History

Michigan State University

CORNELL FLEISCHER

Assistant Professor of History

Washington University (Missouri)

TIMOTHY CHILDS

Professorial Lecturer at SAIS,

Johns Hopkins University

SHAFIGA DAULET

Associate Professor of Political Science

University of Connecticut

JUSTIN MCCARTHY

Associate Professor of History

University of Louisville

JON MANDAVILLE

Professor of the History of the Middle East

Portland State University (Oregon)

RHOADS MURPHEY

Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern

Languages & Cultures & History

Columbia University

PIERRE OBERLING

Professor of History

Hunter College of the City University of

New York

ROBERT OLSON

Associate Professor of History

University of Kentucky

DONALD QUATAERT

Associate Professor of History

University of Houston

WILLIAM GRISWOLD

Professor of History

Colorado State University

WILLIAM HICKMAN

Associate Professor of Turkish

University of California, Berkeley

JOHN HYMES

Professor of History

Glenville State College

West Virginia

RALPH JAECKEL

Visiting Assistant Professor of Turkish

University of California at Los Angeles

JAMES KELLY

Associate Professor of Turkish

University of Utah

PETER GOLDEN

Professor of History

Rutgers University, Newark

TOM GOODRICH

Professor of History

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

ANDREW COULD

Ph.D. in Ottoman History

Flagstaff, Arizona

MICHAEL MEEKER

Professor of Anthropology

University of California at San Diego

THOMAS NAFF

Professor of History & Director, Middle East

Research Institute

University of Pennsylvania

WILLIAM OCHSENWALD

Associate Professor of History

Virginia Polytechnic Institute

WILLIAM PEACHY

Assistant Professor of the Judaic & Near

Eastern Languages & Literatures

The Ohio State University

HOWARD REED

Professor of History

University of Connecticut

TIBOR HALASI-KUN

Professor Emeritus of Turkish Studies

Columbia University

J. C. HUREWITZ

Professor of Government Emeritus

Former Director of the Middle East

Institute (1971-1984) Columbia University

HALIL INALCIK

University Professor of Ottoman History & Member of the

American Academy of Arts & Sciences

University of Chicago

RONALD JENNINGS

Associate Professor of History & Asian Studies

University of Illinois

KERIM KEY

Adjunct Professor

Southeastern University

Washington, D.C.

DANKWART RUSTOW

Distinguished University Professor of

Political Science

City University Graduate School New York

STANFORD SHAW

Professor of History

University of California at Los Angeles

METIN KUNT

Professor of Ottoman History

New York City

AVIGDOR LEVY

Professor of History

Brandeis University

DR. HEATH W. LOWRY

Institute of Turkish Studies Inc.

Washington, D.C.

JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.

Professor of History

University of California at Berkeley

ROBERT STAAB

Assistant Director of the

Middle East Center

University of Utah

JAMES STEWART-ROBINSON

Professor of Turkish Studies

University of Michigan

FRANK TACHAU

Professor of Political Science

University of Illinois at Chicago

DAVID THOMAS

Associate Professor of History

Rhode Island College

WARREN S. WALKER

Home Professor of English & Director of the

Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative

Texas Tech University

WALTER WEIKER

Professor of Political Science

Rutgers University

MADELINE ZILFI

Associate Professor of History

University of Maryland

ELAINE SMITH

Ph.D. in Turkish History

Retired Foreign Service Officer

Washington, D-C-EZEL

KURAL SHAW

Associate Professor of History

California State University, Northridge

FREDERICK LATIMER

Associate Professor of History (Retired)

University of Utah

BERNARD LEWIS

Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near

Eastern History

Princeton University

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