Yusuf Halacoglu
Yusuf Halaçoğlu is an infamous Turkish denialist of the Armenian Genocide and head of the Turkish Historical Society (TTK) since 21 September 1993. Born in Sis in 1949.
He worked as the head of the Ottoman Archive Department at the Prime Ministry General Directorate of State Archives in 1989 and in 1990 he became an assistant to the General Director. He started the automation [or more accurately, cleansing] of the Ottoman Archive in this period. He left his office there in 1992.
Historian Halacoglu's Comments "Racist"
On 18 August, Yusuf Halacoglu, president of the Turkish History Foundation (TTK) had made controversial comments on the ethnic make-up of Turkey at a symposium in Kayseri. Associations have called for his resignation.
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21 A--ustos 2007, Sal--
Gökce Gündüc Ayse Sah Bozdogan
At a symposium in Kayseri, central Anatolia, Yusuf Halacoglu, president of the Turkish Historical Society (TTK) had made comments on the ethnic composition of Turkey which have caused enraged reactions.
Halacoglu had claimed that "People we call Kurds are actually of Turkmen origin, while those we think are Kurdish Alevi are really of Armenian origin". He put forward the claim that "most of the people in the TIKKO (Turkey Workers' and Villagers' Liberation Army) and PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) organisations are Kurds of Armenian origin." Maksudyan: 'Race' is an outdated concept
Nazan Maksudyan, author of the book "Measuring Turkishness: Science Fiction Anthropology and Turkish Nationalism's Racist Aspect (1925-1939) and history PhD candidate at Sabanci University, has commented:
"It is impossible to read Halacoglu's comments without feeling alarmed. It has long been accepted by scientists that the concept of 'race' has no scientific base. Categorising people as Armenian, Kurdish, Turkmen and ascribing certain characteristics to these groups and assuming that they behave in a certain way is at best a simplification, but at its worst racism." "Race" is an exclusionary category
"We know that in the foundation years of the Turkish Republic, racism was one of the currencies affected by the nationalist paradigm and that there were serious references to the 'Turkish race' when the national history and national language theses were formulated. There was research done in the name of anthropology which was far from scientific, and the superiority of the 'Turkish race', designated as the founders of the state, was continuously emphasised. 'Race', unlike 'culture' or 'citizenship' is a category that does not allow for later membership. Its points of reference are blood, lineage and roots, which are exclusionary and result in second-class citizenship."
Maksudyan continued, "By claiming that Kurdish Alevis are really Armenians, Halacoglu has also referred to a touchstone of today's nationalism: the denial of the 1915 disaster: The Armenians did not die, they are alive with an Alevi identity." Association of Armenians with terrorist activities
"In addition, the association of 'Armenian origin' with 'terrorist organisations' is a frequently encountered example of racism. Armenians in this country, whether 'converted' or not, are targeted as suspicious at any opportunity anyway. Is it not clear that such statements, instead of reducing the prejudice and hostility of the public, foment hatred?"
Maksudyan ends with a question: "Did we not see with Hrant Dink's murder in January that such 'disclosures' provoke people, even punish someone?" IHD and Alevis call for resignation
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Association (IHD) and the Alevi Pir Sultan Abdal Culture Association have reacted to Halacoglu's statements.
The IHD has said that Halacoglu, by ignoring the ethnic roots of the people living in Turkey, has displayed a racist attitude and has called for his resignation. As the president of the TTK, it should have been Halacoglu's duty to avoid racism and other prejudices. Since he has been in the office, the IHD claims, he has abused it in order to shape history according to his own ideas. The association will send Prime Minister Erdogan a letter to call for Halacoglu's dismissal. Office carries responsibility of neutrality
The Pir Sultan Abdal Culture Association has denounced his stance as "an act of hostility towards science" and has also called for his resignation: "With his comments on Alevi culture and beliefs and Kurdish identity, Halacoglu has committed the crime of separatism in the face of Turkey's reality." The association pointed out that his office carried the responsibility of objectivity:
"When one looks at the formation of this institution and its research since then, it is clear that the TTK has been given a mission. Since the 12 September 1980 military coup, its studies have been far from scientific. It is not the duty of scientists to interpret history in the framework of written laws and to agree with official ideology, but to defend the truths of scientific history in the framework of universal law." (ASB/NZ/GG/AG)
Explanation of the Genocide Period
This is an interview with Yusuf's explanation of what actually happened during the genocide, directly from a site called "unrealarmeniangenocide". Of course there is no data to be found anywhere backing up his claims, and in fact I don't even see his numbers adding up here in his answers themselves to begin with. I have italicized the passages which need special scrutiny. There are also many interesting admissions.
T. AKYOL: The forced emigration has been known in general, people don't know the details. The Ottoman Empire decided to send Armenians from east Anatolia to Syria because Armenians were in cooperation with Russians. During this forced emigration, there had been lots of fights and both sides had faced lots of deaths.
Prof. Dr. HALAÇOĞLU: The forced emigration law had been made law on 26. May 1915. Armenian genocide celebration day was 24. April 1915. Because on April 24, 1915, the Armenians who were the ringleaders of them in İstanbul were taken into custody. The power of Armenian action was decreased by this decision. But there had been fights before this date and Armenians did attack to innocent villagers rather than to the Turkish armies in Caucasia and the villagers made counter attacks towards Armenians. Armenian had written their fatal actions and their genocide on their newspapers and magazines.
Russia, England, France and Germany have coerced the Ottoman Empire to sign "the reform pact" (Islahat antlaşması) on 8 February 1914. By this pact, they wanted to establish an autonomous republic of Armenia and the Ottoman Empire had to accept this wish and appoint the people who were commended by Western countiries to governor of a province in this region. Besides this, Armenian became the official language in the region. The Ottoman Empire wanted Armenians get away from the region after first world war. By the suggestion of Enver Pahsa, Armenians in the east anatolia had to migrated to Syria on 27 May 1915. The Armenian convoys which had no securities provide by the Ottoman Empire had been under attacked by the villagers. The populations of Armenians who had forced to immigrate had benn recorded on the ottoman archives and it was 438,758.
382,148 of them had arrived to housing regions. The difference was 56,610. 500 of them were killed in the region between Erzurum-Erzincan by highwaymen. Approximately 2,000 of them were killed in Meskene and 2,000 of them were killed in Mardin by highwaymen. 5-6,000 people were killed in the Dersim region by the villagers in the region. But the absolute number of deaths was not written in the ottoman archives.
T. AKYOL: You have mentioned approximately 500 000 Armenians. But according to the Ottoman archives the Armenian population was 1.4 million. What happened to 900,0000 people?
Prof. Dr. HALAÇOĞLU: There were other Armenians who had gone to Caucasia, Iran , America and France except 458,000 forced immigrants. It was mentioned in the Armenians letter in the ottoman archives that 100,0000 Armenians were in America. Mubar Pahsa, the president of the Armenian delegation, wrote a letter to French Minister of Foreign Affairs and mentioned that 250,000 Armenians to Caucasia and 40,000 Armenians to Iran had been sent into exile. The numbers were exactly the same with the numbers in the Ottoman archives. [Numbers do not add up to even 1.4 million, let alone the 2.5 million that the Armenian Patriarchate had counted before the genocide].
Head of Turkish Historical Society Yusuf Halacoglu removed
Ankara-APA. Professor Yusuf Halacolglu, Head of Turkish Historical Society has been dismissed, APA reports quoting Resmi gazete
Halacoglu will continue working at Gazi University. The reason of dismissal was not been made public as of now. Halacoglu has been Head of Turkish Historical Society since 1993. He is one of the well-known scientists, who made up false stories regarding the Armenian genocide by the help of the Turkish government.