Yusuf Halaçoğlu (born 10 May 1949, in Kozan, Adana) is a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

historian and politician. He is a former president of the

Turkish Historical Society The Turkish Historical Society ( tr, Türk Tarih Kurumu, TTK) is a research society studying the history of Turkey and the Turkish people, founded in 1931 by the initiative of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, with headquarters in Ankara, Turkey. It has been ...

and was a member of the Turkish Parliament from 2011 to 2017 representing the electoral district of

Kayseri Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large Industrialisation, industrialised List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is comp ...

for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and from 2017 for the Good Party. He studied history at

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

and pursued an academic career at the same university after graduating in 1974. In 1983, he became an assistant professor. Halaçoğlu entered Marmara University in 1986, and in 1989 he was appointed a professor. After serving in leading positions at the Turkish State Archives, he returned to the university in 1992. From 1993 on, he served as the chairman of the

until his dismissal in 2008. He then returned to his chair at Gazi University. In the 2011 general election, Halaçoğlu was elected into parliament, and was reelected in June and

November 2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the A ...

. In November 2015, the MHP nominated him for Parliamentary Speaker, where he finished on fourth place. In 2017 he left the MHP to be a founding member of a new party, the Good Party. He was deselected as a candidate for the

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After the 2018 elections, he resigned from the Good Party.

Views

Halaçoğlu is a well-known researcher on Armenian genocide and has authored several works that mitigate the suffering the Armenians underwent during World War I. He also preferred the term relocation to deportation, as the displacement had taken place within one the same state, the Ottoman Empire. He places the number of deaths during the deportations, which he calls "forced relocations", at no higher than 9,000-10,000 (as opposed to the 600,000 to 1,500,000 that is widely stated by those who acknowledge the genocide).See, for example, Yusuf Halaçoğlu, "Realities Behind Relocation," in ''Armenians in the Late Ottoman Period'', ed. Türkkaya Ataöv. Ankara: Turkish Historical Society, 2001, pp. 109-42, figure on p. 140. His views are parallel to the official Turkish state thesis according to which the massacres and death marches did not constitute genocide. He compared it to the relocations the USA undertook with the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese during World War II. His research has been criticized by such scholars as Taner Akçam. In 2008 Halaçoğlu was dismissed from his post as the head of the Turkish Historical Society for his controversial claims about Armenians and Kurds. In regards to Kurds he denied the Kurd referred to an own ethnicity in Ottoman times, but that this was used as a general denomination for the nomads. In the year 2004 he was prosecuted in Winterthur,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

after he denied the Armenian genocide in a speech he held at the Turkish Association in Winterthur. In 2007, Halaçoğlu claimed that he had a list of crypto-Armenians living in Turkey and threatened to publish it. He also claimed that the Dersim Alevis are Armenian.

References

External links

Tribes of Anatolia, about the author (in Turkish)

Grand National Assembly of Turkey, list of deputies (in Turkish)
* https://twitter.com/yusufhalacoglu {{DEFAULTSORT:Halacoglu, Yusuf 1949 births Deniers of the Armenian genocide Living people 20th-century Turkish historians People from Kozan, Adana Deputies of Kayseri Nationalist Movement Party politicians Istanbul University alumni Marmara University faculty Gazi University faculty Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Ethnic Afshar people Former Good Party politicians 21st-century Turkish historians