Altuğ Taner Akçam (born 1953) is a
Turkish-German
Turks in Germany, also referred to as German Turks and Turkish Germans ( or ''Deutschtürken''; , also known as ''Gurbetçiler'' or ''Almancılar''), are ethnic Turkish people living in Germany. These terms are also used to refer to German-born ...
historian
[ and sociologist. During the 1990s, he was the first Turkish scholar to acknowledge the ]Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
, and has written several books on the genocide, such as '' A Shameful Act'' (1999), ''From Empire to Republic: Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide'' (2004), '' The Young Turks' Crime Against Humanity'' (2012), and '' Killing Orders'' (2018). He is recognized as a "leading international authority" on the subject.[David Holthouse, '']Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...
''
State of Denial: Turkey Spends Millions to Cover Up Armenian Genocide
Intelligence Report, Summer 2008 Akçam's frequent participation in public debates on the legacy of the genocide have been compared to Theodor Adorno
Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor.
List of people with the given name Theodor
* Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher
* Theodor Aman, Romanian painter
* Theodor Blue ...
's role in postwar Germany.
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, saying: "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."
Early life
Akçam was born in Ölçek village near Ardahan, Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
to Dursun and Perihan Akçam. His family are of Turkish Meskhetian origin. Akçam has stated that he was raised in "a very secular family," with his father being an atheist. He studied economics at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara
Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...
, and graduated in 1976. In 1974, Akçam was arrested for participating in student protests against the Turkish invasion of Cyprus
The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of Cypriot intercommunal violence, intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots, Greek and Turkish Cy ...
.[ 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."][)
On March 9, 1976, soon after graduating from university, while a ]graduate student
Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have ...
at the same department, he was arrested for his involvement in producing a student journal that focused on the treatment of Kurds in Turkey
The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey. According to various estimates, they compose between 15% and 20% of the population of Turkey.; ; Sandra Mackey , "The reckoning: Iraq and the legacy of Saddam", W.W. Norton and Company, 200 ...
.[ ''Devrimci Gençlik'' (Revolutionary Youth)][ was the journal of a radical leftist organization,][ '' Devrimci Yol'' ("Revolutionary Path").][ Akçam explained that he accepted the editorship position, aged 22, as none of his peers would, knowing that it could land him in jail.][ His fears materialized when he received a nine-year sentence in early 1977, which resulted in ]Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
naming him as a prisoner of conscience
A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...
.[ He served for a year before escaping from Ankara Central Prison on March 12, 1977,][ using the leg of an iron stove to dig a hole.][ He received political asylum from ]West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
in 1978, where he obtained citizenship and resided until obtaining his doctorate degree in 1995.[
]
Academic career
In August 1988, Akçam began work as a research scientist at the Hamburg Institute for Social Research following an invitation from Iranian scholar Hadi Ressesade.[ Ressesade, who was studying torture in Iran, proposed that Akçam could do a study on torture in Turkey. Akçam decided to study Armenians after meeting a German librarian of Lebanese-Armenian origin, who urged him to do so. In 1991, he organized a workshop on the Ottoman Military Tribunal that judged the crimes of the Armenian genocide. He later recalled, "As I progressed in my readings of Abdul Hamid’s massacres, I thought to myself: I know the history of the French Revolution, of Russia in 1917, of Chinese Communism, but I do not know Turkish history." Akçam was initially reluctant to use the word "genocide" for anti-Armenian violence, because "by qualifying it a genocide you become a member of a collective associated to a crime, not any crime but to the ultimate crime". He received his PhD from Leibniz University Hannover with a dissertation titled, ''Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide: On the Background of the Military Tribunals in Istanbul between 1919 and 1922''.][
Akçam is a former student of fellow genocide scholar, Vahakn Dadrian.][ 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 (),][ was made about their academic relationship.][
Akçam was Visiting Associate Professor of History at the ]University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
, United States before joining Clark University's Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.[
After the assassination of Hrant Dink in 2007, Akçam attended Dink's funeral in ]Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
. According to the '' Intelligence Report'', the journal of the Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...
,
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.
In 2008, when Akçam's appointment as the chairman of Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
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".
On 29 January 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
awarded Akçam the medal for courage for "denouncing denial" of the Armenian genocide.
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''. In it Akçam criticized the prosecution of ''Agos'' managing editor Hrant Dink for using the term "genocide", regarding the Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
. 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. 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.
Akçam faced harassment after discovering the identity of the creator of the Web site ''Tall Armenian Tale'',[ which had called Akçam a " turncoat" and posted his personal information. 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.
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.][ He was due to give a lecture at the invitation of the ]McGill University
McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...
Faculty of Law and Concordia University
Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...
. In explaining his detention, Taner Akçam says that Canadian authorities referred to an inaccurate version of his biography on Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...
from around December 24, 2006, which called him a terrorist.[
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.] While on a lecture tour in 2007 he faced further harassment by persons turning up and disrupting his speaking engagements.[ Contains Akçam's essay,]
The Circle Closes In: A shameful campaign
", dated March 17, 2007. The Wikipedia biography was altered as part of an internet campaign against him by the website "Tall Armenian Tale".
In October 2011, Akçam won a judgment in the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
, which ruled that the Turkish laws against "denigrating Turkishness" were a violation of freedom of expression.
Bibliography
* '' Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide'' (2018)
*
* Taner Akçam (2012) '' The Young Turks' Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire'', Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...
* (The Armenian Issue is Resolved)
* Taner Akçam (May 16, 2006) '' A Shameful Act : The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility'', Metropolitan Books (received the 2007 Minnesota Book Award for General Nonfiction.)
* Taner Akçam (Sep. 4, 2004) ''From Empire to Republic : Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide'', Zed Books
* ''Dialogue across an international divide: Essays towards a Turkish-Armenian dialogue'', Zoryan Institute, 2001, ;
About the book and foreword
* '' İnsan hakları ve Ermeni sorunu: İttihat ve Terakki'den Kurtuluş Savaşı'na'', İmge Kitabevi, 1. edition, 1999,
* ''Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey'', Publications on the Near East, University of Washington, Sibel Bozdogan (Editor), University of Washington Press, July, 1997,
* ''Armenien und der Völkermord: Die Istanbuler Prozesse und die türkische Nationalbewegung'', Hamburger Edition, 1. edition, 1996,
* ''Siyasi kültürümüzde zulüm ve işkence (Araştırma-inceleme dizisi)'', İletişim Yayıncılık, 1. edition, 1992,
References
*
Further reading
*
External links
Akcam's Project at University of Minnesota
* ECtHRbr>judgment in case Akçam v. Turkey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akcam, Taner
1953 births
Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Turkey
Historians of the Armenian genocide
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights cases involving Turkey
Historians of Turkey
Living people
Middle East Technical University alumni
People from Ardahan
Meskhetian Turkish people
20th-century Turkish historians
Turkish human rights activists
Turkish non-fiction writers
Turkish sociologists
Clark University faculty
Turkish emigrants to Germany
Armenian studies scholars
Turkish escapees
Escapees from Turkish detention
21st-century Turkish historians