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Iran Invites Scholars to Assess Holocaust

By NAZILA FATHI
Published: December 6, 2006

TEHRAN, Dec. 5 — The Iranian authorities, who have frequently accused the Jews of distorting history to legitimize Israel, announced plans on Tuesday for an international conference on the Holocaust.

They said the conference, to be held in Tehran next Monday and Tuesday, would include more than 60 scholars from 30 countries and would examine a range of issues, including whether the gas chambers were real.

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stirred outrage in the West last year when he stated on several occasions that the Holocaust, in which six million Jews perished at the hands of the Nazis, was either greatly exaggerated or an outright myth. He also called more than once for Israel to be wiped off the map.

Beyond questioning the Holocaust, Mr. Ahmadinejad has said the Jews have used it as a propaganda tool to promote Israel’s interests. Since several European countries make Holocaust denial a crime, he says scholars there are not free to do honest research on the subject.

...the conference would “provide the opportunity for scholars from both sides to give their papers in freedom and without preconceived ideas.” He refused to give the names of the 67 scholars invited to attend the seminar out of fear that their countries would prohibit them from coming.

The Foreign Ministry is sponsoring the event though its Institute for Political and International Studies, whose Web site says, “The word ‘Holocaust,’ which entered the political literature during the Second World War, turned into one of the most important propaganda tools used to politically justify the support for the Jewish People in the 20th century.”
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Turkey Challenges Armenian Claims: Ankara Considers to Appeal to the International Court

Melek K. DURMAZSOY (JTW)

ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul declared that Ankara Government consider to appeal to the international court regarding the Armenian genocide claims. Armenians have never applied any court for their claims, but foreign parliaments. The details of the initiative will be declared in coming days.

Following Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s letter to Armenian President Robert Kocharyan last year in which he proposed the appointment of a joint commission of historians to discuss the 1915 incidents, Turkey intends on offering new initiatives.

Speaking at the Budgetary Commission of the Turkish National Assembly, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Turkish and foreign lawyers were studying the issue. Gul noted that Turkey did not rule out international adjudication, an option for which the views of both domestic and foreign international lawyers were being sought. Minister Gul also recalled that Turkey had invited not only Armenians but also third parties to join the proposed commission of historians.

Sukru Elekdag, CHP MP, gave strong support to Gul’s proposal and argued that Turkey is right and Armenians will have noting in the appeal.
Sedat laciner, head of the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization (USAK) told the JTW that the Armenians never went to the courts, but the foreign parliaments:

“Armenians want to keep the problem in the political framework, because they do not have prove their claims in the political area.” Laciner added.

According to Laciner, no international court can support the Armenian allegations under the UN Convention. Dr. Laciner further continued:

“The Armenians were armed in 1915, they had political aims against the Government, they supported the other side, and there were communal clashes between the Armenians, Kurds and Turks. The difference between genocide and political clashes is very clear in the UN Convention. The Armenians wanted a seat in the Lausanne Peace Treaty Negotiations, claiming they also fought against the Turks. The Armenians vividly confessed after the First World War that they were against the Ottoman State and they joined the allies against their state. All these prove that the Armenian case was not a genocide. Apart from the Armenian claims, the international court should also look at the Turkish massacres committed by the Armenian armed groups during the First World War. Many family in Turkey want to go to the courts against the Armenians.”

Dr. Sukru Elekdag says the new initiative is a milestone in Turkey’s Armenian issue policies. “It is the first time a Turkish FM is speaking about international court” Elekdag added.

Armenia has rejected all Turkish offers and invitations to discuss the past. The Armenian side argues that Turkey has to accept what the Armenians say, “because there is nothing left to be discussable”.