Petition of 1985 US Academicians To The Members of the U.S.
House of Representatives (Local Copy)
Attention Members of the U.S. House of Representatives
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 peoples 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 the “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 direction 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 in H.J. Res. 192 would inevitably reflect unjustly upon the people of Turkey, and perhaps set back irreparably progress 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 a historical question is correct. Such a resolution, based on historically questionable assumptions, can only damage the cause of honest historical enquiry, and damage the credibility of the American legislative process.
(The archives in Turkey have been opened since.)
Signatories of the Statement of H.J. Res. 192 addressed to the members of the U.S. House of Representatives:
Attention Members of the U.S. House of Representatives
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 peoples 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 the “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 direction 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 in H.J. Res. 192 would inevitably reflect unjustly upon the people of Turkey, and perhaps set back irreparably progress 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 a historical question is correct. Such a resolution, based on historically questionable assumptions, can only damage the cause of honest historical enquiry, and damage the credibility of the American legislative process.
(The archives in Turkey have been opened since.)
Signatories of the Statement of H.J. Res. 192 addressed to the members of the U.S. House of Representatives:
1-Rifaat Abou-EI-HaJ Professor of History California State University
at Long Beach
2-Sarah Moment Atis Associate Professor of Turkish Language &
Literature Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison
3- Karl Barbir Associate Professor of History Siena College (New York)
4- Ilhan Basgoz Director of the Turkish Studies Program at the
Department of Uralic & Altaic Studies Indiana University
5- Daniel G. Bates Professor of Anthropology Hunter College, City
University of New York
6 -Luke Bates Professor of Art History Hunter College, City College of
New York
7 -Gustav Bayerie Professor of Uralic & Altaic Studies Indiana
University
8 -Andras G.E. Bodrogligetti Professor of Turkic & Iranian
Languages University of California at Los Angeles
9 –Kathleen BurriIl Associate Professor of Turkish Studies Columbia
University
10-Timothy Childs Professorial Lecturer SAIS, Johns Hopkins University
11-Shafiga Daulet Associate Professor of Political Science University
of Connecticut
12-Roderic Davison Professor of History George Washington University
Washington. D.C.
13-Walter Denny Professor of Art History & Near Eastern Studies
University of Massachusetts
14- Alan Duben Anthropologist Researcher
New York City
15- Ellen Ervin Research Assistant
Professor of Turkish New York University
16- Caesar Farah Professor of Islamic &
Middle Eastern History University of Minnesota
17 -Carter Findley Associate Professor of
History The Ohio State University
18 -Michael Finefrock Professor of History
College of Charleston
19 -Alan Fisher Professor of History
Michigan Stale University
20 -Cornell Fischer Assistant Professor of
History Washington University (Missouri)
21 -Peter Golden Professor of History
Rutgers University,
22 -Newark Tom Goodrich Professor of
History Indiana University of Pennsylvania
23 -Andrew Gould PhD. in Ottoman History
Flagstaff, Arizona
24 -William Griswold Professor of History
Colorado State University
25 -Tibor Halasi-Kun Professor Emeritus of
Turkish Studies Columbia University
26 -William Hickman Associate Professor of
Turkish University of California, Berkeley
27 -J.C. Hurewitz Professor of Government
Emeritus Former Director of the Middle East Institute (1971-1984) Columbia
University
28 -John Hymn Professor of History
Glenville State College West Virginia
29 -Halil Inalcik University Professor of
Ottoman History & Member of The American Academy of Art & Sciences
University of Chicago
30 -Ralph Jaeckel Visiting Assistant
Professor of Turkish University of California at Los Angeles
31 -Ronald Jennings Associate Professor of
History Asian Studies University of Illinois
32 -James Kelly Associate Professor of
Turkish University of Utah
33 -Kerim Key Adjunct Professor
Southeastern University Washington, D.C.
34 -Metin Kunt Professor of Ottoman History
New York City
35 -Frederick Latimer Associate Professor of History, Retired
University of Utah
36 -Avigdor Levy Professor of History
Brandeis University
37 -Bernard Lewis Cleveland E. Dodge
Professor of Near Eastern History Princeton University
38 -Dr. Heath W. Lowry Institute of Turkish
Studies, Inc. Washington, D.C.
39 -Justin McCarthy Associate Professor of
History University of Louisville
40 -Jon Mandaville Professor of the History
of tire Middle East Portland State University (Oregon)
41 -Michael Meeker Professor of
Anthropology University of California at San Diego
42 -Rhoads Murphey Assistant Professor of
Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures and History Columbia University
43 -Thomas Naff Professor of History &
Director, Middle East Research Institute University of Pennsylvania
44 -Pierre Oberling Professor of History
Hunter College of the City University of New York
45 -William Ochsenwald Associate Professor
of History Virginia Polytechnic Institute
46 -Robert Olson Associate Professor of History University of Kentucky
47 -William Peachy Assistant Professor of the Judaic & Near
Eastern Languages & Literatures The Ohio State University
48 -Donald Quataert Associate Professor of
History University of Houston
49 -Howard Reed Professor of History University of Connecticut
50 -Dankwart Rustow Distinguished
University Professor of Political Science City University Graduate School New
York
51 -Ezel Kural Shaw Associate Professor of
History California State University, Northridge
52 -Stanford Shaw Professor of History
University of California at Los Angeles
53 -Elaine Smith PhD. In Turkish History
Retired Foreign Service Officer Washington, D.C.
54 -Grace M. Smith Visiting Lecturer In
Turkish University of California at Berkeley
55 -John Masson Smith, Jr. Professor of
History University of California at Berkeley
56 -Dr. Svat Soucek Turcologist, New york
City
57 -Robert Stash Assistant Director of the
Middle East Center University of Utah
58 -June Starr Associate Professor of
Anthropology SUNY Stoneybrook
59 -James Stewart-Robinson Professor of
Turkish Studies University of Michigan
60 -Dr. Philip Stoddard Executive Director
Middle East Institute Washington, D.C.
61 -Frank Tachau Professor of Political
Science University of Illinois at Chicago
62 -Metin Tamkoc Professor of International
Law & Relations Texas Tech University
63 -David Thomas Associate Professor of
History Rhode Island College
64 -Margaret L. Venzke Assistant Professor of History Dickinson
College (Pennsylvania) 65 -Warren S.
Walker Horn Professor of English & Director of the Archive of Turkish
Oral Narrative Texas Tech University
66 -Donald Webster Professor of Turkish
History,
67 -Retired Walter Welker Professor of
Political Science Rutgers University
68 -John Woods Associate Professor of
Middle Eastern History University of Chicago
69 -Madeline Zilfi Associate Professor of
History University of Maryland
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