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Taner Akçam

January 01, 1970

Altuğ Taner Akçam (born 1953) is a Turkish-German historian[1] and sociologist. During the 1990s, he was the first Turkish scholar to acknowledge the Armenian genocide,[2][3] 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.[4] Akçam's frequent participation in public debates on the legacy of the genocide have been compared to Theodor Adorno's role in postwar Germany.[5]

Taner Akçam
Akçam in Toronto, 2013
Born1953 (1953) (age 71)
Ölçek, Ardahan Province, Turkey
NationalityGerman
Alma materMiddle East Technical University
OccupationHistorian
Known forDiscussion of Armenian genocide, 1977 imprisonment

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."[6][7]

Early life

Akçam was born in Ölçek village near Ardahan, Turkey to Dursun and Perihan Akçam.[8] His family are of Turkish Meskhetian origin.[9][10] Akçam has stated that he was raised in "a very secular family," with his father being an atheist.[11] He studied economics at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, and graduated in 1976. In 1974, Akçam was arrested for participating in student protests against the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.[12] 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."[13])

On March 9, 1976, soon after graduating from university, while a graduate student at the same department, he was arrested for his involvement in producing a student journal that focused on the treatment of Kurds in Turkey.[14][15] Devrimci Gençlik (Revolutionary Youth)[16][17][18][19][20] was the journal of a radical leftist organization,[21][22][23] Devrimci Yol ("Revolutionary Path").[24] Akçam explained that he accepted the editorship position, aged 22, as none of his peers would, knowing that it could land him in jail.[25] His fears materialized when he received a nine-year sentence in early 1977, which resulted in Amnesty International naming him as a prisoner of conscience.[15] He served for a year before escaping from Ankara Central Prison on March 12, 1977,[14][17][25] using the leg of an iron stove to dig a hole.[26] He received political asylum from West Germany in 1978, where he obtained citizenship and resided until obtaining his doctorate degree in 1995.[14][15][27][28]

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.[29][30][31] Ressesade, who was studying torture in Iran, proposed that Akçam could do a study on torture in Turkey.[29] Akçam decided to study Armenians after meeting a German librarian of Lebanese-Armenian origin, who urged him to do so.[32] In 1991, he organized a workshop on the Ottoman Military Tribunal that judged the crimes of the Armenian genocide.[2] 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."[33] 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".[34] 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.[35][34]

Akçam is a former student of fellow genocide scholar, Vahakn Dadrian.[36] 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 (Dutch: Humanistische Omroep Stichting),[37][38] was made about their academic relationship.[39]

Akçam was Visiting Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota, United States before joining Clark University's Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.[1]

After the assassination of Hrant Dink in 2007, Akçam attended Dink's funeral in Istanbul. According to the Intelligence Report, the journal of the Southern Poverty Law Center,

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.[4]

In 2008, when Akçam's appointment as the chairman of Armenian genocide 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".[40]

On 29 January 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron awarded Akçam the medal for courage for "denouncing denial" of the Armenian genocide.[41]

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.[42] In it Akçam criticized the prosecution of Agos managing editor Hrant Dink for using the term "genocide", regarding the Armenian genocide. 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.[43] 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.[44]

Akçam faced harassment after discovering the identity of the creator of the Web site Tall Armenian Tale,[13][45][46] which had called Akçam a "turncoat" and posted his personal information.[47] 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.[48]

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.[49] He was due to give a lecture at the invitation of the McGill University Faculty of Law and Concordia University. In explaining his detention, Taner Akçam says that Canadian authorities referred to an inaccurate version of his biography on Wikipedia from around December 24, 2006, which called him a terrorist.[49][50]

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.[49] While on a lecture tour in 2007 he faced further harassment by persons turning up and disrupting his speaking engagements.[46] The Wikipedia biography was altered as part of an internet campaign against him by the website "Tall Armenian Tale".[51]

In October 2011, Akçam won a judgment in the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that the Turkish laws against "denigrating Turkishness" were a violation of freedom of expression.[52][53]

Bibliography

  • Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide (2018)
  • Akçam, Taner; Kurt, Ümit (November 1, 2017). The Spirit of the Laws: The Plunder of Wealth in the Armenian Genocide. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-78238-624-7.
  • Taner Akçam (2012) The Young Turks' Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire, Princeton University Press ISBN 978-069-11-5333-9
  • Akçam, Taner (January 2008). Ermeni Meselesi Hallolunmuştur (in Turkish). İletişim. ISBN 978-975-05-0562-1. (The Armenian Issue is Resolved)[54][55]
  • Taner Akçam (May 16, 2006) A Shameful Act : The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility, Metropolitan Books ISBN 0-8050-7932-7 (received the 2007 Minnesota Book Award for General Nonfiction.[56])
  • Taner Akçam (Sep. 4, 2004) From Empire to Republic : Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide, Zed Books ISBN 1-84277-527-8
  • Dialogue across an international divide: Essays towards a Turkish-Armenian dialogue, Zoryan Institute, 2001, ISBN 1-895485-03-7; - About the book and foreword
  • (in Turkish) İnsan hakları ve Ermeni sorunu: İttihat ve Terakki'den Kurtuluş Savaşı'na, İmge Kitabevi, 1. edition, 1999, ISBN 975-533-246-4
  • Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey, Publications on the Near East, University of Washington, Sibel Bozdogan (Editor), University of Washington Press, July, 1997, ISBN 0-295-97597-0
  • (in German) Armenien und der Völkermord: Die Istanbuler Prozesse und die türkische Nationalbewegung, Hamburger Edition, 1. edition, 1996, ISBN 3-930908-26-3
  • (in Turkish) Siyasi kültürümüzde zulüm ve işkence (Araştırma-inceleme dizisi), İletişim Yayıncılık, 1. edition, 1992, ISBN 975-470-249-7

References

  1. ^ a b (Press release). Office of University Communications, Clark University. 2008-06-17. Archived from the original on 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2008-07-02. Clark University has appointed prominent historian Taner Akçam to occupy the Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marion Mugar Professorship in Armenian Genocide Studies
  2. ^ a b Cheterian 2015, pp. 140–141.
  3. ^ de Waal, Thomas (2015). Great Catastrophe: Armenians and Turks in the Shadow of Genocide. Oxford University Press. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-19-935069-8.
     • Suny, Ronald Grigor (2009). "Truth in Telling: Reconciling Realities in the Genocide of the Ottoman Armenians". The American Historical Review. 114 (4): 938. doi:10.1086/ahr.114.4.930.
  4. ^ a b David Holthouse, Southern Poverty Law Center, State of Denial: Turkey Spends Millions to Cover Up Armenian Genocide 2010-01-20 at the Wayback Machine Intelligence Report, Summer 2008
  5. ^ Erbal, Ayda (2015). "The Armenian Genocide, AKA the Elephant in the Room". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 47 (4): 783–790. doi:10.1017/S0020743815000987. S2CID 162834123. Taner Akc¸am, for example, is a regular press contributor on a number of issues including but not limited to facing history. Although it is very difficult to assess their reach, we can safely say that, unfortunately, their popular writings are more widely read on a day-to-day basis than their academic work. In a way, this is reminiscent of Adorno's radio programs on dealing with the Past and his written contributions to [German newspapers]...
  6. ^ Akcam, 2004, p. 262.
  7. ^ . gariwo.net. Archived from the original on 2012-02-20. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
  8. ^ Şişli State Head Prosecutor, Suspect’s Statement Form 2014-10-15 at the Wayback Machine. Investigation № 2006/49047.
  9. ^ Hofmann, Tessa (2016). "Open Wounds: Armenians, Turks, and a Century of Genocide by Vicken Cheterian". Histoire sociale/Social history. 49 (100): 662–664. doi:10.1353/his.2016.0046. S2CID 152278362. Regrettably, Cheterian does not fully reveal what made Zarakolu and Akςam exceptional challengers of taboos and groundbreakers against all ideological and generational odds. Maybe the reason why is that there is a familial tradition of rescuing victims, as in the case of Zarakolu? Or, perhaps belonging to an ethnic minority that experienced state persecution before, as in the case of Akςam whose background was Meskhetian?
  10. ^ Taner Akçam'la "soykırım" üzerine, Bizim Anadolu, 2010, retrieved 21 December 2020, (Gülerek) Herkes etnik kökenine bakıyor. Vallahi ben çok safkan bir Türküm. Ahıska Türkleri derler bize Kars'ta. Ve, bizim sülalemizden birilerinin Ermeni çeteleri tarafından öldürülmüş olabileceği ihtimali de oldukça kuvvetli. Ama bu tür şeyler benim için hiç önemli değil. Ben sonuçta bir akademisyenim ve bilim adamı olarak konuyu araştırıyorum.
  11. ^ Is It Still Genocide if Your Allies Did It?, lawandpolitics.com.
  12. ^ Whittell, Giles (2007-08-18). "Non-fiction book reviews: History that dares to speak its name". Times Online. Retrieved 2008-08-18. ...a 1974 arrest for protesting at Turkey's invasion of northern Cyprus...
  13. ^ a b Akçam, Taner. Nazım Dikbaş (ed.). . Archived from the original (DOC) on 2014-10-15. Retrieved 2008-01-24. Originally published in Agos as "Holdwater: The Mysterious American who Drives Armenians Mad," May 18, 2007, and "Holdwater: The Golden Rule," May 25, 2007, by Ali Murat Güven.
  14. ^ a b c Schilling, Peter (January 2008). "Is It Still Genocide if Your Allies Did It?". Law & Politics. 167. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  15. ^ a b c Christoff, Stefan (2007-02-22). . Montreal Mirror. 22 (34). Archived from the original on 2007-10-04. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  16. ^ . Devrimci Gençlik (in Turkish). September 1976. Archived from the original on 2016-01-30. Retrieved 2008-07-02. Dergimiz Sorumlu Yazı İşleri müdürü Taner Akçam... (English: Our magazine's managing editor Taner Akçam...)
  17. ^ a b Taner Akçam: Biography (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-05-20. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  18. ^ "ST Center for International Studies Presents Taner Akcam, author of "A Shameful Act"" (PDF). University of St. Thomas. 2007-02-19. Retrieved 2008-08-18. In the mid-1970s, Akçam became a leading member of the militant group Dev Yol (Devrimci Yol-Revolutionary Path) and the editor of its periodical Devrimci Genclik Dergisi (Revolutionary Youth Magazine).
  19. ^ . Armenian Studies Program. California State University, Fresno. 2007-01-21. Archived from the original on 2008-12-26. Retrieved 2008-08-18. As the editor in chief of a student political journal
  20. ^ "The Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Sources" (PDF). Mershon Center. Ohio State University Knowledge Bank. 2006-01-11. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
  21. ^ Burgess, Mark (2002-05-21). "Terrorism — PKK (a.k.a. KADEK): Kurdish Worker's Party (a.k.a. Kurdish Freedom and Democracy Congress)". Terrorism Project. Center for Defense Information. Retrieved 2008-07-12.
  22. ^ Munro, David; Day, Alan John (1990). A World Record of Major Conflict Areas. St. James Press. p. 143. ISBN 1-55862-066-4.
  23. ^ Özcan, Ali Kemal (2006). Turkey's Kurds: A Theoretical Analysis of the PKK and Abdullah Öcalan. Routledge. p. 200. ISBN 0-415-36687-9.
  24. ^ Karpat, Kemal H. (1975). "Turkish and Arab-Israeli Relations". Turkey's Foreign Policy in Transition: 1950–1974. Brill Archive. p. 131. ISBN 90-04-04323-3.
  25. ^ a b Dundar, Can (2002-01-08). "Bir rüya gördü hapisten kaçtı". Milliyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-08-26. Çıkaracağımız Devrimci Gençlik dergisinin sorumlu yazı işleri müdürünün kim olacağını tartışıyorduk. Herkes birbirinin gözünün içine bakıyordu. Bu görevi üstlenecek olan, geleceğini tehlikeye atmayı, en azından hapse düşmeyi kabul etmiş olacaktı. Beklemekten nefret ederim. Dayanamadım, 'Ben olurum' dedim.
  26. ^ Kolbert, Elizabeth (2006-11-06). "Dead Reckoning". New Yorker. Retrieved 2008-09-02. Using a stove leg to dig a tunnel...
  27. ^ Mozingo, Joe (1999-04-26). "Turkish Writer Breaks Ranks on Genocide". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-09-09. Akcam, once a student dissident who tunneled out of a Turkish prison with the leg of an iron stove...had his own run-ins with the Turkish government in the 1970s. He was jailed for printing Marxist articles and eventually escaped from a primitive prison converted from an old stable, he said. Turkish authorities confirmed his arrest and escape, and said he was linked to a pro-Soviet revolutionary group.
  28. ^ Macmillan, Jonathan Q (2007-03-15). . The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on 2007-10-15. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  29. ^ a b Cheterian 2015, pp. 139–140.
  30. ^ Taner Akçam, Dr. phil. 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, Hamburg Institute for Social Research (in German)
  31. ^ Akçam, Taner (March 2000). "The process of state formation in Turkey". Hamburg Foundation for the Advancement of Research and Culture. Retrieved 2008-07-10.[permanent dead link]
  32. ^ Cheterian 2015, p. 140.
  33. ^ Cheterian 2015, p. 141.
  34. ^ a b Cheterian 2015, p. 142.
  35. ^ "Faculty: Taner Akcam, Ph.D." Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Clark University. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  36. ^ Kouyoumdjian, Nina (2006-04-30). "Dadrian and Taner Akcam come to Harvard to Discuss Future of Turkey-Armenia Relations". Harvard Armenian Society. Retrieved 2008-08-19. Professor Akcam, one of Dadrian's former students...
  37. ^ Ghazarian, Salpi Haroutinian (March 1999). . Armenian International Magazine. Archived from the original on 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
  38. ^ Dorothée Forma at IMDb
  39. ^ (in Turkish). 2000-04-11. Archived from the original on 2007-07-08. Retrieved 2008-08-19. [Filmin] konusu, doktora tezimin yazimi sirasinda ... Amerika'da yasayan Ermeni asilli Prof. Dadrian ile kurdugum 'akademik iliski' idi.
  40. ^ Abel, David (2008-05-29). "Turkish historian to study genocide". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
  41. ^ "Macron félicite un historien turc auteur d'un livre sur le génocide arménien". La Presse (in French). 29 January 2020.
  42. ^ Akçam, Taner (2006-10-06). "Hrant Dink, 301 ve bir suç duyurusu". Agos. (Hrant Dink, 301, and a criminal complaint 2009-03-05 at the Wayback Machine)
  43. ^ Labi, Aisha (2008-05-16). . Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  44. ^ . New Anatolian. 2007-04-02. Archived from the original on 2007-05-03.
  45. ^ Ozcan, Emine (2007-09-04). . bianet. Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  46. ^ a b Cole, Juan (2007-04-14). "Detained in Two Worlds: The Taner Akçam Story". Informed Comment. Retrieved 2008-05-16. Contains Akçam's essay, "The Circle Closes In: A shameful campaign 2009-04-07 at the Wayback Machine", dated March 17, 2007.
  47. ^ "Turkish Scholars". Tall Armenian Tale. Retrieved 2008-09-03. It makes sense, then, to understand why Turncoat Turks like Taner Akcam...
  48. ^ "'Akçam, Hrant Dink olmasın' kampanyası". Sabah (in Turkish). 2007-07-27. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
  49. ^ a b c Fisk, Robert (2007-04-21). . The Independent. Archived from the original on May 14, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  50. ^ Jay, Paul (2007-06-22). "A question of authority". CBC News. In Depth: Technology. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  51. ^ Cheterian 2015, p. 156. "He was also subject to an internet campaign launched by ‘Holdwater’, the webmaster of a website—‘Tall Armenian Tale’— that sought to deny the crimes of the Ottoman authorities, and which launched vitriolic attacks against scholars and public figures who dared to challenge the official Turkish narrative on the extermination of the Armenians. This campaign continued for three years, with Akçam being called a ‘terrorist’ on YouTube and Wikipedia. In February 2007, while travelling to Canada, Akçam was detained on the basis of the false allegations Holdwater had levelled against him. When Akçam ultimately revealed Holdwater’s true identity, he instead became subject to a more conventional smear campaign in the Turkish media."
  52. ^ ECtHR judgment of 25/10/2011 on application No. 27520/07 Para. 92, 93, 95
  53. ^ Freedom to Publish Trial Opens in Turkey. IPA Observers Call for Call for Acquittal of Publisher Ragıp Zarakolu (PDF). International Publishers Association. 2012.
  54. ^ Atmaca, Efnan (2008-01-25). "Amaç Ermenileri yok etmekti". Radikal (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-07-12.
  55. ^ (PDF). The Armenian Reporter. February 16, 2008. p. A3. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2009. Retrieved July 12, 2008.
  56. ^ . Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2008-05-16.

Further reading

  • Kühne, Thomas; Rein, Mary Jane; Mamigonian, Marc A. (2023). Documenting the Armenian Genocide: Essays in Honor of Taner Akçam. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-031-36753-3.

External links

  • Akcam's Project at University of Minnesota 2014-09-17 at the Wayback Machine
  • ECtHR judgment in case Akçam v. Turkey
  • Methodology of Taner Akçam

January 01, 1970
taner, akçam, altuğ, born, 1953, turkish, german, historian, sociologist, during, 1990s, first, turkish, scholar, acknowledge, armenian, genocide, written, several, books, genocide, such, shameful, 1999, from, empire, republic, turkish, nationalism, armenian, . Altug Taner Akcam born 1953 is a Turkish German historian 1 and sociologist During the 1990s he was the first Turkish scholar to acknowledge the Armenian genocide 2 3 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 4 Akcam s frequent participation in public debates on the legacy of the genocide have been compared to Theodor Adorno s role in postwar Germany 5 Taner AkcamAkcam in Toronto 2013Born1953 1953 age 71 Olcek Ardahan Province TurkeyNationalityGermanAlma materMiddle East Technical UniversityOccupationHistorianKnown forDiscussion of Armenian genocide 1977 imprisonment Akcam 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 6 7 Contents 1 Early life 2 Academic career 3 Legal disputes 4 Bibliography 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksEarly lifeAkcam was born in Olcek village near Ardahan Turkey to Dursun and Perihan Akcam 8 His family are of Turkish Meskhetian origin 9 10 Akcam has stated that he was raised in a very secular family with his father being an atheist 11 He studied economics at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara and graduated in 1976 In 1974 Akcam was arrested for participating in student protests against the Turkish invasion of Cyprus 12 In 1975 he was arrested for distributing leaflets and placing posters around the city Akcam 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 13 On March 9 1976 soon after graduating from university while a graduate student at the same department he was arrested for his involvement in producing a student journal that focused on the treatment of Kurds in Turkey 14 15 Devrimci Genclik Revolutionary Youth 16 17 18 19 20 was the journal of a radical leftist organization 21 22 23 Devrimci Yol Revolutionary Path 24 Akcam explained that he accepted the editorship position aged 22 as none of his peers would knowing that it could land him in jail 25 His fears materialized when he received a nine year sentence in early 1977 which resulted in Amnesty International naming him as a prisoner of conscience 15 He served for a year before escaping from Ankara Central Prison on March 12 1977 14 17 25 using the leg of an iron stove to dig a hole 26 He received political asylum from West Germany in 1978 where he obtained citizenship and resided until obtaining his doctorate degree in 1995 14 15 27 28 Academic careerIn August 1988 Akcam began work as a research scientist at the Hamburg Institute for Social Research following an invitation from Iranian scholar Hadi Ressesade 29 30 31 Ressesade who was studying torture in Iran proposed that Akcam could do a study on torture in Turkey 29 Akcam decided to study Armenians after meeting a German librarian of Lebanese Armenian origin who urged him to do so 32 In 1991 he organized a workshop on the Ottoman Military Tribunal that judged the crimes of the Armenian genocide 2 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 33 Akcam 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 34 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 35 34 Akcam is a former student of fellow genocide scholar Vahakn Dadrian 36 In 1997 a Dutch documentary titled Een Muur van Stilte A Wall of Silence written and directed by Dorothee Forma of the Humanist Broadcasting Foundation Dutch Humanistische Omroep Stichting 37 38 was made about their academic relationship 39 Akcam was Visiting Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota United States before joining Clark University s Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies 1 After the assassination of Hrant Dink in 2007 Akcam attended Dink s funeral in Istanbul According to the Intelligence Report the journal of the Southern Poverty Law Center Dink s friend and ideological ally Taner Akcam 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 Akcam 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 4 In 2008 when Akcam s appointment as the chairman of Armenian genocide 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 40 On 29 January 2020 French President Emmanuel Macron awarded Akcam the medal for courage for denouncing denial of the Armenian genocide 41 Legal disputesIn January 2007 the Turkish government officially launched an investigation against Akcam regarding an October 6 2006 newspaper column in the Turkish Armenian journal Agos 42 In it Akcam criticized the prosecution of Agos managing editor Hrant Dink for using the term genocide regarding the Armenian genocide 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 43 Highlighting the term genocide Akcam 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 Akcam 44 Akcam faced harassment after discovering the identity of the creator of the Web site Tall Armenian Tale 13 45 46 which had called Akcam a turncoat and posted his personal information 47 Fearing reprisals after the assassination of Hrant Dink Akcam entreated the Coordination Council of Armenian Organisations in France and president Sarkozy to pressure Ankara to protect him 48 On February 16 2007 Akcam was detained in Canada at the airport in Montreal for nearly four hours after arriving on a flight from the United States 49 He was due to give a lecture at the invitation of the McGill University Faculty of Law and Concordia University In explaining his detention Taner Akcam says that Canadian authorities referred to an inaccurate version of his biography on Wikipedia from around December 24 2006 which called him a terrorist 49 50 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 49 While on a lecture tour in 2007 he faced further harassment by persons turning up and disrupting his speaking engagements 46 The Wikipedia biography was altered as part of an internet campaign against him by the website Tall Armenian Tale 51 In October 2011 Akcam won a judgment in the European Court of Human Rights which ruled that the Turkish laws against denigrating Turkishness were a violation of freedom of expression 52 53 BibliographyKilling Orders Talat Pasha s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide 2018 Akcam Taner Kurt Umit November 1 2017 The Spirit of the Laws The Plunder of Wealth in the Armenian Genocide Berghahn Books ISBN 978 1 78238 624 7 Taner Akcam 2012 The Young Turks Crime Against Humanity The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire Princeton University Press ISBN 978 069 11 5333 9 Akcam Taner January 2008 Ermeni Meselesi Hallolunmustur in Turkish Iletisim ISBN 978 975 05 0562 1 The Armenian Issue is Resolved 54 55 Taner Akcam May 16 2006 A Shameful Act The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility Metropolitan Books ISBN 0 8050 7932 7 received the 2007 Minnesota Book Award for General Nonfiction 56 Taner Akcam Sep 4 2004 From Empire to Republic Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide Zed Books ISBN 1 84277 527 8 Dialogue across an international divide Essays towards a Turkish Armenian dialogue Zoryan Institute 2001 ISBN 1 895485 03 7 About the book and foreword in Turkish Insan haklari ve Ermeni sorunu Ittihat ve Terakki den Kurtulus Savasi na Imge Kitabevi 1 edition 1999 ISBN 975 533 246 4 Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey Publications on the Near East University of Washington Sibel Bozdogan Editor University of Washington Press July 1997 ISBN 0 295 97597 0 in German Armenien und der Volkermord Die Istanbuler Prozesse und die turkische Nationalbewegung Hamburger Edition 1 edition 1996 ISBN 3 930908 26 3 in Turkish Siyasi kulturumuzde zulum ve iskence Arastirma inceleme dizisi Iletisim Yayincilik 1 edition 1992 ISBN 975 470 249 7References a b Taner Akcam scholar author ex political prisoner and courageous champion of civil liberties joins the Strassler Center Press release Office of University Communications Clark University 2008 06 17 Archived from the original on 2008 06 26 Retrieved 2008 07 02 Clark University has appointed prominent historian Taner Akcam to occupy the Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marion Mugar Professorship in Armenian Genocide Studies a b Cheterian 2015 pp 140 141 de Waal Thomas 2015 Great Catastrophe Armenians and Turks in the Shadow of Genocide Oxford University Press p 182 ISBN 978 0 19 935069 8 Suny Ronald Grigor 2009 Truth in Telling Reconciling Realities in the Genocide of the Ottoman Armenians The American Historical Review 114 4 938 doi 10 1086 ahr 114 4 930 a b David Holthouse Southern Poverty Law Center State of Denial Turkey Spends Millions to Cover Up Armenian Genocide Archived 2010 01 20 at the Wayback Machine Intelligence Report Summer 2008 Erbal Ayda 2015 The Armenian Genocide AKA the Elephant in the Room International Journal of Middle East Studies 47 4 783 790 doi 10 1017 S0020743815000987 S2CID 162834123 Taner Akc am for example is a regular press contributor on a number of issues including but not limited to facing history Although it is very difficult to assess their reach we can safely say that unfortunately their popular writings are more widely read on a day to day basis than their academic work In a way this is reminiscent of Adorno s radio programs on dealing with the Past and his written contributions to German newspapers Akcam 2004 p 262 Gariwo the gardens of the Righteous gt Taner Akcam 1953 biography gariwo net Archived from the original on 2012 02 20 Retrieved 2009 06 23 Sisli State Head Prosecutor Suspect s Statement Form Archived 2014 10 15 at the Wayback Machine Investigation 2006 49047 Hofmann Tessa 2016 Open Wounds Armenians Turks and a Century of Genocide by Vicken Cheterian Histoire sociale Social history 49 100 662 664 doi 10 1353 his 2016 0046 S2CID 152278362 Regrettably Cheterian does not fully reveal what made Zarakolu and Aksam exceptional challengers of taboos and groundbreakers against all ideological and generational odds Maybe the reason why is that there is a familial tradition of rescuing victims as in the case of Zarakolu Or perhaps belonging to an ethnic minority that experienced state persecution before as in the case of Aksam whose background was Meskhetian Taner Akcam la soykirim uzerine Bizim Anadolu 2010 retrieved 21 December 2020 Gulerek Herkes etnik kokenine bakiyor Vallahi ben cok safkan bir Turkum Ahiska Turkleri derler bize Kars ta Ve bizim sulalemizden birilerinin Ermeni ceteleri tarafindan oldurulmus olabilecegi ihtimali de oldukca kuvvetli Ama bu tur seyler benim icin hic onemli degil Ben sonucta bir akademisyenim ve bilim adami olarak konuyu arastiriyorum Is It Still Genocide if Your Allies Did It lawandpolitics com Whittell Giles 2007 08 18 Non fiction book reviews History that dares to speak its name Times Online Retrieved 2008 08 18 a 1974 arrest for protesting at Turkey s invasion of northern Cyprus a b Akcam Taner Nazim Dikbas ed Holdwater Murad Gumen The Mysterious American Who Drives the Armenians Mad Archived from the original DOC on 2014 10 15 Retrieved 2008 01 24 Originally published in Agos as Holdwater The Mysterious American who Drives Armenians Mad May 18 2007 and Holdwater The Golden Rule May 25 2007 by Ali Murat Guven a b c Schilling Peter January 2008 Is It Still Genocide if Your Allies Did It Law amp Politics 167 Retrieved 2008 05 16 a b c Christoff Stefan 2007 02 22 No shame in slaughter Montreal Mirror 22 34 Archived from the original on 2007 10 04 Retrieved 2008 05 16 Taner Akcam a Ozgurluk Devrimci Genclik in Turkish September 1976 Archived from the original on 2016 01 30 Retrieved 2008 07 02 Dergimiz Sorumlu Yazi Isleri muduru Taner Akcam English Our magazine s managing editor Taner Akcam a b Taner Akcam Biography in Turkish Retrieved 2008 05 20 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a work ignored help ST Center for International Studies Presents Taner Akcam author of A Shameful Act PDF University of St Thomas 2007 02 19 Retrieved 2008 08 18 In the mid 1970s Akcam became a leading member of the militant group Dev Yol Devrimci Yol Revolutionary Path and the editor of its periodical Devrimci Genclik Dergisi Revolutionary Youth Magazine A Shameful Act The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility Armenian Studies Program California State University Fresno 2007 01 21 Archived from the original on 2008 12 26 Retrieved 2008 08 18 As the editor in chief of a student political journal The Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Sources PDF Mershon Center Ohio State University Knowledge Bank 2006 01 11 Retrieved 2008 08 18 Burgess Mark 2002 05 21 Terrorism PKK a k a KADEK Kurdish Worker s Party a k a Kurdish Freedom and Democracy Congress Terrorism Project Center for Defense Information Retrieved 2008 07 12 Munro David Day Alan John 1990 A World Record of Major Conflict Areas St James Press p 143 ISBN 1 55862 066 4 Ozcan Ali Kemal 2006 Turkey s Kurds A Theoretical Analysis of the PKK and Abdullah Ocalan Routledge p 200 ISBN 0 415 36687 9 Karpat Kemal H 1975 Turkish and Arab Israeli Relations Turkey s Foreign Policy in Transition 1950 1974 Brill Archive p 131 ISBN 90 04 04323 3 a b Dundar Can 2002 01 08 Bir ruya gordu hapisten kacti Milliyet in Turkish Retrieved 2008 08 26 Cikaracagimiz Devrimci Genclik dergisinin sorumlu yazi isleri mudurunun kim olacagini tartisiyorduk Herkes birbirinin gozunun icine bakiyordu Bu gorevi ustlenecek olan gelecegini tehlikeye atmayi en azindan hapse dusmeyi kabul etmis olacakti Beklemekten nefret ederim Dayanamadim Ben olurum dedim Kolbert Elizabeth 2006 11 06 Dead Reckoning New Yorker Retrieved 2008 09 02 Using a stove leg to dig a tunnel Mozingo Joe 1999 04 26 Turkish Writer Breaks Ranks on Genocide Los Angeles Times Retrieved 2008 09 09 Akcam once a student dissident who tunneled out of a Turkish prison with the leg of an iron stove had his own run ins with the Turkish government in the 1970s He was jailed for printing Marxist articles and eventually escaped from a primitive prison converted from an old stable he said Turkish authorities confirmed his arrest and escape and said he was linked to a pro Soviet revolutionary group Macmillan Jonathan Q 2007 03 15 Author Argues That Armenian Genocide Happened The Harvard Crimson Archived from the original on 2007 10 15 Retrieved 2008 05 15 a b Cheterian 2015 pp 139 140 Taner Akcam Dr phil Archived 2007 09 27 at the Wayback Machine Hamburg Institute for Social Research in German Akcam Taner March 2000 The process of state formation in Turkey Hamburg Foundation for the Advancement of Research and Culture Retrieved 2008 07 10 permanent dead link Cheterian 2015 p 140 Cheterian 2015 p 141 a b Cheterian 2015 p 142 Faculty Taner Akcam Ph D Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Clark University Retrieved 2008 05 16 Kouyoumdjian Nina 2006 04 30 Dadrian and Taner Akcam come to Harvard to Discuss Future of Turkey Armenia Relations Harvard Armenian Society Retrieved 2008 08 19 Professor Akcam one of Dadrian s former students Ghazarian Salpi Haroutinian March 1999 A Dutch Filmmaker Armenian International Magazine Archived from the original on 2007 07 01 Retrieved 2008 08 19 Dorothee Forma at IMDb Bir Ziyaretin Dusundurdukleri in Turkish 2000 04 11 Archived from the original on 2007 07 08 Retrieved 2008 08 19 Filmin konusu doktora tezimin yazimi sirasinda Amerika da yasayan Ermeni asilli Prof Dadrian ile kurdugum akademik iliski idi Abel David 2008 05 29 Turkish historian to study genocide The Boston Globe Retrieved 2008 12 31 Macron felicite un historien turc auteur d un livre sur le genocide armenien La Presse in French 29 January 2020 Akcam Taner 2006 10 06 Hrant Dink 301 ve bir suc duyurusu Agos Hrant Dink 301 and a criminal complaint Archived 2009 03 05 at the Wayback Machine Labi Aisha 2008 05 16 Turkish Scholar Sues to Overturn Law on Denigrating Turkishness Chronicle of Higher Education Archived from the original on September 30 2007 Retrieved 2008 05 16 Turkish historian cleared of charges for declaring genocide New Anatolian 2007 04 02 Archived from the original on 2007 05 03 Ozcan Emine 2007 09 04 Akcam I Have Never Been So Scared bianet Archived from the original on 2011 07 25 Retrieved 2008 07 01 a b Cole Juan 2007 04 14 Detained in Two Worlds The Taner Akcam Story Informed Comment Retrieved 2008 05 16 Contains Akcam s essay The Circle Closes In A shameful campaign Archived 2009 04 07 at the Wayback Machine dated March 17 2007 Turkish Scholars Tall Armenian Tale Retrieved 2008 09 03 It makes sense then to understand why Turncoat Turks like Taner Akcam Akcam Hrant Dink olmasin kampanyasi Sabah in Turkish 2007 07 27 Retrieved 2008 09 03 a b c Fisk Robert 2007 04 21 Caught in the deadly web of the Internet The Independent Archived from the original on May 14 2007 Retrieved 2008 05 16 Jay Paul 2007 06 22 A question of authority CBC News In Depth Technology Retrieved 2020 04 10 Cheterian 2015 p 156 He was also subject to an internet campaign launched by Holdwater the webmaster of a website Tall Armenian Tale that sought to deny the crimes of the Ottoman authorities and which launched vitriolic attacks against scholars and public figures who dared to challenge the official Turkish narrative on the extermination of the Armenians This campaign continued for three years with Akcam being called a terrorist on YouTube and Wikipedia In February 2007 while travelling to Canada Akcam was detained on the basis of the false allegations Holdwater had levelled against him When Akcam ultimately revealed Holdwater s true identity he instead became subject to a more conventional smear campaign in the Turkish media ECtHR judgment of 25 10 2011 on application No 27520 07 Para 92 93 95 Freedom to Publish Trial Opens in Turkey IPA Observers Call for Call for Acquittal of Publisher Ragip Zarakolu PDF International Publishers Association 2012 Atmaca Efnan 2008 01 25 Amac Ermenileri yok etmekti Radikal in Turkish Retrieved 2008 07 12 The objective was to get rid of all Armenians English translation PDF The Armenian Reporter February 16 2008 p A3 Archived from the original PDF on March 5 2009 Retrieved July 12 2008 Minnesota Book Awards Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library Archived from the original on 2008 05 01 Retrieved 2008 05 16 Cheterian Vicken 2015 Open Wounds Armenians Turks and a Century of Genocide Hurst ISBN 978 1 84904 458 5 Further readingKuhne Thomas Rein Mary Jane Mamigonian Marc A 2023 Documenting the Armenian Genocide Essays in Honor of Taner Akcam Springer Nature ISBN 978 3 031 36753 3 External linksAkcam s Project at University of Minnesota Archived 2014 09 17 at the Wayback Machine ECtHR judgment in case Akcam v Turkey Methodology of Taner Akcam Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Taner Akcam amp 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