Clark University professor Taner Akçam has discovered historical evidence of the Ottoman intent to commit genocide against the Armenians. Akçam, an expert in the Armenian genocide, has been researching the Ottoman archive and among newly released documents, found what he dubs a “smoking gun” linking the atrocities to the Turkish government. Originating in the provinces, the genocidal approach to Turkey’s Armenian population was eventually adopted by Istanbul, whose officials used the terms “extermination” and “annihilation.”
Akçam’s discoveries, which appear in the Journal of Genocide Research, have modern-day implications that, as he put it, “constitute a major blow against Turkish denialist arguments.” Akçam points out that “Turks and the Turkish government has [sic] the same problems today with Kurds as the Ottomans had with Armenians in the past.” “Without acknowledging historical wrongdoings,” he concludes, “Turkey cannot establish a democratic future.”
