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BLUE BOOK ON ARMENIAN ISSUE RE-SENT TO TURKISH DEPUTIES
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Feb 20 2013
A group of intellectuals have re-sent copies of Lord James Bryce and
Arnold Toynbee's "Blue Book," which relates the Ottoman-era Armenian
unrest in Turkey in 1915, to the Turkish Parliament's 550 lawmakers
following a failed attempt to do so four years ago.
The group, which is sending the book to the deputies via the
state-controlled postal service PTT, is hoping to draw attention to
freedom of speech. "A ban on reading has reached schools," said Ragıp
Zaraoklu, a publisher, at an Istanbul press meeting on the evening
of Feb. 19. Zarakolu made the comments in relation to several recent
attempts to bar some world classics and local works of literature
from schools' reading lists.
Å~^ukru Elekdag, then-Parliamentary Speaker Köksal Toptan prevented
deliveries of the books four years ago when they were sent by cargo,
Zarakolu said.
"In a bid to point at a rising ban on books and [overcome what happened
four years ago], we find it meaningful to start efforts from this
point," he said.
If the deputies cannot receive the books from the PTT, the group plans
to distribute them directly at the gate of the Parliament building.
The book was re-printed by the Gomidas Institute four years ago upon
the efforts of historian Ara Sarafyan, who was also present at the
Feb. 19 meeting.
Sociologist Ä°smail BeÅ~_ikci said the archives in Turkey would never
be trustable if the "denialist" policies on the issue continued.
"The Blue Book," also known as "The treatment of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire" is a compilation of statements by eyewitnesses from
other countries including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden,
and Switzerland during 1915-1916.
The book has been criticized as British wartime propaganda to build
up sentiment against the Central Powers by some Western academics
and Turkish political parties.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/blue-book-on-armenian-issue-re-sent-to-turkish-deputies-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=41513&NewsCatID=339
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Feb 20 2013
A group of intellectuals have re-sent copies of Lord James Bryce and
Arnold Toynbee's "Blue Book," which relates the Ottoman-era Armenian
unrest in Turkey in 1915, to the Turkish Parliament's 550 lawmakers
following a failed attempt to do so four years ago.
The group, which is sending the book to the deputies via the
state-controlled postal service PTT, is hoping to draw attention to
freedom of speech. "A ban on reading has reached schools," said Ragıp
Zaraoklu, a publisher, at an Istanbul press meeting on the evening
of Feb. 19. Zarakolu made the comments in relation to several recent
attempts to bar some world classics and local works of literature
from schools' reading lists.
Å~^ukru Elekdag, then-Parliamentary Speaker Köksal Toptan prevented
deliveries of the books four years ago when they were sent by cargo,
Zarakolu said.
"In a bid to point at a rising ban on books and [overcome what happened
four years ago], we find it meaningful to start efforts from this
point," he said.
If the deputies cannot receive the books from the PTT, the group plans
to distribute them directly at the gate of the Parliament building.
The book was re-printed by the Gomidas Institute four years ago upon
the efforts of historian Ara Sarafyan, who was also present at the
Feb. 19 meeting.
Sociologist Ä°smail BeÅ~_ikci said the archives in Turkey would never
be trustable if the "denialist" policies on the issue continued.
"The Blue Book," also known as "The treatment of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire" is a compilation of statements by eyewitnesses from
other countries including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden,
and Switzerland during 1915-1916.
The book has been criticized as British wartime propaganda to build
up sentiment against the Central Powers by some Western academics
and Turkish political parties.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/blue-book-on-armenian-issue-re-sent-to-turkish-deputies-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=41513&NewsCatID=339