It was in March that Bilgi University of Istanbul had announced earlier that it would be hosting a conference on the so-called Armenian Genocide. However, due to lots of external pressures coming from the NGOs including the Turkish Forum-World Turkish Alliance, Istanbul Bilgi University made a statement regarding the blocking of the conference titled “The Armenian Genocide: Concepts and Comparative Perspectives” that had been planned to be held at the university on April 26.
Turkish Forum had acted in line with its mission and carried out a thorough research as to how to block such a pejorative conference where only speakers representing the Armenian perspective were invited. It was very ironical that in our own homeland, nobody, not even one scholar was invited to present the Turkish perspective or rather the truth about these false claims. The thorough research reaped its benefits, and Turkish Forum officials found the proper address to express their concerns to. The University has always been proud of its connections to Laureate University System, and that’s where they get their accreditation from. Such an institution which is proud of its excellence in learning would not nor could not tolerate the university hosting such conferences that caused unrest and hatred in the society. The university needs students for survival and not such biased conferences. And hence a letter was sent to the head of this System expressing the fears and doubts of not only the Turkish Forum but the Turkish people. Hence the following letter was sent.
Based on the news that appeared on AGOS webpage, Bilgi University had released a statement saying that despite being announced in March via the University web site, the Dean’s Office announced to the organizers of the conference that this conference could not be held at the university. When a clear answer was not provided for the reason of the cancellation, organizers applied to the Rector’s Office, and received the same response. It is believed that the blocking of the conference is due to its title. This is a very naive approach, but the organizers should have kept their equal stance to both perspective and not just let one side dominate the entire conference.
As has always been the case, Turkish Forum contributed to the blocking of this conference and shall continue to work for the Turkish cause regardless of how much time and energy is needed to accomplish its mission of being at the service of the Turkish people.