Number 42 | May 22, 2008
The President of the Turkish Historical Society Professor Yusuf Halacoglu offered a $20 million grant to the classification and opening of the Armenian archives in Boston, which remain sealed to scholars.
Halacoglu said that the Armenian archives in Boston included very important documents regarding the events of 1915 and about the real number of ethnic Armenians who currently live in Turkey, which Halacoglu puts at 500,000, instead of the officially quoted figure of 60,000.
According to Halacoglu, he presented his offer to Armenian historians, but had not received any response. “This would directly open a debate over the genocide claims. Armenians are aware of this and therefore they are doing their best not to sit at the table," he added.
The Turkish government has opened the Ottoman archives many years ago. Halacoglu asserted that scholars from many nations have been studying the archives of Turkey, Russia, France, Great Britain, the US and even Iran to create a complete historical narrative. He asserted that the most important missing link in the research were the Armenian Dashnak Party archives in Boston, the Armenian Patriarchate’s archives in Jerusalem and the archives in Yerevan, stating that the closed Armenian Diaspora archives in Boston were of particular importance.
In 2005, Turkey officially proposed the establishment of a joint commission comprised of historians and other experts from both sides to study the events of 1915, utilizing not only Turkish and Armenian archives, but also those of relevant third-party countries and to share their findings with the public. Armenia has not yet responded positively to this initiative.
Turkey argues that parliaments and other political institutions are not the appropriate forums to debate and pass judgment on disputed periods of history and has stated that matters of history should be left to historians for dispassionate study and evaluation.