YEREVAN (ArmRadio) — The Armenian translation of Turkish historian Taner Akcam’s book, “Forced Islamization of Armenians: Silence, Denial and Assimilation,” was presented at the Research Center on Western Armenian Studies in Yerevan with the author present.
The book has been translated into Armenian by Meline Anumyan, a Turkish studies expert who also works as editor for Public Radio of Armenia’s Turkish programs.
According to Anumyan, the book comes to refute the false narratives surrounding Islamicized Armenians in Turkey.
“Some Turkish historians have manipulated the issue and tried to push forward the version that the existence of these many Islamized Armenians in Turkey proves that no genocide has been committed against Armenians,” Anumyan said.
Akcam’s book proves, however, that Islamized Armenians are also a result of the genocide.
The work consists of three parts. In the first part, the author speaks about the impossibility of an unbiased study of the Armenian Genocide issue in Turkey, about the difficulties and persecutions he has faced. The second part presents the story of discriminatory and biased discussions regarding the Turkish edition of Ottoman Armenian Captain Sarkis Torossian’s memoirs, which raised a second wave of criticism against Akcam, who tracked down Torossian’s family in America. In the third part, the author presents the Ottoman policy of forced Islamization and assimilation of Armenians between 1915 and 1918 — Akcam describes this as a structural element of the Armenian Genocide.
The book, published under the sponsorship of the Jerair Nishanian Foundation, is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
An honest Turk, not all Turks are equal.