'Akcam in Danger'

akcam.info

2007-07-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this website is to inform the public and the U.S. Government of the dangers to Pr. Akcam's life, as described in his July 16 commentary "Shoot the Messenger" and in Ahmet Altan's July 9 commentary, "Are They Going to Kill Taner, Too?"

Pr. Akcam is the victim of a lynching campaign that has an uncanny resemblance to the campaign against Hrant Dink immediately prior to his assassination on January 19, 2007.

This campaign is not just an assault on freedom of speech or academic freedom. It is a state-sponsored assault on a individual’s life!

Click here to contact your representative!

'Shoot the Messenger'

2007-07-16T23:58:00.000-07:00

by Taner Akcam
July 16, 2007

In May 2007, I revealed the identity of Murad
“Holdwater” Gümen, the secretive Webmaster of Tall
Armenian Tale, an extensive and influential site
devoted to “the other side of the falsified Genocide”
and the defamation of genocide scholars, myself
included. Mr. Gümen has been a leading voice in an
ongoing campaign to denounce me as a traitor to Turkey
and as a terrorist who ought to be of interest to
American authorities.

For the last three years, disinformation about
me from Tall Armenian Tale has been disseminated all
over the Internet, eventually reaching the open-source
encyclopedia, Wikipedia. This campaign, which
intensified after the November 2006 publication of my
book, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the
Question of Turkish Responsibility, culminated in my
detention by Canadian and American border authorities
last February, on suspicion of terrorism. As evidence,
they showed me my vandalized Wikipedia biography.

Just one month before this incident, the
assassination of Istanbul-based journalist Hrant Dink
by an ultranationalist gunman had put Turkey’s
intellectuals on high alert. We knew that in the
months before his death, Mr. Dink had been targeted by
an increasingly vicious media campaign intent on
portraying him as a traitor. Among other things, Dink
was pilloried for revealing the Armenian identity of
Sabiha Gökçen, the adopted daughter of Turkey’s
founding father, Kemal Ataturk. Leading the pack
against Dink was Hürriyet newspaper, one of the most
influential publications in Turkey.

In the campaign against me, disinformation from
Tall Armenian Tale was copied to YouTube videos
describing my “terrorist” activities. I received death
threats by email. My lectures and book tour were
disrupted, and poison-pen letters were sent to the
hosting universities. Following my lecture on November
1, 2006, at City University of New York, I was
physically assaulted.

My detention was the last straw. I challenged
Mr. Gümen to stand up in public.

The unmasking of an individual who had been
running a campaign of slander against me was presented
to readers of Hürriyet as a criminal or unethical act.
I was said to have endangered Mr. Gümen’s life.

“Murad Gümen, who has been defending Turkey for over
30 years under the assumed name ‘Holdwater,’ had his
identity unmasked by Taner Akçam, supporter of the
claim of a so-called genocide….Upon publication of his
identity, Gümen became a target and has been the
subject of a hate campaign.”—“Secret Lobbyist
Deciphered,” Hürriyet, June 21, 2007

“Murad Gümen, whose identity was unmasked by Taner
Akçam, has been the target of a flood of insults sent
by Armenians via the Internet. Gümen, who’s been
accused of racism, has had his photograph published on
the Web….[Taner Akçam]’s disappeared. It has not been
possible to reach Taner Akçam….Murad Gümen is a
successful illustrator and film producer who lives in
America.”—“Immediate Target,” Hürriyet, June 22, 2007

“Taner Akçam fled Turkey years ago. He lives overseas,
in the United States at this point, and gets fed by
the Armenian lobby. He vomits hate towards our country
in all of his books and his speeches. Recently he
unmasked the Web site that was maintained by Murad
Gümen, who has been defending the Turkish position on
Armenian issues in the United States, and he revealed
the latter’s identity which had been kept secret until
now. This individual named Taner Akçam who has spent
his life living outside of the country, writing
articles and giving speeches against Turkey…[T]his
individual…escaped overseas, works in opposition to
Turkey, betrayed his country, and serves the Armenian
lobby by promoting the position that ‘there was an
Armenian genocide’ all over the world!”—Emin Çolasan,
“Bravo Atilla Koç! This is How You Introduce Turkey!”,
Hürriyet, June 23, 2007

Hürriyet’s reportage concerns me deeply, for
three reasons.

First, it bears an uncanny resemblance to the
lynching mentality that was created against Dink.
Having revealed the identity of a secret slanderer, I
am now being denounced as a traitor who “vomits hate
towards our country.”

My second cause for concern has to do with an
anonymous email that I received on June 11, 2007:
“Today we have started fighting you and those
creatures you call your friends, within the boundaries
of the law. But if we don’t get the result we’re
looking for, we’ll start trying other alternative
ways. It would be better for world peace and truth if
sewer germs like you were taken off the
planet…tomorrow is going to be much more difficult for
you. Pray that the devil takes you away soon because
otherwise you’ll be living a hell on earth… you think
you’ve discovered who “Holdwater” is ...you have
gotten it all wrong. Right now the world is full of
millions of Holdwaters...One day you and your wild
Armenian blood brothers will drown in this sea of
Holdwaters…The truth hurts…it really does. One day you
are going to feel the pain so badly that when you read
these lines, you’ll remember how you were.” The
similarity in character between the campaign against
me by Hürriyet and the language used in this
threatening email is frightening.

The writer of that letter concludes, “Who am I?
You’re going to find out, Taner, you’re going to find
out.” Was it a coincidence that the Hürriyet campaign
began just 10 days later?

Third, Hürriyet cold-bloodedly disregarded the
most basic principles of journalism. Their headline on
the second day of coverage proclaimed that I had
“disappeared.” Readers were given the impression that
I had gone into hiding the day after Hürriyet reported
my unmasking of Murad “Holdwater” Gümen.

The fact is that my office address, telephone
numbers, and email address are all available online.
The University of Minnesota, College of Liberal Arts,
the Department of History, and the Center for
Holocaust and Genocide Studies have full-time staff.
There is no record of a call, not one single email,
from Hürriyet. They never bothered to contact me. They
didn’t check their facts or attempt to interview me.
And when I demanded a correction, the editor-in-chief
ignored my letter.

Thus, in Dink’s case and also in mine, one of
the most influential and widely circulated national
newspapers does not hesitate to transform itself into
a weapon. Once again, intellectuals and activists who
dare to question the government’s “official history”
are being put on notice. This shameful campaign not
only endangers my life and the lives of my colleagues,
my family and friends; ironically enough, the very
notion of free expression is being undermined by the
very institution that depends on it most: the public
press.

And what is the point, after all? I published a
scholarly study that deviated from the official
position of the Turkish State. One should ask the
Turkish authorities whether they truly believe that
shooting the messenger will prove that their position
on 1915 is the correct one.

'Are They Going to Kill Taner, Too?'

2007-07-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

by Ahmet Altan, Gazetem.net, July 9, 2007
(translated from Turkish)

I met Taner Akcam at an American university city where the winters are long and harsh. I had heard of him many times. He was one of the leaders of an old legendary left wing organization. And, he did not care about any 'title, name, or class' of anyone, including his, as he only defined people by their 'deeds.' You were a man as much as your deeds. He was joyful, humorous, and would not complain even under difficult circumstances.

At the university, he was teaching history and literature. During the long winter nights, we would meet sometimes, and he would tell me about his life experiences with a sense of humour exclusive to him. He had attempted to "democratize" his illegal leftist organization and as a result he had made himself an enemy of his own organization. He had criticized the anti-democratic stand of the PKK, had been included in the 'death list' of the organization, and in an attack, one of his friends had been mistakenly killed. He would really be moved by sorrow while talking about that. He was an exceptionally meticulous man.

When he was telling me how he would regularly load up his luggage with detergent bottles before traveling illegally to the Bekaa Valley camp, he would foreground not the difficulties he endured, but the "entertaining contradictions of life." He was a leader who carried detergent cleaners, not weapons. He was researching the deportations of the Armenians executed by the Committee of Union and Progress at that time and he was emphasizing that this amounted to 'genocide'.

What he claimed so openly and clearly was a difficult thing to do for a Turk at that time.
But he believed in what he spoke, and he spoke what he believed. Of course he knew that what he was talking about would get him into trouble and he was not looking for trouble, but it was not in his nature to keep quiet in order to avoid trouble, it was not in his nature to shut up about things that he believed. He would list the actions of the Ittihadists one by one. He was earning respect with his courage and honesty.

Then I returned home. He went to another university in the United States. He wrote new books, he made new enemies. I received an e-mail from Taner recently. One line specifically was frightening: 'First it was Hrant, and I think they put me second in line.' I remembered Hrant's last editorial before he died, where he wrote 'they will kill me'. We had learned about a murder plot --known almost by the entire state apparatus, documented in intelligence reports numerous times-- only after the murder. No one could help Hrant. No one had the opportunity or the time to cry that 'the murder is coming'. And our 'lack of awareness' had cost Hrant his life.

Now Taner was saying, 'they put me next in line, I guess'. Hrant's murder showed us that the State would condone even new murders in order to cover up the sins of the Ittihadists. That is why alarm bells rang inside me in a more scary fashion when I read Taner's mail. It is obvious that 'that voice, the instict' which warned Hrant before his murder is now warning Taner. And he senses the gun being aimed at him. Are they going to kill Taner for saying 'Armenians were subjected to genocide'?

Don't people of our society have the right to say what they believe about our own history? Does everybody have the obligation to speak in the same way as the state? Is death the price to pay for not sharing the state views and theses on our history? Which discussion on history can be punished by death? Are you going to kill every single person who says 'Armenians were subjected to genocide'? If you commit this murder, will the bloodshed prove that 'there was no genocide'? It is the very spirit of Ittihadists that is going around in this country, they go on killing the Armenian, the Sunni, the Protestant, the Kurd, indiscriminately. How much longer will this go on? How much longer will people be killed?

This state and this society could not protect Hrant. Let us at least protect Taner. He is a brave and an honest man. He uttered what was most difficult in this country. He spoke because he believed. I believe any man who speaks his mind knowing that will put him in trouble deserves respect, regardless of what he believes in. Death is lingering around his door now. There are so many newspapers, so many journalists, so many intellectuals in this country; will no one speak up to protect Taner?

Never forget. Our silence will kill Taner. If anything happens tomorrow, we will be all complicit. Protect a person. Do this so that you can say 'I am too a human being'. If you don't...then you carry your silence like death all your life.

Assault on Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom

2007-07-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

Taner Akcam
April 12, 2007

"... I urge us all to consider the situation very seriously. As long as we keep silence they can continue to insult and attack scholars anywhere in the world. What is happening to me now can happen to any one of us in the future if the authorities feel that they are successful.

All of us living in the USA ought to make it crystal clear to our democratically elected representatives that this country is not the Republic of Turkey. The Turkish authorities whether directly or through their grassroots agents have no right to harass scholars exercising their academic freedom of speech at American universities.

As a former prisoner of conscience I have learned in unforgettable ways the worth of such freedom, and I intend to use it at every opportunity."

'A Shameful Campaign'

2007-07-16T22:22:00.000-07:00

A Shameful Campaign
by Taner Akcam
March 2007

For many who challenge their government’s official version of events, slander, emailed threats, and other forms of harassment are all too familiar. As a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience in Turkey, I should not have been surprised. But my recent detention at the Montreal airport—apparently on the basis of anonymous insertions in my Wikipedia biography—signals a disturbing new phase in a Turkish campaign of intimidation that has intensified since the November 2006 publication of my book, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility.
At the invitation of the McGill University Faculty of Law and Concordia University, I flew from Minneapolis to Montreal on Friday, February 16, to lecture on A Shameful Act. As the Northwest Airlines jet touched down at Trudeau International Airport about 11:00 a.m., I assumed I had plenty of time to get to campus for the 5:00 p.m. event. Nearly four hours later, I was still at the airport, detained without any explanation.
“Where are you going? Where are you staying? How many days are you staying here?” asked the courteous officer from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. “Do you have a return ticket? Do you have enough money with you?”
As the border control authorities were surely aware, I travel frequently to Canada: three or four trips a year since 2000, most recently with my daughter in October 2006, just before the publication of A Shameful Act. Not once in all that time had I been singled out for interrogation.
“I’m not sure myself why you need to be detained,” the officer finally admitted. “After making some phone calls, I’ll let you know.”
While he was gone, my cell phone rang. The friend who had arranged to pick me up at the airport had gotten worried when I failed to emerge from Customs. I explained the situation as well as I could, asking him to inform my hosts, the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism at McGill and the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia, that I might be late for the lecture. The Zoryan Institute and the Armenian Students’ Associations of Montreal, co-presenters of the event, would also need to be updated.
The immigration officer returned with a strange request: could I help him figure out why I was being detained? You’re the one detaining me, I was tempted to say. If you don’t know the reason, how do you expect me to know? You tell me. However, I knew better than to challenge him, giving the impression that I had something to hide.
“Let me guess,” I answered. “Do you know who Hrant Dink was? Did you hear about the Armenian journalist who was killed in Istanbul?” He hadn’t.
“I’m a historian,” I explained. “I work on the subject of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. There’s a very heavy campaign being waged by extreme nationalist and fascist forces in Turkey against those individuals who are critical of the events that occurred in 1915. Hrant Dink was killed because of it. The lives of people like me are in danger because of it. Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s Nobel Laureate, couldn’t tolerate the attacks against him and had to leave the country. Many intellectuals in Turkey are now living under police protection.” The officer took notes.
“In connection with these attacks there has been a serious campaign against me in the US,” I went on. “I know that the groups running this campaign are given directives and are controlled by the Turkish diplomats. They spread propaganda stating that I am a member of a terrorist organization. Some rumors to that effect must have reached you.” The officer continued to write.
“For your information, in 1976, while I was a master’s degree student and teaching assistant at Middle East Technical University, I was arrested for articles I had written in a journal and sentenced to 8 years and 9 months in prison. I later escaped to Germany, where I became a citizen. The Turkish criminal statute that was the basis for my prosecution, together with similar laws, was repealed in 1991. I travel to Turkey freely now and went there most recently for Hrant Dink’s funeral.”
The officer finished his notes. “I’m sorry, but I have to make some more phone calls,” he said, and left.
My cell phone rang again. It was McGill legal scholar Payam Akhavan, an authority on human rights and genocide, who was to have introduced my lecture. Apologizing for my situation, Prof. Akhavan let me know that he’d contacted the offices of Canadian Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day and Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity Jason Kenney. Bishop Bagrat Galstanian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Canada, also called to confirm that he too had been in touch with Secretary Kenney’s office. I was going to be released.
About 3:30 p.m. the officer returned with a special one-week visa. Upon my insistence that I had a right to know exactly why I had been detained, he showed me a sheet of paper with my photograph on top and a short block of text, in English, below.
I recognized the page at once. The photo was a still from the 2005 documentary Armenian Genocide: 90 Years Later, a co-production of the University of Minnesota Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Twin Cities Public Television. A series of outtakes from the film, originally posted on the CHGS Web site, could be found on the popular Internet video site, YouTube, and elsewhere in cyberspace. The still photo and the text beneath it comprised my biography in the English-language edition of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia which anyone in the world can modify at any time. For the last year—most recently on Christmas Eve, 2006—my Wikipedia biography had been persistently vandalized by anonymous “contributors” intent on labeling me as a terrorist. The same allegations had been repeatedly scrawled, like gangland graffiti, as “customer reviews” of A Shameful Act and my other books at Amazon.com.
It was unlikely, to say the least, that a Canadian immigration officer found out that I was coming to Montreal, took the sole initiative to research my identity on the Internet, discovered the archived Christmas Eve version of my Wikipedia biography, printed it out seven weeks later on February 16, and showed it to me as a result.
The fact was that my upcoming lecture had been publicized well in advance in the Canadian print and broadcast media. An announcement had even been inserted in Wikipedia five days before my arrival. Moreover, two Turkish-American Web sites hostile to my work—the 500-page Tall Armenian Tale and the 19,000-member Turkish Forum listserv —had been hinting for months that my “terrorist” activities ought to be of interest to American immigration authorities. It seemed far more likely that one or more individuals had seized the opportunity to denounce me to the Canadians. Although I was forced to cancel two radio interviews, I made it to the McGill campus in time to lecture on A Shameful Act.
On Sunday, February 18, before boarding my return flight to Minneapolis, I was detained for another hour. It was obvious that the American customs and border authorities knew what had happened at the adjacent offices on the Canadian side. “Mr. Akçam,” I was gently advised, “if you don’t retain an attorney and correct this issue, every entry and exit from the country is going to be problematic. We recommend that you do not travel in the meantime and that you try to get this information removed from your customs dossier.”
The well meaning American customs official could hardly have known the extent of the problem. Wikipedia and Amazon are but two examples. Allegations against me, posted mainly by the Assembly of American Turkish Associations (ATAA), Turkish Forum, and Tall Armenian Tale, have been copy-pasted and recycled throughout innumerable Web sites and e-groups ever since I arrived in America. By now, for example, my name in close proximity to the English word “terrorist” turns up in well over ten thousand Web pages.
The first salvo in this campaign came in response to the English translation of my essay, “The Genocide of the Armenians and the Silence of the Turks.” In a sensational March 19, 2001, commentary from the ATAA Turkish Times (“From Terrorism to Armenian Propagandist: The Taner Akçam Story”), I was introduced to Turkish-Americans as a mastermind of terrorist violence, including the assassinations of American and NATO military personnel. Posted at the ATAA Web site in April 2001 and circulated via Turkish Forum in December 2001 and June 2003—my protests notwithstanding—“The Taner Akçam Story” ended up by March 2004 at Tall Armenian Tale next to a photo of a PKK member, which was captioned as “a younger Taner Akçam, from PKK.org.” Three years later, the photo has been updated, but Artun’s commentary remains, a frequently cited resource for copy-pasters.
As further evidence of my “terrorist” past, Tall Armenian Tale posted a detailed chronology related to incidents of arrest, on dates that even I can’t remember, for leafletting and postering in my student movement days. Whoever provided this information failed to note, however, that people were frequently arrested for such activities even after official permission had been obtained. An entire 9-page section of Tall Armenian Tale is now dedicated to vilifying me and my work, and well over 200 pages of that site mention my name.
Next came an announcement from Turkish Forum: “For the attention of friends in Minnesota….Taner Akçam has started working in America…It is expected that the conferences about so called Genocide will increase in and around Minnesota. Please follow the Armenian (Taner Akçam’s) activities very closely.” My contact information at home and at work was conveniently provided “in case people would like to send their ‘greetings’ to this traitor.” Soon enough, harassing emails were sent anonymously to my employer, the University of Minnesota, and to me personally. A profile of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and its director, my colleague Stephen Feinstein, was added to Tall Armenian Tale.
With the publication of A Shameful Act, the circle began to close in.
On Nov. 1, 2006, the City University of New York Center for the Humanities organized a gathering at the CUNY Graduate Center to introduce my book. Before I rose to speak, unauthorized leaflets bearing an assault rifle, skull, and the communist hammer and sickle were distributed in the hall. In rhetoric obviously inspired by Mustafa Artun’s commentary, I was labeled as a “former terrorist leader” and a fanatic enemy of America who had organized “attacks against the United States” and was “responsible for the death of American citizens.”
As soon as I finished my lecture, a pack of some 15 to 20 individuals, who had strategically positioned themselves in small groups throughout the hall, tried to break up the meeting. Brandishing pictures of corpses (probably Muslims killed by revenge-seeking Armenians in 1919), they loudly demanded to know why I had not lectured on the deaths of “a million Muslims.”
Shouting and swearing in Turkish and English, they completely disrupted the discussion in the lecture hall and the book-signing session nearby. I was verbally assaulted as a “terrorist-communist” and lashed with the vilest Turkish profanities. Two individuals dogged my footsteps from the podium to the elevator doors, howling, “We are the soldiers of Alparslan Türkeş!” (A Turkish politician who was arrested in 1944 for spreading Nazi propaganda, Türkeş later founded the Nationalist Movement Party.) The security guards surrounding me had to intervene when I was physically attacked.
A month later, on December 4, I was scheduled to speak at another New York event, a symposium at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law on “Denying Genocide: Law, Identity and Historical Memory in the Face of Mass Atrocity.” As if to illustrate this very theme, a 4,400-word letter signed by Turkish Forum’s Ibrahim Kurtulus “on behalf of Dr. Ata Erim the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Federation of Turkish American Association, FTAA and Dr. Kaya Buyukataman the President of Turkish Forum” was sent to the law school dean and faculty three weeks in advance, urging the cancellation of the symposium and labeling me as “a propagandistic tool of the Armenians.”
Two days later, on November 19, Turkish Forum published an 800-word letter to the dean from Turkish-American activist Ergun Kirlikovali, with the title, “Turkish Forum’s Letter to the University”. Kirlikovali characterized me in this official Turkish Forum’s letter as “a convicted terrorist in Turkey… one of the leaders of an armed and clandestine group advocating a Marxist-Leninist takeover of Turkish Republic caught red-handed in a bombing plot in late 1970s… part of a group which bombed the limousine of the American ambassador Comer in Ankara in 1969… He is in America probably illegally.”
Gusan Yedic of Turkish Forum posted further “terrorist” allegations about me on November 24, with this sarcastic admonition: “The friends who are going to attend the concert of Taner Akcam and his orchestra at Yeshiva University are earnestly requested to behave in a gentlemanly manner. Attendees are obliged to follow black-tie party rules.” On November 30, Turkish Forum mobilized an email campaign against the “Taner Akcam conference.” Members were also urged to attend the symposium and a “pre-meeting for Turks,” coordinated by Ibrahim Kurtulus.
I forwarded this information to the event organizers with a request that appropriate precautions be taken. I let them know that if they were going to allow intruders from Turkish Forum to leaflet my presentation and disrupt the symposium, I wasn’t going to participate. Yeshiva was concerned. An organizer who had attended the CUNY gathering on Nov. 1 assured me that security would be increased.
As a pre-emptive step, the event committee informed the Turkish Consulate that the law school symposium was intended to be general in scope, comparative and scholarly in approach, and not focused on either Taner Akçam or Turkey. They made it clear that any disruption similar to the CUNY incident would not put Turkey in a favorable light. A Turkish consular official disavowed any government involvement in the disruption at CUNY, which he attributed to “the actions of civilians” in grassroots organizations. There was nothing the Consulate could do about them, he said. The organizers stressed that they intended to take extra security precautions and that the Consulate ought to think hard about what would happen if the symposium was invaded and its participants attacked.
Just one day before the symposium there was another phone conversation between the Turkish consular official and the organizers. He assured them that no disruption would take place and only two or three Turkish representatives would attend.
The government kept its word. The symposium was peaceful and no leaflets were distributed. The Turkish consular official attended with ATAA President-elect Gunay Evinch, both of whom were scrupulously polite. It was as though three intense weeks of mobilization had never happened.
For many Turkish intellectuals, freedom of speech has become a struggle in North America as well as in our native country. What is happening to me now could happen to any scholar who dissents from the official state version of history.
Since my return from Montreal, the Canadian immigration authorities have refused to say exactly why I was detained. As a result, I am unable to face my accusers or examine whatever “evidence” may be filed against me. Although I have formally requested access both to my Canadian and American dossiers—a process that could take months— I have had to cancel all international appearances. Meanwhile, my Wikipedia biography and Amazon book pages remain open to malicious insertions at any time.
Nevertheless, my American book tour continues under tightened security. Although it is stressful and very sad to have to lecture under police protection, I have no intention of cancelling any of my domestic appearances. After all, the United States is not the Republic of Turkey. The Turkish authorities whether directly or through their grassroots agents have no right to harass scholars exercising their academic freedom of speech at American universities. Throughout my life I have learned in unforgettable ways the worth of such freedom, and I intend to use it at every opportunity.

Contact Your Representative Now!

2007-07-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

The most effective way to communicate with your representative is via snail mail. Feel free to copy-paste, edit, print and mail the sample letter below.

To contact your representative via email, 'copy' the letter and then click here.

Dear Representative ______________ ,

I would like to bring to your attention the high possibility of assassination on US soil of Taner Akçam, an Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota and author of “A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility.”

Pr. Akçam is a world renowned historian and one of the first Turkish academics to acknowledge and discuss openly the genocide of the Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish government in 1915. He is one of a growing number of Turkish scholars and intellectuals who are challenging Turkey’s insistent declarations that the organized slaughter of Armenians did not occur. His courage has earned him the admiration and respect of top scholars around the world.

Pr. Akçam has recently faced harassment and persecution by both the Turkish authorities and Turkish-American groups.

Like Akçam, I believe that these shameless and un-American campaigns are organized through the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) and the Turkish Forum and are directed by certain Turkish diplomats. Please see Pr. Akçam's first-hand account of his experience with these groups at www.akcam.info.

Pr. Akçam has also received countless anonymous death threats. These threats are credible and represent a clear-and-present danger, especially in light of the recent assassination of Hrant Dink, a Civil Rights activist and journalist of Armenian descent who was assassinated on January 19, 2007 in front of his office in Istanbul. It is well known that Hrant Dink was a close friend of Taner Akçam’s, and it is widely believed that ultra-nationalist elements of the Turkish Government and the military were involved in Dink’s assassination. The threats against Pr. Akçam are eerily similar to the threats against Hrant Dink prior to his assassination.

Many American and Turkish intellectuals are concerned -- rather alarmed -- that Pr. Taner Akçam is the next target of the same or similar group, possibly in the United States.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. I would appreciate if you could bring this issue to the attention of your colleagues and to the appropriate U.S. authorities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

I would also appreciate if you could introduce measures to stop these shameful, un-American campaigns against Pr. Taner Akçam. These campaigns are not just attacks on freedom of speech, they also represent a state-sponsored assault on an individual's life.

Sincerely,

(Signature)
(Name)
(Address)
(Email/tel)