Turkey and XXII Mediterranean Conference in Istanbul

David Pike has just returned to Paris from the XXII Mediterranean Conference in Istanbul. He writes:

"I have been asked to explain, in the David Irving Affair, why the people in Istanbul were so interested in it. The fact is simply that people who otherwise may care little for history tend to get interested in disputes when they become a front-page issue, as this one did, since the INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE carried a photo of Irving going into the London court as its top front-page feature.

The XXII Mediterranean Conference held this year in Istanbul offered the usual range of topics, from Diocletian and Theodora to Black Sea fishing and Ukrainian aviation. (On aviation, Robin Wilson, a former vice-president of TWA, was interesting as always: he has made a very careful study of the current state of Russian aviation, and last year (at Dubrovnik-Naples) he showed that its sickness is terminal, unless it dumps its whole winter and summer collection: [What does that mean?] Its civil aviation was modeled entirely on its military program.)

Our host at the Conference was Dr Bulent Berkada, the former Rector of the University of Istanbul, and the speakers included his successor as Rector, Dr Kemal Alemdaroglu. In his opening address, Dr Alemdaroglu could promise us a stimulating conference, since he presented the history of the University which few of us knew about, and the history of the Ottoman Empire in a way we hadn't considered before. "In 1915," Dr Alemdaroglu told us, "our students went off to the Dardanelles to fight the imperialist powers."

My appetite for debate being fully whetted, I raised the question - not of the Armenian massacre, nor of the hanging of Patriarch Gregory V at the gate of his palace, for I know better than to ask impolite questions - but instead of the Turkish Government's taxing of the Christian churches. "This is not true," replied the Rector. I insisted that it was, and that the churches were so impoverished that they had to hand over even their carpets. The Rector then replied that he would inquire about the matter and would give me a full response on the following Saturday, when he would be our host at a banquet. The cruise, the banquet, and the Bosphorus were all magnificent, but nothing more was heard of the impoverishment of the churches."

My comment: David is an expert at asking pointed questions; he is a fencer, and has a rapier. Too bad he did not wield it in defense of the Armenians and the Patriarch.

Turkey offers a perfect example of different versions of history. Try to get Turks and Greeks, even historians, to agree on a version of history!"The Imperialists" would be, not Germany and the Central Powers, but the British, or did he mean the whole crowd? Churchill had a grand design to capture Constantinople and attack the Central Powers from the east, but the force was stopped at the Dardanelles. I imagine the Turks feel the way the British do about the defeat of the Grand Armada of Philip tt, the difference being that the Turks ultimately lost. Did the Rector give the Kemal Ataturk version of history? The Ottomans, whom he replaced , were supreme imperialists.

Ronald Hilton - 7/21/00