REVIEW OF THE "1909 ADANA EVENTS" SYMPOSIUM AT THE TURKISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
by Fatma Sarıkaya and Dr. Javid Huseynov
Pax Turcica Initiative
July 7, 2009
On June 26-27, 2009, the Turkish Historical Society (Türk Tarih Kurumu, TTK) organized a symposium dedicated to the 100th anniversary of ethnic strife which took place in the Ottoman province of Adana. The event brought together a group of Turkish and international scholars for a two-day conference, presenting historical research on the subject of 1909 Adana Events from a variety of perspectives. Among the diverse group of speakers were:
- Dr. Garabet Moumjian - an Armenian-American scholar, specializing on the Armenian-Turkish relations from 1895 to 1908;
- Dr. Artem Ohandjanian - an Austrian-Armenian historian and documentalist, the Honorary Doctor of the Armenian Academy of Sciences;
- Dr. Yitzchak Kerem - Professor of History of Sephardic Jewry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem;
- Dr. Hakan Yavuz, Professor of Political Science, University of Utah;
- Dr. Tetsuya Sahara, Professor of History, Meiji University; Visiting Professor, Middle East Technical University;
- Dr. İnanç Atılgan, TTK Member;
- Dr. Kemal Çiçek, Professor of History, TOBB University of Economy and Technology, TTK Staff Member;
- Dr. Ferudun Ata, Professor of History, Selçuk University
- Dr. Yücel Güçlü, historian and Counselor of the Embassy of Turkey in Washington, D.C.
- Dr. Yaşar Akbıyık
- Dr. Nejla Günay, Associate Professor of History, Gazi University
- Dr. Nevzat Artuç, Professor of History, Adıyaman University
- Dr. Yusuf Sarınay, General Director of Turkish Ministerial Archives
- Brad Dennis, a graduate student specializing in Ottoman-Armenian relations at the University of Utah
Discussants:
- Dr. Javid Huseynov, General Director of Azerbaijani-American Council (AAC)
- Irma Kreiten, a graduate student at the University of Southampton, specializing on Circassian history and the Russian conquest of North Caucasus
Notable among the spectators were, Yüksel Oktay, past president of the Federation of Turkish-Americans Associations and a member of the Turkish Forum Advisory Board, Gül Arslan, author of a book called "Johnny the Turk" and the founder of the Gallipoli Association in Australia, Dr. --- Söylemezoğlu, Prof. Dr. Kemal Çelik of Başkent University. Also present was Derya Tulga who speaks on TV on this issue and has a web page called politikcity. He is now working on NTV’s History Magazine.
REMARKS
Dr. Ali Birinci, TTK Chairman
In his opening remarks, Dr. Birinci reflected on the words of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk that writing history is at least as important as making it, and emphasized the importance of historical research in formulating the national identity. Thus the importance of historical research is in details
Citing the fact that since 11th-century Anatolia was referred to as Turkey in various European records, he called for an impartial study of the peaceful co-existence of Turks and Armenians in the region for close to 900 years. Dr. Birinci expressed regret over the fact that in contemporary historical research very little attention is given to the history of Turkish-Armenian relations in 1215, 1315, 1415, 1515, 1615, 1715, and 1815 vis-a-vis 1915.
In his keynote speech, Dr. Kemal Çiçek presented a comparative analysis of historical information on the 1909 Adana Events available in Ottoman-Turkish vs. Armenian sources.
Dr. Garabet Moumjian spoke about the relevance of the events of 1909 in the context of Armenian-Turkish political relations within Ottoman Empire. He particularly indicated the fact that from Armenian side, the driving poiltical force involved in the 1909 Adana Events were Hinchaks, while the mainstream Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) continued its cooperation with the Committee for Union and Progress (CUP) and wasn't involved locally.
Dr. Nevzat Artuç talked about the role of Jemal Pasha, the governor of Adana Province appointed by CUP following the massacres, in bring justice and stability to the region. Dr. Artuç indicated the fact that at Jemal's request, CUP government allocated 30,000 liras in aid for families of victims and for reconstruction in the pronvince, and froze the taxation debts to central government.
Dr. Artem Ohandjanian provided an elaborate summary of historical documents relevant to the 1909 Adana events from the Austrian archives.
Dr. Yitzchak Kerem talked about the rise of anti-Semitism among the Christian minorities in general, and Armenians in particular, in the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of 20th century.
History 
