On February 23, 2011, an academic panel was held in Pittsburgh by Chatham University’s Global Focus Conference, in Welker Room, James Laughlin Music Center, on the Turkish-Armenian conflict with a view towards resolving it according to principles of International dispute resolution.
Chatham University, home to almost 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students, is a private, selective, fully accredited, nonsectarian institution, consisting of three distinct Colleges: Chatham College for Women, offering baccalaureate degrees to women only; College for Graduate Studies, offering master's and doctoral degrees and teacher certification to both women and men; and College for Continuing and Professional Studies, offering undergraduate, graduate, professional and continuing education online to both women and men.
There were four panelists:
1) Turkish historian and Chatham Fulbright Scholar in Residence Dr. Ercan Karakoc who gave historic overview of the transition period (1890-1920) between the latter years of the Ottoman Empire and the precursor years of the Republic of Turkey.
2) Ergun Kirlikovali, president-elect of the Washington DC based nonprofit umbrella organization, Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA,) who covered the much ignored Muslim, mostly Turkish, suffering and loss at the hands of Armenian revolutionaries along with less known Armenian propaganda, agitation, terror, revolts, treason, territorial conflicts, and TERESET (temporary resettlement of 1915.)
3) Dr. Samuel Calian, a scholar of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox beliefs and traditions, relayed some of his personal thoughts about the current state of tensions and Taner Akcam’s book, A Shameful Act, to conclude that Turks should accept the Armenian claims of genocide and open the borders with Armenia, to bring peace to the region before Turkey reaches its 100th year in 1923.
4) Ronald H. Linden, Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh focused on Turkey and its neighbors, foreign relations in a time of transition, Turkey’s zero problems policy, and the considerations of realpolitik in a post-cold war world with a view towards future trends.
Pittsburg Turkish American Association (www.PTAA.org) was one of the sponsors of this academic panel and Dr. Atilla Soran, the chairman of the board of OTAA, was in attendance, along with many from the Turkish American community in greater Pittsburgh area.
The well-attended program started with brief introductory remarks by the moderator Jean-Jacques Sène, Assistant Professor of History at the Department of History, Policy, and Government, who along with his assistant, Lindsey Scheloum, organized this important and successful event.
President Esther Barazzone of Chatham University took the stage next to stress the importance of civilized and informed discourse in academic settings to explore controversies and seek consensus within the framework of principles of conflict resolution.
“The panel was conceived with a two-fold objective with students in mind,” stated Prof. Sene, the moderator. “ A) teach an uninformed public the reasons why some Turks and some Armenians hate each other B) enlighten the same public about practical strategies for the two nations and the international community to work out a definitive rapprochement. “
This from Chatham University’s website augments Prof. Sene’s remarks: “…The Global Focus program at Chatham University engages our students in the purposeful study of peoples and civilizations. Our community of scholars promotes the acquisition of sustainable global competencies through the critical and holistic exploration of one specific country or region of the globe every year. The program concurrently reinforces cross-cultural ties and internationalization initiatives in the greater Pittsburgh area and beyond… Begun in 1995, the Global Focus Program at Chatham University concentrates on one country or region of the world each year to enable the college community to engage in a comprehensive study of that region through coursework, class assignments, campus events, community activities, co-curricular programs and service learning projects. By the time she graduates, a Chatham undergraduate will have been immersed in four countries or world regions in her curriculum work and co-curricular activities…” (For more information: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
After the presentations, there was a lively but polite and enlightened question and answer session. Kirlikovali, in his power point presentation titled “Mortality, Migrations And Renewal: History Forging Turkish Identity” , showed his family roots, how his father in KIRLIKOVA and grandmother in SKOPJE escaped certain death at the hands of Balkan Christians (1912) and how other members of his family traced to forced migration from Crimea and the Island of Crete.
He showed names of many friends and members of his immediate community in Turkey who—thanks to the last name law in 1934—were able select last names connecting them to the location they left and/or the tragedy they endured during the five consecutive wars: Trablus, North Africa (1911,) Balkan War I (1912,) Balkan War II (1913,) First World War (1914-1918), and the Turkish Independence War (1919-1922.) Then he showed all those arrows on Justin McCarthy’s Mortality & Forced Migrations map, published by Turkish Coalition of America. It was a natural flow and a dramatic one.
He also noted how those hapless refugees went from frying pan into fire, as they faced more violence from the Ottoman-Christians in their new homes in Anatolia—From the Ottoman-Greeks in the West and Ottoman-Armenians in the East.
Now the audience could see, perhaps for the first time, the immense Muslim, mostly Turkish, suffering: 1.2 million Muslim dead in Anatolia, 518,000 of whom were traced to atrocities committed by the Armenian revolutionaries. 120,000 Muslims slaughtered by mostly Ottoman Armenians donning Russian uniforms in December of 1914 alone, that’s six months before TERESET of 1915. He showed photos of well armed, uniformed Armenian students at an Armenian Military Academy in Bulgaria in 1906, 9 years before TERESET of 1915. These clearly refute the allegations that Turks killed the Armenians in 1915 because they were Armenians and that there were no provocations or justifications. These photos show that Armenians were not exactly composed of poor, starving, unarmed women and children as the Armenian propaganda portrays them since 1915, even today.
Kirlikovali made sure to add that not all Ottoman Armenians betrayed. In fact, nearly half did not want to rebel. Most of those Armenians lived in Istanbul. And some of them actually fought in the Ottoman armies against the Russian invaders. Those Armenians were never a threat to the Ottoman Empire and so never moved, which, again, debunks the genocide claims based on an deceptive and absolutist narrative.
All of this, Kirlikovali explained, was only one the “Six T’s” of the Turkish-Armenian conflict, namely T for Turkish suffering. There were five more T’s which Kirlikovali was able to explain in his uninterrupted lecture the next day: Turmoil (Armenian revolts,) Terrorism, Treason, Territorial demands (for an apartheid,) and TERESET (temporary resettlement of 1915.) Kirlikovali offers his power point presentation to those interested. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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