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This is part of a series examining the
works of the Armenian-supported, perpetual "visiting professor"
Taner Akcam; here is the lead page for
this series.
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Taner Akcam not long ago was an undistinguished academic in Germany,
trying to recreate himself after a career of spreading
terror in Turkey, working as a janitor to make ends meet, and dodging bullets from his
one-time Kurdish terrorist buddies (most of which Akcam related in an interview). He evidently never taught in a
German institution, where he earned his doctorate degree. The kinds of papers he wrote
appeared in rinky-dink publications bearing the name "Kurdistan," and the like.
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Taner Akcam |
Who would want to hire this man to come to an American university
and teach? Especially when there are so many qualified American scholars with Ph.Ds who go
wanting for university positions? What could Taner Akcam have possibly offered anyone?
(His degree was in Sociology. The demand for sociology professors in the United States is
not strikingly high.)
Akcam met Vahakn Dadrian, whom many regard as the "foremost
authority on the Armenian Genocide," but those who have looked into his scholarly
methodology know him better as a foremost master of deception. Getting mentored by Dadrian
appears to have been step number one for Taner Akcam, in his path to a profitable new
career; both mentor and student appeared in the 1997 documentary, "A Wall of
Silence, The Unspoken Fate of the Armenians." It looks like Akcam may have spent
time in Canada, where Dadrian appears to have settled after abruptly leaving his State University of New York at Geneseo
position, after 1991; Akcam's first major English language paper, "The Genocide of
the Armenians and the Silence of the Turks" evidently first appeared in Canada.
It was at this time Taner Akcam was suddenly recruited as a
"Visiting Scholar at the Armenian Research Center, University of
Michigan-Dearborn." Who could possibly have brought Taner Akcam to this American
university? The Armenian Research Center is the domain of Prof. Dennis Papazian, and the
answer appears obvious.
But the official explanation was that Fatma Muge Gocek, another
sociologist from Michigan-Dearborn, recognized what a great
talent Taner Akcam was, and "hosted" Akcam, on her lonesome, to get the
cushy American university position. Even though Akcam does not seem to have belonged to
any faculty from his days in Germany.
It looked better to have a Turk sponsor another Turk. It
would have seemed awfully fishy if the Armenians had brought Akcam in. After all, Akcam
was the first "Turkish scholar" to have recognized their genocide. He was most
valuable to have broken the mold, having made it possible to open the floodgates to a
whole crowd of opportunistic Turks. The Armenians certainly did not want to risk the
enterprise with the appearance of pulling their golden boy's strings.
Fatma Gocek was all too willing to cooperate, as she had become an
all-too-willing proponent of the Armenians'
genocide by this time. There was a wonderfully detailed account on the Internet regarding
this master plan on how bringing Akcam in was all Gocek's idea, but a search unfortunately
failed to unearth it.
Harut Sassounian's "Turkish Minister Cancels Michigan Trip
Because of Armenian Genocide" (April 15, 2004) Courier article provides an
abbreviated telling; the Turkish Minister of Education, Huseyin Celik "was advised to cancel his visit to the Univ. of Michigan (Ann
Arbor), because his host there would have been Associate Prof. of Sociology, Fatma Muge
Gocek. Prof. Gocek learned that the Foreign Ministry had told the Education Minister to
cancel his trip to the Univ. of Michigan, because she 'recognized the Armenian claims [of
genocide], had previously hosted Taner Akcam [a Turkish scholar who recognizes the
Armenian Genocide] at the University of Michigan, and is currently writing a book
on the issue'."
But was it really Fatma Muge Gocek who brought Akcam in?
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Dennis Papazian Admits Otherwise!
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Dr.
Dennis Papazian |
In the "Armenian" Yahoo group, Dr.
Papazian could not resist spilling the beans:
It was I who brought Taner Akcam to
America as well as Hilmar Kaiser. The first was certainly good, and we do not know
yet about the second case.
To read the entire post, click
here.
Date: Sat, 18 Mar
2006 08:49:03 -0500
From: "Dennis R. Papazian"
Subject: Fake Turkish Scholar
Dear Maral,
There is nothing wrong in what you did. No need to apologize. There are sincere
Turks looking for help, and there are insincere fronts digging for information.
You have always done a good job of investigating. In this case, there is really a
guy by that name, there is really a professor by that name, and the question is
whether the person who sent the e-mail was put up to it or whether his name was
stolen by others? We still don't know for sure, but some good people including a
Turkish professor, was be suspicious because the guy asked too many questions and
had not done his preliminary research..
There is no progress without taking chances. As an old friend said, "be right
51% of the time and you will succeed." I rather think we should be right 95%
of the time, but you have to take chances to make progress. If you fail now and
then, that is the price for progress. For example, it was I who brought Taner
Akcam to America as well as Hilmar Kaiser. The first was certainly good, and we do
not know yet about the second case.
Nothing was stolen by the Turks in the strict sense. They just downloaded an
Armenian Web site which had been put up by a professor for his students. The site
really was public and accessible by anyone. The question is whether information of
this type should be posted on the Web. I don't think any harm has been done. If
Turkish military intelligence did it, they could have gotten the information on
their own with a little more work since everything was in the public sphere. On
the other hand, most spys are lazy and not well educated. I suppose that is
particularly true of Turkish spys who were "educated" in Turkey, since
just about everything they publish there about Armenians is a false. It is
interesting that government agents want to know the truth. But, of course, they
want to find holes and twist the information.
We should be careful about what we post and write. Nothing on the Web is really
private.
Best,
dp
[Close]
Hilmar Kaiser apparently has a rivalry with
Akcam. Kaiser's only living is to affirm the Armenians' genocide, just like Akcam.
Unlike Akcam, Kaiser does not play completely along with the genocide forces, and is
more of a loose cannon. For example, Kaiser resents the absurdly deceptive tactics
of old-guard extremists such as Vahakn Dadrian and Richard Hovannisian. (As Prof.
Guenter Lewy put forth, "Hilmar
Kaiser... has drawn attention to 'misleading quotations' and the 'selective use of
sources' in Dadrian's work, and he has concluded that 'serious scholars should be
cautioned against accepting all of Dadrian's statements at face value.'"
["Germany and the Armenian Genocide, Part II: Reply to Vahakn N. Dadrian's
Response," Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, 9 (1996): 139-40.])
We all know what happens to pro-Armenians who
don't play along obsequiously, in the manner of the tail-wagging Taner Akcam. Hilmar
Kaiser got shut out. He couldn't be privy to the Armenian money that comes from the
ubiquitous Armenian foundations to pay off these stooges. Thus, the Cafesjian
Foundation is reportedly financing Taner Akcam's latest "visiting
professor" job at that other Armenian-friendly institution, Stephen Feinstein's University of Minnesota.
At the time of this writing, early 2006, Kaiser needs to rely on less stable
genocide industry hand-outs.
Dennis Papazian certainly sounds ungrateful
about Kaiser's contributions, doesn't he? Even if Kaiser does not suck up
completely, he is still a 100% adherent to the Armenian genocide cause. How could
that not be "good"? What Papazian means is that Kaiser is not "good
enough." Woe to those who deviate even the slightest from the monolithic
propaganda machinery.
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