ANKARA: Babacan: Historian'S Dismissal Not

BABACAN: HISTORIAN'S DISMISSAL NOT GESTURE TO ARMENIA Zaman Online July 26 2008 Turkey The removal from office of a controversial historian known as a hard-liner in debates on Armenian allegations of "genocide" was not connected to recent efforts to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has said. Professor Yusuf Halacoglu, who had served as the president of the Turkish Historical Society (TTK) since 1993, was removed from office by a Cabinet decision that went into effect earlier this week. The Gazi University professor is a strong denier of allegations that Armenians were subjected to genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War I. In conferences and panel discussions organized by the TTK, Halacoglu had asserted that claims of genocide were entirely false and that the TTK was... [read full story]