A ground-breaking conference on the history of the mass killing of Armenians during the waning years of the Ottoman Empire took place in İstanbul this weekend, despite a Turkish court's attempt to shut it down.

Organizers successfully circumvented the ban by holding the conference at another campus, where roughly 300 participants attended. The court's decision, which was strongly criticized by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other political leaders, was widely viewed as an attempt to restrict freedom of expression and damage EU-Turkey relations.

A group of protestors from the nationalist Great Unity Party (BBP)and the left-nationalist Workers' Party (IP)protested outside the conference, chanting nationalist slogans, waving flags, and throwing eggs and tomatoes on the participants.

The First Event of its Kind in Turkey

The conference, entitled "Ottoman Armenians during the Decline of Empire: Questions of Scholarly Responsibility and Democracy," was to have been held at public Boğaziçi University with the co-sponsorship of Sabancı University.

But in response to a petition by a nationalist lawyers' organization, the Fourth Administrative Court in İstanbul issued an order Thursday-the day before the conference was to begin-postponing it and demanding information on the academic records of conference participants.

The organizers circumvented the court ruling by holding the meeting at private İstanbul Bilgi University, whose rector Dr. Aydın Uğur criticized the ban and offered to host the conference. The conference took place in two days rather than three, but otherwise proceeded as planned.

In twelve sessions, Turkish and Armenian scholars from universities in Turkey and abroad discussed the history of the massacres and subsequent debates over the issue. The conference also included panels on "Press Freedom and the Armenian Question" and a discussion between lawyers, journalists, publishers, diplomats, and politicians.

The conference was the first-ever public discussion in Turkey of the controversial issue of the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces during the First World War.

Armenians, backed by a number of governments and scholars, have long sought Turkish recognition that the massacres constiuted the deliberate genocide of the empire's Armenians. However, subsequent Turkish governments have denied the scope of the killings or argued that they took place as part of a war with atrocities on both sides, and did not amount to genocide.

The issue remains hotly disputed in Turkey, where several intellectuals-including novelist Orhan Pamuk-have faced prosecution for public statements about the issue. However, in recent years a number of scholars, journalists, and activists have sought to open a public debate about the issue and challenge the widespread denial towards the killings.

At the conference, some participants stated their wish to focus on examining the history of the massacres instead of debating what to label to apply to them, while others insisted on using the word genocide.

Oran: A taboo has been torn down

Dr. Baskın Oran, a professor of International Relations at Ankara University, said that at the conference, "A taboo has been torn down."

He said, "the issues of class , criticism of Atatürk, Cyprus, socialism, communism, and Kurdistan have all stopped being taboos. The only taboo that remained was the Armenian situation. Now that, too, is no longer a taboo."

Hrant Dink, the editor of the Istanbul based Armenian language newspaper Agos and a leader of the Armenian community in Turkey, said he believed the conference would have a positive impact on Armenian perceptions of Turkey.

Others voiced hopes that similar efforts would advance a "Turkish-Armenian dialogue."

Academics, politicians, and the Turkish press hailed the successful holding of the conference as a victory for freedom of expression in Turkey.

Dr. Torun Terzioğlu, the rector of Sabanci University, stated that "in terms of showing that academic autonomy exists in Turkey and that academics and intellectuals are able to comfortably debate their ideas, this meeting was very important."

Terzioğlu added that the conference organizers appreciated the backing of the Higher Education Council, the supreme body governing Turkey's university system, and emphasized that a message of support from Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullah Gül, which was read at the conference's opening, was "extremely important for all of us."

Dr. Ayşe Soysal, rector of Bogazici University, said "We are very happy this conference became a reality." Politicians from the ruling Justice and Development Party and the opposition Republican People's Party also made statements supporting the right of academics to hold the conference freely.

The European Union, which will begin membership talks with Turkey on 3 October had joined Turkish political leaders in criticizing the conference's postponment, calling it a "provocation."