Former U Student Calls Out U Professor For Denial of Armenian Genocide
Carolyn and Kern Gardner Building at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah on Tuesday, July 10, 2018. (Photo by Cassandra Palor | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
October 31, 2020
On April 24, 1915, the Armenian Genocide, where 1.5 million Armenians would be killed by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire, began.
This event is not simply a moment in history — it is relevant today. According to Diana Pogosyan, an Armenian-American graduate from the University of Utah, the Turkish president has made claims to continue what his ancestors started.
“I have cousins who have been drafted to war, and they have no choice but to protect their homeland because they know that this is a potential genocide on the rise in the 21st century, and the world is silent about it,” Pogosyan said.
When Pogosyan posts on her social media about the modern-day hate crimes happening in the United States against Armenians, she sometimes receives death threats.
“I have actually been very outspoken on my social media platform about everything that’s been going on and I have received multiple death threats by people saying that ‘we are going to finish the Armenian genocide,’” Pogosyan said.
On Oct. 22, Pogosyan heard from a friend that in one of their political science classes on Middle East Relations, their professor, Dr. Hakan Yavuz, denied the Armenian genocide. She then posted two things on Instagram, one was a screenshot of an email she sent to Yavuz, and the other was a letter she sent to the U’s educational board members.
Pogosyan’s friend explained to her how Yavuz disseminated one of his articles from 2014, entitled “Orientalism, the ‘Terrible Turk’ and Genocide” to his class, where his use of language, according to Pogosyan, is a form of genocide denial.
“Today, the Armenian genocide discourse is used to perpetuate the image of the ‘Terrible Turk,’ undermine the legitimacy of the Turkish Republic, and to keep Turkey out of the European Union. The genocide narrative is put to use by many who share little else except their dislike of Turks,” Yavuz stated in his article.
However, Pogosyan said the label of genocide is not intended to harm modern Turks.
“The mere point of naming it the genocide isn’t intended to shame modern Turkey, that is not it at all. It is to bring peace and reconciliation by acknowledging historical truths,” Pogosyan said.
Pogosyan is personally connected to this historical event because her ancestors were victims.
“Among those 1.5 million Armenians were my ancestors, my great grandparents who were raped, tortured and massacred, who were marching through deserts for hundreds and hundreds of miles without water or food,” Pogosyan said.
After hearing of Yavuz’s actions, Pogosyan said she does not feel safe or valued at the U.
“It doesn’t make me feel heard, because I’m really suffering. The fact that my great grandparents were persecuted and we had to flee and all of that to be denied by an institution that I attend is very heartbreaking,” Pogosyan said.
Pogosyan also expressed frustration at what she considers the biased nature of a professor trained in history and political science — while the professor does not have to be Armenian to teach about the Armenian Genocide, Pogosyan believes they have to be neutral.
“What makes this even more scary is that there is a Turkish professor at the University of Utah who is obviously biased,” Pogosyan said. “Spreading things like saying that the Armenian Genocide is just a label used to perpetuate hate against Turks and Muslims is very dangerous because this is not at all the case.”
If the point of learning history is to prevent tragedies from reoccurring, Pogosyan worries that students will not be able to achieve this if they are not taught the truth in class.
“How are we supposed to learn history when a professor, someone that you should trust…teaches you against the denial of the suffering of people?” Pogosyan said.
Pogosyan believes not only is Yavuz denying the Armenian Genocide but that he is also participating in historical revisionism.
“Turkey, to this day, denies that there was an Armenian Genocide, and the issue with that is that there are countless photos that were taken by Germans and French people during World War One that are direct proof that the Armenian Genocide happened,” Pogosyan said.
On Oct. 27, the College of Social and Behavioral Science issued a “statement regarding student complaint,” which began with an acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide from U communications.
“The United States, the state of Utah and the University of Utah (as a state entity) recognize the historical events of 1915 as the Armenian genocide. The genocide involved extensive suffering and the brutal deaths of more than 1.5 million Armenians, and the pain of those events is still felt in the Armenian community today,” the statement read.
The U communications portion of the statement continued on to address the policy that protects Yavuz.
“The University of Utah stands by a faculty member’s right to academic freedom and the right to examine and communicate ideas by any lawful means even should such activities generate hostility or pressures against the faculty member or the university (Policy 6-316),” the statement read.
The rest of the statement was written by the dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science, Cindy Berg, and the department chair of political science, Brent Steele.
“We spoke with Yavuz, who recognizes and teaches the reality of the Armenian massacres of 1915 and understands them to be a catastrophe,” the statement read.
The statement proceeded to note that Yavuz’s work as a political scientist is partly aimed at creating a shared dialogue between Turks and Armenians. “He welcomes dialogue on the massacres from the students in his courses and regrets that his work was understood differently than he intended,” the statement read.
Pogosyan was disappointed to see the various terms used to label the Armenian Genocide — after the portion of the statement written by U communications, the term “genocide” is not used.
“Again he’s denying the genocide by calling it ‘the events of 1915.’ When we talk about the Holocaust, we don’t say the events of the 1940s till 1945. No, we talk about the Holocaust,” Pogosyan said.
Although there have been calls for Yavuz to be fired, the statement addressed Yavuz’s employment by saying he will continue to have these conversations in his classroom — with more accessibility and sensitivity.
However, Pogosyan still wants the U to reconsider Yavuz’s employment.
“He is very biased and he is promoting political propaganda. I think that for a professor to do something like this is absolutely unacceptable,” Pogosyan said. “I think that this ruins his credibility completely because he has been teaching this since 2014, so who knows how many students have went through his class, not even realizing how dangerous his genocide denial is.”
She would also like the U to terminate any support for the Turkish Coalition of America, an independent organization funded by Turkish Americans who are proud of their heritage.
“The University being a part of an organization like the Turkish Coalition of America is again very dangerous because it’s not historical facts, it’s just individuals who are scared of their government,” Pogosyan said.
Pogosyan asks that the U issue a formal apology addressing the harm that has been caused.
“As an Armenian-American student that attends the U, I would really appreciate a public apology and a statement of what they’re going to do to make sure that this type of historical misinformation does not get spread,” Pogosyan said.
April 24 is also Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, and Pogosyan would like the U to acknowledge that.
Yavuz was contacted on Oct. 26 for a comment, but the Chronicle did not receive a response.
“My heart is really suffering right now,” Pogosyan said.
Ani • May 2, 2021 at 10:34 pm
The University of Utah Press is a disgrace, and a laughingstock within the scholarly community. The University of Utah Press publishes manuscripts about the Armenian Genocide and Armenians that contain factual errors, flawed interpretations, and egregious omissions. These are manuscripts that are rejected by other publishers because they do not meet scholarly standards and are methodologically flawed. For example, Guenter Lewy’s book, “The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide” was published in 2006 by University of Utah Press after it was rejected by 11 publishers. It later received negative reviews for its factual errors, questionable premises, and cherry-picking of sources. Other university presses care about their reputation and therefore, reject these manuscripts which are later published by the University of Utah Press. Obviously, the University of Utah Press does not care about its reputation, or the truth for that matter.
AS • Apr 23, 2021 at 9:39 pm
This university provides an institutional home to genocide denial. The Turkish Studies Project is funded by Turkish Coalition of America which lobbies in the US for denial of the Armenian Genocide. The University of Utah has no integrity and has sold its soul for money from the Turkish lobby.
Richard Agadjanian • Dec 18, 2020 at 11:39 am
Such a shame… I’m also a student at the University of Utah and have to live with the fact that someone there is teaching fake information and attempting to brainwash students. How is the U just ignoring this important issue? I think we all know why…$$$
Jessica Ranes • Dec 2, 2020 at 12:26 pm
How is this man teaching a political science course if he can not even admit the real truth behind his own country? Either speak the truth or do not teach a fake education in order to promote Turkey well. Turkey has conflicts with over 8 other countries including Islamic ones, not only Christians. It is a fact that Turkey remains to kill Kurds, Assyrians and Armenians. I am in my masters for history and it’s despicable to see an imbecile teaching a political science course when he cannot even come to terms with himself for what his country’s past is. Over 30+ countries recognize the Armenian Genocide and even many schools in the U.S. are required to learn about the Armenian Genocide. What does this man have to say? It’s shameful that this man can look himself in the mirror everyday knowing he is spreading false information to everyone he comes in contact with as well as the University of Utah ignoring this allegations. University of Utah in the Non- discrimination policy section III states, “The University of Utah does not discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, age…” teaching bias, un-factual history about an ethnic group and the crimes committed against your country is discrimination towards an ethnicity. University of Utah should have more integrity than to keep this man employed at the University. I will be passing along this message to everyone I know about the double standard that the University of Utah permits.
MD • Nov 26, 2020 at 3:17 pm
RE: The comment by Afet Hussein.
It should be noted that the source he is using in his comment is unverified and highly problematic.
1. The person in the Research Gate article is not an academic or scholar trained or even affiliated with the fields of history and humanities. In fact, the author claims to be a chemical engineer on his profile.
2. He is not affiliated with university he lists on his profile. In fact, there is no mention of this person on the university’s affiliated pages.
3. The sources quoted are also not verified and are taken out of context to mislead. For example, they refer to a census from 1800s to question the population statistics, when the genocide began years later in 1915. Also, he forgets to note the many massacres in the 1800s that shrunk the Armenian population and led to the eventual genocide.
4. The article has no works cited, bibliography, or references page to show where these sources are. What academic source doesn’t cite its sources?
5. Worse of all, the article the commentator is referencing not only casts doubt on the Armenian Genocide, it also casts doubt on the Jewish Holocaust by claiming that there are Jews and Armenians alive today so these events must not have been as significant as the victims claim.
For the record, for the handful of denialists the commentator mentions, there are double the number of true academic scholars from leading institutions around the world who have called it a Genocide. These people have spent their professional and academic life studying these issues, and it’s not a coincidence that genocide denialists continue to ignore their academic work that points to the reality of Armenian Genocide.
Also, these denialist academics have been discredited because of their ties to the Turkish government. For example, the Princeton professor of Turkish studies (funded by Turkish government) was found to have even served as a ghostwriter and advisor for the Turkish embassy’s denial campaign. Since then, many schools have ended this problematic behavior.
Example of academics who have done credible research and who have proven the Genocide as fact: Alan Whitehorn (Royal Military College of Canada), Donald Miller (USC), Edward Alexander (Uni. of Washington), Richard Hovannisian (UCLA), Taner Akcam (a Turkish academic at Clark University), and the list goes on.
Our own US Ambassador to the Ottoman Turks, Henry Morgenthau, wrote a book about the crimes he witnessed committed against Armenians.
Leslie A. Davis was another American diplomat who witnessed the genocide and wrote about it.
As you can see, the denial and the lies are very explicit, making this story and this student’s work all the more important.
Afet Hussein • Nov 3, 2020 at 3:30 am
I can bring quotes from one article written on the issue.
Habib Siddiqui from the University of California in his article titled “Armenian Genocide: Fact or Fiction. Untangling the truth from the myth of the Armenian Genocide ” in Researcgate.net (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275463468_Armenian_Genocide_Fact_or_fiction) writes:
“The Armenian claim seems untenable given the fact that studies of the Ottoman census (and they were very meticulous with record keeping) by unbiased historians and other contemporary estimates show that far fewer than 1.5 million Armenians lived in the relevant areas before the war. So, how could the number of those killed be more than the total that lived? In this context it is also worth pointing out that the census bureau was headed by an Ottoman Armenian –Migirdic Shabanyan from 1897-1903. He surely can’t be accused of lying on behalf of the Ottoman state.”
“P. F. Peters, former Australian Ambassador to Turkey, noted, “The Turks had no deliberate policy of genocide at any stage, only the removal of Armenians from the front line with Russia, where they were collaborating with the Ottoman Empire’s enemies and were thus a threat to its security.” Mikael Varandian, an Armenian historian who wrote the book “History of the Armenian Movement” said, “Ottoman Armenians were completely free in the Ottoman Empire and the Turks were the Armenians’ only shelter against Russia guaranteeing their traditions, religion, culture and language in comparison to Russian oppression under the Czars”
“After the World War I, the Armenian allegations were investigated between 1919 and 1922 as part of a legal process against the Ottoman officials. The Peace Treaty of Sevres, which was imposed upon the defeated Ottoman Empire, required the Ottoman government to handover to the Allied Powers people accused of “massacres”. Subsequently, 144 high Ottoman officials were arrested and deported for trial by Britain to the island of Malta. The information which led to the arrests was mainly given by local Armenians and the Armenian Patriarchate. So while the deportees were interned on Malta the British occupation forces in Istanbul which had absolute power and authority in Ottoman capital, looked frantically everywhere to find evidence in order to incriminate the deportees. An Armenian scholar, Haig Khazarian, appointed by the British, conducted thorough examination of documentary evidence in the Ottoman and British archives. However, Khazarian could not find any evidence demonstrating that the Ottoman government and the Ottoman officials deported to Malta either sanctioned or encouraged the killings of the Armenians. The British Foreign Office which investigated American archives also found no evidence that could corroborate the Armenian claims. After two years and four months of detention in Malta, all Ottoman deportees were set free without trial.”
“Some Armenian Genocide proponents claim that when Hitler was asked about what the rest of the world would think about his ‘final solution’ (his attempt to exterminate the Jews) he rhetorically commented: “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” As investigations from many researchers, including Prof. Heath W. Lowry, have abundantly shown this quote was from a forgery written by an unknown person on plain piece of paper and labeling it as “Hitler’s second speech” even though he only gave one speech that day. In his book, The U.S. Congress and Adolf Hitler on the Armenians, Political Communication and Persuasion, New York, III/2 (1985), pp. 111-140, Prof. Lowry says, “The assertion that Hitler made a reference to the Armenians in any context whatsoever is without foundation.”
“Many references on the so-called Armenian Genocide cite the “Talat Pasha telegrams, (The Naim-Andonian documents)”, as evidences to support genocidal intent of the Turkish government. It claims that the Interior Minister Mehmed Talat Pasha ordered “Kill every Armenian man, woman, and child without concern.” However, subsequent research works by unprejudiced historians like Andrew Mango, Erik-Jan Zürcher and Michael Gunter (just to name a few among many others) have proven that it was not authentic at all and at best an “Armenian fiction” or at worst “forgeries”.
There are a lot evidences like the abovementioned ones in the article and later, the author says
“Genocide is preceded by discrimination or hatred of the targeted group. If Armenians were discriminated in Ottoman Turkey, it is difficult to believe that Armenians like Migirdic
Shabanyan could have held such high level positions. What we find, instead, is that several Armenians, like many other subjects, held high positions throughout the Ottoman Empire. Nineteenth-century archives show that 29 Armenians reached the status of Pasha, an Ottoman military rank equivalent to general; 22 held positions in executive government offices such as the minister of foreign affairs; 33 were elected to parliament; 18 served in embassies and consulates and 11 were professors in major universities.”
Further, the article says:
“Almost all Turkish intellectuals, scientists and historians accept that many Armenians died during the conflict, but they do not consider these events to be genocide. A number of Western academics in the field of Ottoman history, including (late) Bernard Lewis (Princeton University), Heath Lowry (Princeton University), Justin McCarthy (University of Louisville), Gilles Veinstein (College de France), and Stanford Shaw (UCLA, Bilkent University) have expressed serious doubts as to the genocidal character of the events. They offer the opinion that the weight of evidence instead points to serious inter-communal warfare, perpetrated by both Muslim and Christian irregular forces, aggravated by disease and famine, as the causes of suffering and massacres in Anatolia and adjoining areas during the First World War.”
The author brings more references to the light:
“It is not difficult to understand why in his book “Armenia: Secrets of a ‘Christian’ Terrorist State” the late historian and author Samuel Weems wrote, “Many scholars and authors throughout the Western world are in agreement that rarely, in the pages of history, have facts been so deliberately altered to deceive and create an untrue picture… These Armenians are coming up with more Armenians murdered than there were Armenians in Anatolia.”
The article is exhaustive but the brought references made in the article is suffice to prove that the professor has substantiated stance and referred to the facts only which ascertained not only by the Turkish scholars but also the academicians from prestigious institutions and universities. The professor is completely devoted to his academic work with high integrity and unbiased approach.
MD • Nov 3, 2020 at 12:05 am
I see some ignorant comments by Robert Edwards below, so I will address them here for us all not to be as ignorant as he is.
He claims that “any honest reader should be able to recognize” that the ‘Jewish Massacre’ is a reference to Holocaust. This is a misinformed point, because the Holocaust is not denied by those who committed it: Germany. In fact, Germany has apologized, made reparations and teaches this historical event as a fact. Germany is also not lobbying with millions of dollars to prevent countries from recognizing the Holocaust.
Turkey, on the other hand, not only denies the Armenian Genocide, but has made it illegal to speak about it in Turkey and has lobbied extensively to prevent countries from using the word Genocide. This is the difference that Mr. Edwards is ignorant of. Most people do not know of the Armenian Genocide (which impacted Greeks and Assyrians), precisely because of the Turkish propaganda that the professor is also perpetuating under the guises of “academia.”
The word genocide was coined by a Polish Jewish attorney who used the Armenian Genocide as the first example of race extermination in the 1900s, which he then used to legally categorize the Holocaust as such. The word genocide carries a different weight and accountability in law than massacre; if it did not, Turkey would not be wasting hundreds of millions of dollars to lobby against genocide recognition and lash out at Western countries for recognizing it as genocide.
Lastly, as the student explains, recognizing the Armenian Genocide is not a shameful deed for Turks. As Americans, we recognize our country’s slave owning past. We do not own slaves today ourselves, but we are responsible for acknowledging the truth of how this country was founded and its true history. Turks today are not responsible for their ancestors racist and criminal behavior, but they are responsible for their choices today and that means not continuing their ancestor’s racism by denying a genocide.
Also, some of the best research on the validity of the Armenian Genocide is done by Turkish historians in the U.S., because they would never be able to research this as genocide. Clearly, this professor should consult his colleagues research, but he probably will not because he is obviously more interested in spreading nationalistic propaganda than academic research.
Good for this student for speaking up and educating us. Genocide denial is not fine and we should all know that with the social unrest we have in the U.S.
Robert Edwards • Nov 2, 2020 at 10:42 am
There is no denial here of the well documented Armenian holocaust of the early 20th century. The failure to use the word genocide instead of massacre in the University statement is an unfair criticism. To use the ex-student’s own example, if the Jewish genocide in WW2 was described as the “events of 1940-5”and “Jewish Massacre”, any honest reader should be able to recognize such description as a reference to the Holocaust. The ex-student is clearly attacking today’s Turks and equating them with those of 1915 despite claims to the contrary. There seems to be an effort here to intimidate this professor and harm his career by prejudicially labeling him as something he clearly is not.
AS • Nov 1, 2020 at 10:14 pm
No trust in University of Utah if the hater professor is still employed! He needs to be disqualified and fired as he failed as a professional! It’s not enough they are teaching wrong history in Turkey and promoting hate crime now they are trying to commit the same order in the US!
An immediate action needs to be taken against fake professor who has different mission in that noble profession!
NS • Nov 1, 2020 at 5:41 am
It is shocking to see an institution of higher learning become the breeding ground for hatred.
By denying the Armenian Genocide, the University of Utah is complicit in the mass murder of the Christian Armenians.
Shame on the University of Utah for spreading hatred and supporting genocide.
Aren Arax • Nov 1, 2020 at 12:52 am
Sadly, if the Armenian Genocide of 1915 would’ve been prevented, or at least the perpetrators would’ve been punished, this latest attempt at a second Armenian Genocide never could’ve taken place. Turkish mindset is still set on century-old Ottoman ideology of pan-Turkish domination of that entire region. The fascistic behavior of Turkish President Erdogan is the best indicator of his distractive actions towards most his neighbors, especially Armenian Republic and Artsakh Republic.