Turk researcher, young scientist at Boghazich University of Istanbul Mehmed Poladel has given an interview to Bianet website.

Commenting on Prime Minister Erdogan’s statements that all Turkish archives are open for research on the Armenian Genocide, Poladel stressed the fact that documents regarding the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the Republic of Turkey are either closed or eliminated, or they aren’t even classified.

“They say the archives are open, but they are practically closed. There are even questions regarding the open archives since the documents kept in those archives are either not classified or don’t exist at all. There are telegrams, but there are no answers to questions. Several documents don’t even exist in the open archives,” Poladel said. Poladel is working on his doctoral thesis on the properties seized from the Armenians during the Ottoman Empire and territorial claims.

According to the young researcher, some archives are open, but that doesn’t mean that all the documents have been preserved. “The documents related to the Armenian Cause in the archives of the era of the Republic are either eliminated or confidential. There are telegrams addressed to the governors and their deputies, but there are no answers. This makes it hard for researchers to do their job. The military archives are almost closed since one has to be granted permission from several officials who determine whether that has anything to do with the research topic or not. Those archives might be opened after Prime Minister Erdogan’s latest announcement. In addition, the documents in the military archives haven’t been completely classified, and several sections are confidential. For some reason, several documents about the Ottoman Empire are kept in closed military archives,” Poladel said in closing.

Nor Harach