"Turkish-Armenian Relations: The Turkish Perspective" Conference Cancelled in USC

PanARMENIAN.Net - A planned conference at the University of Southern California (USC) featuring leading deniers of the Armenian Genocide was canceled, reported the Armenian National Committee of America. The USC Center on Public Diplomacy originally sponsored the conference, entitled "Turkish-Armenian Relations: The Turkish Perspective", which was scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 26th. Former Turkish Ambassadors Gündüz Aktan and Ömer Engin Lütem were invited to speak about the Armenian Genocide and Turkish-Armenian relations. Aktam and Lütem are notorious deniers of the Armenian Genocide, and the event announcement made no attempt to hide that their discussion would not only distort history but attempt to justify Ottoman Turkey's extermination of its Armenian population. "The USC event, which was to have featured Turkish members of the State Department's discredited TARC initiative, is part of an orchestrated national campaign to breath new life into the failed effort," said Zanku Armenian, a member of the ANCA-WR Board of Directors. "The ANCA-WR, working with USC Armenian student groups, Alumni and school supporters, was able to demonstrate to USC officials the misguided and sinister nature of this panel which led to its cancellation. The cancellation, along with the March 22nd Los Angeles Times editorial reaffirming the Armenian Genocide, sends a strong message to those who deny the Armenian Genocide: 'You are not welcome in California.' We applaud USC administrators for taking prompt action to rectify this situation and thus protecting USC's fine reputation from being used in Turkey's propaganda war."