Turkish History Foundation hosts event on Turks, Kurds

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

TTK head Mehmet Metin Hülagü said the symposium will be held next year. AA photo

The Turkish History Foundation (TTK) is to host an international-level symposium on the subject of “Turks and Kurds in History” on Jan. 9-10, 2014, for the first time since its foundation by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, in 1931.

While stating that the relationship between Kurds and Turks was an example of the sharing of a “common fate,” the president of the TTK, Mehmet Metin Hülagü, clearly emphasized that the symposium would avoid related political issues and would remain within the borders of academic research.

“With the participation of academics locally and internationally, we expect this symposium, in which original statements will be presented away from political anxieties and based on archive documents, to contribute to historical studies in academic terms,” Hülagü was quoted as saying by Anadolu Agency on July 25.

“Statements on daily political issues and terror will not be considered,” he noted, while underlining that the statements which were to be presented in the symposium needed to have an academic content.

The reason for the hosting of such a symposium was the historical and academic responsibility attributed to their institution, Hülagü said. This symposium aimed to contribute to historical studies academically, as unique statements would be presented with the participation of domestic and foreign academics, away from the politic concerns and based on archive documents, he added.

The TTK president noted that the academics needed to send the summary of their studies by Oct. 15 and their essays before Dec. 2.