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Turks discuss ancestors role in genocide

Scholars held Turkey`s first-ever public discussions Saturday about the early 20th-century massacre of Armenians, avoiding emotional language and analyzing events year by year at a gathering that Turkish nationalists said was traitorous.

The Armenian issue stirs deep passions among Turks, who are being pushed by many Western countries to say their forebears carried out the 20th century`s first genocide. The Turkish government has been known to put pressure on certain world governments not to discuss the genocide or make it an issue, even Israel, which declares "never again" in response to the Holocaust against the Jews and others carried out by the Nazis, plays down the Turkish role in a genocide that Hitler himself used to justify his own genocidal programs.

The European Union called the academic conference a test of freedom of expression in Turkey, which is hoping to begin talks on membership in the bloc next month. Glaringly absent, though, from talks on the consideration of Turkish membership in the EU is a pre-condition for the Turks to take responsibility for the genocidal crimes of their forebears.