Eastern Mediterranean University Atatürk Research and Application Center (EMU-ATAUM) President Assist. Prof. Dr. Turgay Bülent Göktürk attended to the International Symposium entitled “Turkish-Muslim Genocide of the 20th Century” as a guest speaker. The event took place on 10th and 11th of September, 2021 in the city of Quba in Azerbaijan.
Held in the Quba Genocide Memorial Complex, the symposium commenced with a minute of silence for the Azerbaijani-Turks who lost their lives in the Quba Genocide followed by the National Anthem performance.
Many academicians from various places such as Republic of Turkey, Republic of Northern Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Federation of Russia, Ingush Republic and Dagestan attended the international event. Assist. Prof. Dr. Göktürk delivered a presentation entitled “Massacres of Turkish People in Cyprus during the 20th Century Turkish-Muslim Genocide” during the event. Many other scholars from Poland, Germany, Japan and Iran sent their memorial messages.
Speaking on the first day of the two-session symposium, Asst. Prof. Dr. Göktürk stated that genocide, massacre, exile and forced displacement were carried out at various stages of human history, and that there was a systematic widespread genocide by states and ethnic or national groups, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries. Asst. Prof. Dr. Göktürk emphasized that 5 million Turks were killed and that over 5 million 300 thousand Muslim-Turks were forced to emigrate. Assist. Prof. Dr. Göktürk also stated that the Turkish Cypriot people also suffered from these bloody massacres in the history of the world, and that the Greek Cypriots were exposed to crimes against humanity, a widespread genocide and forced migrations, and explained the examples of these massacres in the historical process with a visual presentation. Assist. Prof. Dr. Göktürk ended his speech by saying: “We should know what has been done in the past so that we can better understand the value of today's freedom and claim it stronger. For this reason, we need to tell our young generations what happened in the past. Let's not forget that others determine the geography for those who do not know their history”.
