Turkish famous historian and sociologist Dr. Taner Akcam the first scholar of Turkish origin to recognize Armenian Genocide lectured at La Salle University (Philadelphia), Asbarez daily reports.

“Speaking at the university’s Diplomat-in-Residence program (DRP), Akcam discussed how concerns about Armenian independence and the intervention of foreign powers on behalf of the Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire led the Young Turks to plan and proceed with the elimination of Armenians and other Ottoman Christians. He also explained that Turkey’s denial of the genocide is the result of the role played in it by the founders of the Turkish republic,” Asbarez reads.

"Dr. Cornelia Tsakiridou, director of La Salle’s DRP program and an associate professor of philosophy at the university, explained that “the idea of bringing Dr. Akcam here was to expose students to the historical arguments of the case and do so by inviting a prominent historian who has specialized on this subject,” the daily informs.

“Professor Akcam brings to the study of the destruction of Turkey’s Armenian minority his expertise as a historian, a number of highly praised books, but also his Turkish background—a combination that has made him unpopular in Turkey, where the use of the term ‘genocide’ to describe the destruction is subject to prosecution for insulting Turkish identity,” said Tsakiridou.

Since 1978 Dr. Taner Akcam lives in Germany. In 1974 he was arrested for protests against Turkish troop’s intrusion into Cyprus. Akcam was repeatedly surveilled by Turkish authorities. In 1977 he went over the wall of Ankara central prison and arrived in Germany and obtained refugee status.

“Akcam is an associate professor of history at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.Since 1990, he has focused his research on Turkish nationalism and the Armenian Genocide, with 11 books and numerous articles to his credit, starting with his first book, Turk Ulusal Kimligi ve Ermeni Sorunu (The Armenian Question and Turkish National Identity), published in 1992. Three years later, at the International Genocide Conference in Yerevan, Armenia, Akcam’s presentation on Turkish nationalism and the Armenian Genocide marked the first public acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide by a Turkish scholar,” the daily says.