Last update: 2022-04-22 09:52:33
Venice 28-30 October 2004
A conference which took place in Venice in October marked a turning point in relations between Turkish and Armenian scholars. In fact it was one of the very rare occasions in which there was an open encounter on the theme of the Armenian genocide, one of the darker pages in XX century history. The conference was organised by the Cini Foundation and the Istituto Venezia e l'Europa with the title: In history beyond history, Armenians and Turks; a thousand-year-old situation. In the course of five sessions, historians, philosophers, jurists, psychoanalysts, political commentators, and experts in human rights from Europe, the United States, Armenia, Israel and Turkey, analysed the relationship between Armenians and Turks from medieval to contemporary times, including the tragedy of the genocide.
The conference was intended to respond to the paralysis in which current debate on the Armenian genocide has found itself, characterised by the existence of currents, which absolutely deny any possible encounter on the subject. The new vision proposed, together with the instruments provided by a long-term interdisciplinary approach, intended to overcome the obstacles still blocking an open and serene approach to the subject.
