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RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAK #2100 1071418
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 171418Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4884
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J-3/J-5//
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEUITH/ODC ANKARA TU//TCH//
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEUITH/TLO ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/TSR ANKARA TU
RUEHAK/USDAO ANKARA TU
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE

UNCLAS ANKARA 002100 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU
SUBJECT: TURKISH TV AIRS FILM DEPICTING ARMENIAN "GENOCIDE" 
 
 
¶1. A Turkish cable TV channel on April 13 broadcast, for the 
first time in Turkey, the 2002 movie "Ararat," a film by 
Canadian-Armenian director Atom Egoyan that promotes the idea 
that the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 
constituted genocide.  The ultra-nationalist station Kanal 
Turk decided to air the movie four years after protests by 
Turkish nationalists prevented "Ararat" from being screened 
in Turkish movie theaters.  Kanal Turk reportedly prepared 
the ground by polling its viewers on whether they wanted to 
see the film; 85 percent said yes. 
 
¶2. The broadcast, which opened with a commentary calling the 
movie a product of imperialist propaganda partially funded 
from the U.S., ended with a discussion between a retired 
Turkish general and a film critic.  Kanal Turk had advertised 
that the post-film discussion would include participants who 
dispute the official view of the Turkish state regarding the 
events of 1915.  In the end, none of the invited critics of 
the official view appeared.  Hrant Dink, publisher of an 
Armenian-language newspaper in Istanbul, reportedly showed up 
at the studio but backed out at the last minute.  Professors 
Baskin Oran and Halil Berktay had informed the station that 
they could not attend due to previous engagements.  Dink is 
currently appealing his 2005 criminal conviction for comments 
he wrote regarding Turkish-Armenian relations.  Oran is on 
trial for a report he wrote on minorities in Turkey.  Berktay 
has written that the events of 1915 contain many elements of 
genocide. 
 
¶3. Despite the controversial nature of the film, there has 
been no discernible reaction against the broadcast. 
Columnist Mehmet Ali Birand, writing in the Turkish Daily 
News, cited the lack of controversy as proof that Turkey had 
successfully broken a taboo.  "Kanal Turk did the right 
thing," Birand wrote.  "It proved that this film can be shown 
in a Turkey that has self-confidence and which does not 
believe the Armenian allegations of genocide.  It showed that 
the airing of a propaganda film is received as a normal thing 
in the society, no matter how disturbing it is." 
 
------------------------------------- 
Comment: Broader Space for Discussion 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. This broadcast follows the September 2005 Istanbul 
conference on the events of 1915, at which a number of 
scholars and writers contradicted the official view.  The 
conference, like "Ararat", was initially blocked by 
nationalist opposition, then proceeded.  While this topic 
remains highly sensitive, the film's airing indicates a 
greater willingness in Turkey to air alternative points of 
view and deconstruct taboos. 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON