Turkey meeting on Armenian deaths shelved after ministerial pressure

An international conference on allegations of genocide against Armenians has been postponed indefinitely after the Turkish Government put pressure on the three universities that organised it.

The event was to examine allegations of genocide committed in Turkey 90 years ago. Justice Minister Cemil Cicek accused the organisers of treachery and called for them to be prosecuted. Turkey rejects the charges of genocide. It claims the deaths occurred in a civil war.

The conference was postponed after the governor of Istanbul called on the rector of Bospho-rus University, the host institution, to cancel the meeting.

World authorities on late Ottoman history were to attend.

Opponents of the conference claimed supporters of the official Turkish view were not invited.

Ayhan Aktar of Murmur University said: "What upsets me most is that participants were judged and condemned before they had a chance to speak."