A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility, Taner Akcam (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2006), xii + 467 pp., $30.00

Abstract

Taner Akçam, a Turkish historian, sociologist, and human-rights activist, has written a landmark book—ably translated by Paul Bessemer—on the Armenian Genocide and its continuing denial by the Turkish state and its supporters. His book sheds new light on the motives that led the perpetrators to decide to destroy the Armenian community during World War I. However, his primary contribution is to clarify Turkey's continuing, perplexing denial. The work is organized into three major parts: The Armenian Question Prior to the Decision for Genocide; The Decision for Genocide and Subsequent Developments; and The Investigation and Prosecution of the War Crimes and Genocide. It is in the third and last part that Akçam addresses the issue of denial. Throughout the nineteenth century the Ottoman Empire tried to stave off military defeat and dissolution as it was beleaguered by the Great Powers and harried by its minorities. In dealing with the European empires, the various sultans tried to strengthen the state, modernize the military, and balance one power off against the other in the “great game” of international politics. In dealing with minorities, the sultans vacillated between reform and repression. Nor did the Ottomans shrink from widespread massacre as a method of intimidating or even eliminating minorities who demanded self-determination.