Taner Akcam

Taner Akcam is a Senior Research Scholar in the Department of History at Clark University, where he has been affiliated since 2008. A prominent figure in genocide studies, his work focuses on the Armenian Genocide, Ottoman history, and Turkish nationalism. Born in Turkey in 1953, he received a B.A. from Middle East Technical University (1975) and a Ph.D. from Hanover University (1995). His research examines the systemic policies of violence, ethnic cleansing, and denialism in the late Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey.

Key publications include Orders De Tuer (2020), Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide (2018), and A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility (2006). Akcam’s work challenges Turkish state narratives, using Ottoman archival evidence to document the state’s role in genocide planning and execution.

His research interests extend to legal frameworks surrounding genocide, such as property confiscation and forced assimilation, as seen in works like The Spirit of the Laws (2022). Akcam has also engaged with contemporary issues, linking historical denialism to broader themes like climate change through interdisciplinary scholarship.

Awards include the Krikor Guerguerian Online Archive Project, supported by Armenian organizations. His contributions bridge academia and activism, advocating for historical accountability and confronting Turkey’s refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide.