In 2007, a political as well as academic conflict triggered by a sixth-grade history textbook tormented public opinion in Greece. The point of contention was the effort made by the authors to ignore long standing stereotypes dominating national historiography and adopt more moderate views with respect to the Greek experience under the Ottoman rule (15th – 19th c.), such as for instance the belief that the Ottomans prohibited education and thus Christian youth had to attend ‘secret schools’. This was partly a result of professional historical documentation that has contributed to the revision of certain well-established ideas but also an attempt to promote a narrative that does not convey hostility but rather human understanding. Almost parallel to that a similar scandal broke out in Bulgaria. A project with the title: ‘The Image of the Islamic Enemy - the Past and Present of Anti-Islamic stereotypes in Bulgaria as exemplified by the Myth of the Batak Massacre’ which included an exhibition in Berlin and a conference in Bulgaria triggered an uproar in the media but also among many historians for presumably wishing to distort history. The Batak Massacre, an event regarded quintessential of the Bulgarian sufferings under the Ottoman rule, took place in 1876, in the midst of the April uprising, that led to the Bulgarian autonomy and has been always portrayed as the most heroic moment in modern Bulgarian history. In both cases, the uproar saw vociferous protests against what was considered to be the de-nationalisation of the younger generations coupled with accusations launched by a large range in the political spectrum that it was all part of an imperialist project coordinated by abroad and which took the form of aGreek-Turkish or Bulgarian-Turkish rapprochement respectively. This paper will address the more particular issue of the role of professional historians many among whom were labeled as traitors during those crises as well as the role of scholarly accounts in a process of reconciliation with a nation’s historical past.