Moderated by the National Public Radio correspondent Scott Simon , it includes two people who deny genocide took place -- Justin A. McCarthy , a history professor at the University of Louisville , and Omer Turan , a history professor at Middle East Technical University in Ankara , Turkey -- as well as two people advocating the recognition of genocide , Peter Balakian , a Colgate University humanities professor , and Taner Akcam , a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota .