Speaking to One Another - The International Raoul Wallenberg ...

that embraced Turkish nationalism, the Kemalistelite was continually challenged by oppositionalmovements. These challenges were invariablysuppressed violently. Following globaltrends, the strongest challenge to the Turkishnation state emerged in the 1980s, as conflictsbased upon identity politics threatenedthe fragile basis of national identity.Today, the stability of the nation-state necessitatesbold moves in the direction of further democratization,including a reevaluation of recenthistory as a means of creating a new contractbetween citizens and the state. One wayof reevaluating recent history is to challengethe disjuncture between public/national historyand local and personal memory.The political upheavals of the last thirty yearssince the military coup of 1980, including thesecularist/Islamist conflict and the military conflictbetween the Turkish army and the KurdishWorkers’ Party PKK (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan),have resulted in widespread public debateon history and national identity. Revisionist historieschallenge national(ist) history, and thereis growing interest in the experiences of minorities.Individuals and communities have themselvesbegun to explore alternative historiesand identities, often through recourse to memory.The persistence of personal and local memoriesof recent historical events facilitates accessto different, if not contradictory and conflictingaccounts of the past.The burden of Armenian memory exemplifiesTurkey’s schizoid relationship to the pastin which public silence or denial coexists withwhat is largely an “open secret.” There are fewcommunities and localities in Turkey not affect-16