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

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chain of “provocations” take place during World War I: England, France and Russia provoke the Armenians,Germany riles up the Turks:“These guys were decent and honest people. Only, crap came in between, somebody derailed them,somebody indoctrinated them and the two people became enemies. According to what my grandfathertold me, they were cheerful people. Until when? Until these provocations happened.”Provoked Armenians are “subjected to deportation.”For Kamil, this is an unacceptablyhuge sin: “You rip men from the land onwhich they have been living for thousandsof years and send them away. I ask you, cansuch a cruel thing be accepted! It can’t, right?”And those who are responsible for what happenedare not Talat, Enver and Cemal Pashas,but those who provoked them: “All three ofthem are the most intelligent men raised bythis country. But Germans stirred them up inthe war. Germans helped us in this war. Andin exchange for their help they stirred us upand sent Armenians away from here.”This history explains the mystery with whichKamil was preoccupied when he was in primaryschool, answers the question of “whothese gavurs are” he so persistently asked hisgrandfather. But it doesn’t explain why thishistory is not spoken of or is forbidden. Althoughthose responsible are viewed as outsiders,this history is the history of regrets,“There is a mistake, an obvious mistake madeby the Ottomans.”Compare the houses they lived in tothe ones we live in24This mistake was very costly for Akşehir. Kamil’snostalgia for the Akşehir of yore and hismemory of Armenians intermingle: “It had
een very advanced in trade and craftsmanship, much more advanced than Konya and Afyon. It wasadvanced because Armenians had lived here.” There was a great difference between Akşehir and its surroundings,between the Armenians of Akşehir and the Armenians of the surrounding areas: “In this area—Isaw one church in Afyon—there isn’t another church as big, as glorious, as enormous as this one.Why not? Because those who are in Akşehir are very hardworking, professional, experts in their professionsand very rich.” Kamil’s Armenian-Turk comparison is also based on a discourse of progress: “If youcompare the houses they lived in to those we live in, their workplaces to our workplaces, their gardensto our gardens, the vineyards where they cultivate grapes for wine to our vineyards, there are enormousdifferences. Like America and Turkey.”Kamil’s criticism of his own society goes hand in hand with an idealized Armenian image. The distinctionthat Kamil draws between the two societies does not create conflict, but rather solidarity. One of theapprentices the mythologized Armenian artisans “protect and look after” is Kamil’s grandfather: “Hismaster taught geometry to my grandfather. He taught him mathematics. He was a craftsman who had acompass, a ruler, a miter, and a protractor in those times. Grandfather only knew how to read and write,but his Armenian master taught him. He used to stop my grandfather Ali while he was cutting wood:‘Ali, my son, did you measure, did you draw it well, did you make a model, a small plan of it on paper?’”Kamil is proud of learning about culinary culture from Armenians: “These guys used to make such fabulousmeze [appetizers] in the meyhanes [restaurants] of Akşehir. Cooking very delicious carp, cookingpike, making salad from carp caviar, making brain salad, these were all learned from Armenians.”The immensity of the sin, the sense of regret this sin brings, is hidden here. When the Armenians, towhom the town owed its progress, left, Akşehir could never become what it was before: “Look, I noticedsomething very interesting, these men were very cultivated. And when they were gone, Turks froze inastonishment, like, ‘who is going to construct our stairs, who is going to sew our clothes, who is goingto do our ironwork?’ They didn’t know anything.” The history that Kamil tells explains the nostalgia forAkşehir’s past and the regret felt today: “If there wasn’t this separation, if we were living with Armenians,maybe Akşehir would be very rich, very successful in trade and industry.” And maybe the samething is true for Turkey: “Maybe if they stayed here, Turkey would be a very advanced society. This is oneof the points about which I’m sorry.”Besides those who, like Kamil, are sorry about the “separation,” there are also those who want to forgetand hide the “unity.” Kamil still encounters them, as he did in his childhood, and he still protests.When it is decided that an abandoned church is to be used as a theatre, the dust of the years must beremoved: “When the church is being washed, the man wants to turn the hose on one of the walls. Asthe sprayed water hits the wall, the paintings, this and that, appear. They whitewashed those walls becauseit’s not to be known that the Armenians lived here. Imagine what sort of destruction this is.” Kamilis happy about the restoration of the hamam, which he knew as gavur’s hamam in his childhood, asmuch as he is unhappy about the whitewashed walls. He hopes that the building that was once the religiousschool and his primary school will also be restored, and about the Armenian houses, which are25
Page 2 and 3: Published by:Institut für Internat
Page 5 and 6: ContentsForeword...................
Page 7 and 8: ForewordThe project “Adult Educat
Page 10 and 11: Aras, Yasin Aras, Welat Ay, Cenk Ce
Page 12 and 13: The main audience of this book is o
Page 15 and 16: “Wish they hadn’t left”:The B
Page 17 and 18: ed by 1915 and where memories of Ar
Page 19 and 20: 1915 tends to be represented by int
Page 21 and 22: Yet to a large extent, Turkish inte
Page 23: this, we can’t. It’s impossible
Page 27 and 28: How to Come to Terms with Phantom P
Page 29 and 30: It is always you who has to be nice
Page 32 and 33: to the way he was raised: “They f
Page 34 and 35: empathize with Armenians: “My aun
Page 36 and 37: Adil is not the only one marked by
Page 38 and 39: ness may be an attempt to overcome
Page 40 and 41: dernity and the oral transmission o
Page 42 and 43: A soup pot with spoons around itAt
Page 44 and 45: What if My Mother is Armenian?Ruhi
Page 46 and 47: If I were younger I’d get baptize
Page 48: with butter. We’ll serve the impo
Page 51 and 52: The time Salih and Gavrik are worki
Page 53 and 54: Turkey’s changing context is refr
Page 55 and 56: ‘It was to be expected.’ And my
Page 57 and 58: against one another. The feet of th
Page 59 and 60: Fear of Losing a CityZübeyde was b
Page 61 and 62: half for me.’ But what do our Mus
Page 63 and 64: e discussed when the kids were arou
Page 65 and 66: possible by the difference in relig
Page 67 and 68: The Charm of AraratMehmet is a 62-y
Page 69 and 70: dogs protected the sheep against wo
Page 71 and 72: The Story of the “Night People”
Page 73 and 74: “I don’t know why, but my grand
Page 75:
Research in Armenia:“Whom to Forg
Page 78 and 79:
and can generally be located in Tur
Page 80 and 81:
“Whom to Forgive? What to Forgive
Page 82 and 83:
“Private Stories”After the esta
Page 84 and 85:
Recalling MemoriesOral history diff
Page 86 and 87:
In the village of Ujan, where the v
Page 88 and 89:
The home-museum of Gevork Chaush in
Page 90 and 91:
Memorial in the Ashnak village dedi
Page 92 and 93:
other regions are entirely populate
Page 94 and 95:
sources and materials for their mem
Page 96 and 97:
Ergir’s Soil is Strong, Ergir’s
Page 98:
Tatevik, the granddaughterof Mihran
Page 101 and 102:
eral meanings in Armenian -”whole
Page 103 and 104:
The Gospel with Golden Binding of S
Page 105 and 106:
keeps a copper chalice that was bro
Page 107 and 108:
In some families the passports of t
Page 109 and 110:
at that time, Mustafa and Jamal, wh
Page 111 and 112:
People were so frightened to lose g
Page 113 and 114:
naked, they were decapitating every
Page 115 and 116:
Water, Fire, Desert“There was an
Page 117 and 118:
his mother dragged him behind her,
Page 119 and 120:
Many of our narrators mention the R
Page 121 and 122:
In the word-stock of the survivors
Page 123 and 124:
in Kurdish villages, and helping th
Page 125 and 126:
“Well, They Are Human Too”Even
Page 127 and 128:
member this well, they said, the el
Page 129 and 130:
speak to each other. Questioned by
Page 131 and 132:
Hamze Ptshuk, survived from Hosnut
Page 133 and 134:
“I don’t Know...”Why did this
Page 135 and 136:
“My Dear Almast, Write it Down, W
Page 137 and 138:
took his rifle and ran. The dog fel
Page 139 and 140:
she didn’t tell it to me. In the
Page 141 and 142:
elder guy in this house died and hi
Page 143 and 144:
AH - Turks always killed to get int
Page 145 and 146:
“My Father used to Tell us at Hom
Page 147 and 148:
person... I have never seen him, bu
Page 149 and 150:
gotten what you knew”. So, out of
Page 151 and 152:
a paid Adult Residential Facility,
Page 153 and 154:
It was probably after 60s... My fat
Page 155 and 156:
the Vardevar 1 day . Even if we mak
Page 157 and 158:
that this wasn’t a dream... and..
Page 159 and 160:
was our historical village. Nich, I
Page 161 and 162:
just filming around myself with no
Page 163 and 164:
that person whether I could take a
Page 165:
[Turk. wife]”. In the morning I t
Page 168 and 169:
4 Albert Mamikonyan,1953, in Kirova
Page 170 and 171:
11 Almast Harutyunyan,1920, Ujan vi
Page 172 and 173:
18 Eleonora Ghazaryan.1949, Ashnak
Page 174 and 175:
26 Nairi Tajiryan,1936, Egypt (Cair
Page 176:
33 Vazgen Ghukasyan,1933, Ashnak vi
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