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

empathize with Armenians: “My aunt’s husband doesn’t know that his wife’s grandmother was Armenian.‘Would I tell him, what if we fight some day and he calls me ‘Armenian seed’? And my grandmotherused to say to her husband when they fought: ‘Oh, Osman you have Armenian blood.’”Nevertheless, Mete suggests that his project is transforming both himself and his family: “I wrote suchpoems. Why do I feel this? How come nobody in the whole family thinks about this? I got so carried awaythat there were times my mother and I cried together. My mother found the gold coin with Arabic inscriptionfrom Syria that her grandmother had given to her before she died. These days she is into Arabic,Kurdish and Armenian songs.” Mete even manages to record an anecdote told by his father: “Whenhe was doing his military service in Iskenderun, there was a sign which resembled a cross on the shoulderof his uniform. When he was downtown with his friends, an old woman clung to his shoulder, sayingin bad Turkish, ‘Give me my cross. If you only knew what they did to us.’” Mete finds out that Silva isnot the only one, but that there is at least one other Armenian bride in his father’s family.I am behind the camera, in a safe placeMete reflects on the role played by his video camera, which records the emotional ups and downs,changing self-perceptions and intimate relationships of a family in Turkey as exposed by a member ofthe younger generation: “My mother is crying, I am behind the camera, in a safe place. When the camerais on my father is a different man. When the camera is off he is more moderate, playing the role ofthe father who is trying to understand, and secretly proud. ‘I can’t talk, you dig deep, I’ll play this role,sometimes we’ll fight but you’re on the right track, I guess. On the other hand, I’m afraid for you.’ Ofcourse, he never said this in so many words. We fight, he sings the Turkish National Anthem, I turn offthe camera, things get better; I turn it on, sometimes it’s okay, sometimes he gets emotional. It was thefirst time my father ever cried.” Mete’s story suggests that shifts in Turkey’s political and cultural contextresulting in increased public debate on the recent past is also transforming the way families and individualsremember that past, including attributing increased relevance and positive meaning to previouslysilenced memories and identities.34