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

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Mehmet, who eventually succeeded in getting an education and becoming a university lecturer in Ankara,never lost his ties to Iğdır. He longs for the opening up of the borders and of Mount Ararat to theworld so that the people living around it can come together: “Ararat is like a magnet. Many religious beliefs,civilizations, countries have existed here. It is known world over. If I go to Holland or Paris and saythat I am from Iğdır, it will not mean anything to anyone. If I say I am from Turkey, they still might notunderstand. But if I say I am from Mount Ararat, it will ring a bell. It is the highest volcanic mountain inEurope, and the second highest in the world. Yet it is empty, useless. It is off limits. Why? I am in favorof sharing. Let us open Mount Ararat to tourism. Let everyone come and find traces of their ancestors, orwhatever else they want to find on Mount Ararat. The mountain is getting poorer with each passing day.The mountain has a soul. It too is alive. The summit of Ararat is always covered with snow. The mountainabsorbs this snow right at the summit, releasing it along its slopes during summertime. And all itscreatures, the wolves, deer, mountain goats and snakes are nourished by those springs. Because of excessivegrazing and hunting, wildlife in Mount Ararat is under threat. We are being blind about MountArarat, unable to see the huge mountain under our nose. Mount Ararat is great, as great as the povertyto be found on its slopes. How can the height of Mount Ararat be converted into bread for those poorpeople to eat?”According to Mehmet, the opening of the border between Turkey and Armenia will make Mount Ararata symbol of communication rather than a border: “What is being said at the moment is, ‘zero problemswith neighboring countries’. How is that going to happen? Armenia is on the other side of Aras, I am onthis side, and in-between is the border. But, come on, let us become friends! How can you have a friendshipon command? Once the border is open, they will be free to come and go, we will be free to comeand go. They will get to know our generation, we will get to know theirs. The previous generations onboth sides might have made mistakes, but we will talk and come to understand one another. How canwe be friends without a relationship? Are we afraid of showing Mount Ararat to the world? When peoplesee the mountain, will some magical energy in their eyes make the mountain vanish, as if cursed bythe evil eye? Either we are afraid of sharing the mountain with the world or we have closed our eyes sotight that we cannot see this rich natural wonder so close to us.”In Turkey, people living along the border feel fear and suspicion towards those on the other side of theborder. This is because they are brought up with the bitter stories of previous generations. But, despitebeing brought up in Ararat at the borders of four countries, Mehmet did not accept this heritage, andwas able to distinguish between the experiences of previous generations and his own. Most importantly,the divisions between peoples in the region where he was brought up led him to view others as individualsrather than as members of ethnic/religious communities or nations. For him, Ararat should be asymbol which unites rather than separates different peoples. His greatest endeavor both in his professionaland in his personal life is to protect Mount Ararat’s natural resources and to develop its economy.This allows him to maintain his belief in the possibility of dialogue between peoples who have experiencedconflict in the past.70
The Story of the “Night People”Born in 1954 in Istanbul, Dikran tells a story which begins well before and far afield. “The story that I’m goingto tell” he says, “is indeed the life story of many Armenians.” He tells it, filled not with hatred, but withlove: “If I tell it with feelings of hatred or revenge, then there’s no meaning in telling it. If it’d be blood forblood, feelings of revenge will persist.” This is a bitter history, but for Dikran it must be told to ensure it isnot repeated. Telling it is a difficult decision: “They wouldn’t say a lot about what they knew in our fami-71
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Published by:Institut für Internat
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ContentsForeword...................
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ForewordThe project “Adult Educat
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Aras, Yasin Aras, Welat Ay, Cenk Ce
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The main audience of this book is o
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“Wish they hadn’t left”:The B
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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 and 24: this, we can’t. It’s impossible
Page 25 and 26: een very advanced in trade and craf
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: dogs protected the sheep against wo
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
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In the word-stock of the survivors
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in Kurdish villages, and helping th
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“Well, They Are Human Too”Even
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member this well, they said, the el
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speak to each other. Questioned by
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Hamze Ptshuk, survived from Hosnut
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“I don’t Know...”Why did this
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“My Dear Almast, Write it Down, W
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took his rifle and ran. The dog fel
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she didn’t tell it to me. In the
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elder guy in this house died and hi
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AH - Turks always killed to get int
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“My Father used to Tell us at Hom
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person... I have never seen him, bu
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gotten what you knew”. So, out of
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a paid Adult Residential Facility,
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It was probably after 60s... My fat
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the Vardevar 1 day . Even if we mak
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that this wasn’t a dream... and..
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was our historical village. Nich, I
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just filming around myself with no
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that person whether I could take a
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[Turk. wife]”. In the morning I t
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4 Albert Mamikonyan,1953, in Kirova
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11 Almast Harutyunyan,1920, Ujan vi
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18 Eleonora Ghazaryan.1949, Ashnak
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26 Nairi Tajiryan,1936, Egypt (Cair
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33 Vazgen Ghukasyan,1933, Ashnak vi
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