Series | Eurasian Studies
Edited book | Armenian Journey
Chapter | Kemal Yalçin: Opening Silenced Memories, Seeing the Invisible
Kemal Yalçin: Opening Silenced Memories, Seeing the Invisible
Abstract
Voyaging throughout the villages and towns of historic Armenia, dissident Turkish writer Kemal Yalçin discovers hidden, secret or crypto-Armenian families whose disguise of national identity, suppression of memories of historic catastrophes and fear of discrimination are experienced as personal tragedies. Yalçin describes his journey of discovery of silenced memories and invisible identities in his book You Rejoice My Heart (2007) – a documentary, fact-based collection combining features of a novel and political history blended together. The significant point that the present paper emphasises is the fact that the recording of the pain and the hopes of hidden Armenians is Kemal Yalçin’s autobiographical confession and his protest against Turkish nationalist and chauvinist policy, against the intolerance and aggression of Turkish authorities and his recognition of the Genocide of Armenians in 1915.
Submitted: May 15, 2020 | Accepted: June 23, 2020 | Published July 12, 2021 | Language: en
Keywords Genocide • Turkey • Journey of discovery • Kemal Yalçin • Crypto-Armenians • Free expression
Copyright © 2021 Gaiane Muradian. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-497-4/009
