Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Hrant Dink için
Hrant Dink (September 15, 1954 – January 19, 2007)
At some point the Turkish nation will have to face up to two very painful issues:
1. It is very well established that during 1915-1922, the last vestiges of Ottoman Empire systematically targetted the Christian populations in the region.
The Armenians were the main victims (there is hardly an Armenian diaspora family that did not lose a member), but thousands of Assyrians were also killed. I've heard friends relate oral histories handed down from great-grandparents and grandparents.
2. Underneath the homogeneous Turkish national identity, Turkey is a multi-ethnic state. They cannot keep pretending that the Kurdish question does not exist.
The wonderful thing about Turkey is that it has a very vocal intelligentsia that has consistently brought these issues to the fore. Many Turks I know personally are willing to acknowledge the discontents of Turkish nationalism.
4 comments:
At some point the Turkish nation will have to face up to two very painful issues:
1. It is very well established that during 1915-1922, the last vestiges of Ottoman Empire systematically targetted the Christian populations in the region.
The Armenians were the main victims (there is hardly an Armenian diaspora family that did not lose a member), but thousands of Assyrians were also killed. I've heard friends relate oral histories handed down from great-grandparents and grandparents.
2. Underneath the homogeneous Turkish national identity, Turkey is a multi-ethnic state. They cannot keep pretending that the Kurdish question does not exist.
The wonderful thing about Turkey is that it has a very vocal intelligentsia that has consistently brought these issues to the fore. Many Turks I know personally are willing to acknowledge the discontents of Turkish nationalism.
Thats an excellent photograph of him..
Sad, really.
Have you seen Arundhati Roy's article in Outlook?
space bar: Thanks for the link...I knew that she was in Istanbul but hadn't read the article. I'm a bit iffy about parts of it though...
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