Turkish writer on Armenian Genocide: I bear that pain in my soul

Turkish writer on Armenian Genocide: I bear that pain in my soul –

Armenianow – A Turkish intellectual’s dream is to open a replica of the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial in Ankara, and as Armenians on April 24 put flowers at the memorial to honor the victims of the Genocide, and so can the Turks do the same in Ankara. 

Germany-based well-known writer Kemal Yalçın is in Armenia for the first time. He says that he devoted more than 5,000 pages to the Armenian people and the Armenian Genocide, but it is nothing as compared to the suffering that is endured by Armenians.

“Believe me: I honestly bear that pain in my soul. I realize that I still have much to do to protect your righteous cause,” says Kemal Yalçın.

The author of more than 25 books, which are dedicated not only to the Armenian Genocide, but also to the violent acts against Kurds, Assyrians and Greeks, fled from Turkey in 1980 because of anti-government views, and found refuge in the German city of Bochum. His books have been translated into eight languages.

The Turkish scholar presents that way through which he went to the Armenians and Armenia, to discover their identity for his individual sake. He met the first Armenian, Istanbul-based Meline, in a teacher training group in Germany.

“She told us about everything, but never about Armenians and Armenia. When asked, why you don’t tell us about your country, your people, Meline said that their pain is not the kind of one to talk about. I told her that I wanted to write about Armenians. She made me promise to go to Cilicia, find Genocide survivors, talk to them, and only after she promised to tell me about her pain,” says Kemal Yalçın.

The book “My Soul Rejoices in You” by Yalçın was first published in Turkey, but the Turkish authorities destroyed nearly 3,000 copies. After the court proceedings, which lasted six years, Yalçın won the trial, and the authorities covered the costs of the publication expenses of the book’s second edition.

Within the framework of the Armenian Genocide 100th anniversary initiatives on October 14-17 a documentary performance based on the eponymous book by the Turkish writer, “My Soul Rejoices in You”, will be presented by the “Vladimir Kocharyan” troupe from New York.

The biggest surprise for the writer is the names of various areas of capital Yerevan, which represent a number of places in Western Armenia: Malatia, Sebastia, Arabkir, Aresh, Marash, etc.

“Besides, everywhere you can see monuments to the Armenian intellectuals, such as Komitas, Tekeyan and others, who were massacred by the Turkish yatagan. It is clear that the elite’s presence enlivens this land. Your intellectuals are even on your banknotes and coins, there aren’t such things in Turkey,” said Yalçın.