Armenian musician calls for peace during Istanbul visit

Armenian musician calls for peace during Istanbul visit

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Ara Dinkjian, an Armenian-American lute virtuoso and composer, issues a call for peace in the wake of a concert in Istanbul last week with local group Kardeş Türküler. Aiming to strengthen ties between Turkey and Armenia, the musician hopes to end the enmity and hostility between the two neighbors through greater cross-border artistic collaboration

Using a visit to Istanbul last week as a platform to sound off on Turkish-Armenian relations, Armenian-American lute virtuoso and composer Ara Dinkjian said it is time to end the “grudges and hatred” between Turkey and its eastern neighbor.

“We should follow the oath of peace, not hatred,” Dinkjian told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, directing his comments to Turkish and Armenian societies following a well-received concert in Istanbul.

Dinkjian dedicated his latest song to the long-running group Kardeş Türküler, with whom he recently performed in Istanbul.

Kardeş Türküler is renowned for its wide repertoire that includes folk songs from all the ethnic and religious groups of Anatolia.

‘My dark place:’ a melody of deep grief

Dinkjian titled his song as “My Dark Place,” because "no matter where we come from or which religion or culture we belong to, we all carry deep grief in our hearts, even when we have a smile on our faces.”

Although he was born and raised in the United States, Dinkjian said he had never lost his contact with Turkey, from which his ancestors came, and is very eager to participate in projects with Turkish artists.

Dinkjian said the desire for such collaboration is unsurprising, because “there is no discrimination in music. [Musical] notes do not judge people by their race, religion or nation.”

Further displaying his links with Turkey, Dinkjian said that when he was a child, his father had an unprecedented Turkish classical music collection. “I grew up listening to that music,” he said.

Diaspora not monolithic

Although his family suffered during the 1915 events, he said: “They never taught us to bear grudges or hatred. This is extremely important.”

Asked about the Armenian diaspora, which is often known for its extreme hostility toward Turkey, Dinkjian said it was wrong to define diaspora as a homogenous whole.

“There is another ‘unmentioned’ diaspora where people still do speak Turkish as their second language,” he said. “They sing in Turkish and they still feel that they belong to these lands. They cannot belong to where they live currently.”

Dinkjian said he Turkey and Armenia would establish close relations similar to the relations now enjoyed between Turkey and Greece thanks to the efforts of artists from both countries. “All we need is a little effort and self-sacrifice.”

‘I teach my children love, not hatred’

Recalling the concert he performed last week together with Kardeş Türküler, Dinkjian said thousands of people sang along with him and gave him a standing ovation.

"It was an incredible experience, I will never forget this,” Dinkjian said. “I truly believe that we can make it."

He said he had also taken his kids to Turkey to let them sight see, adding that he would not allow them to be poisoned with hatred. “I of course do tell them about the painful events but I also advise them to love all human beings without discrimination.”

When he visited the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, the home of his ancestors, five years ago with his father, Dinkjian said he felt like how a mother feels for her children.

“I cannot really express my emotions but if somebody kidnapped me and took me to outer space and let me have one last look at the world, I would pick the one spot on the blue globe – and that would be what my grandfather and grandmother told me fairytales about, that is, Anatolia,” he said. “That is where I belong.”

Dinkjian said he would not cut his ties with Turkey for as long as he lives. “It is not even possible for me to do so.”