Sharing the same room in Yerevan for the sake of dialogue

Sharing the same room in Yerevan for the sake of dialogue

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

Lengthy efforts are finally bearing fruit as Turks and Armenians are taking steps in the direction of dialogue. Somehow this happened, though undeniably painful.

I aimed high to bring Turkish and Armenian publishers together and my efforts worked this time. For once, I forgot that I am a journalist and promised myself not to make news stories out of this rendezvous. Did I meet my promise? Of course not! But I did my best and succeeded in bringing publishers and readers of the two countries together. We joined the “Tarz ar Kirk/Back to Book- International Open Space Book Festival,” sponsored by the Armenian Culture Ministry and one of the most prestigious publishing houses of the country Actual Art’s owner Migirdich Matevosian.

The festival’s budget was limited. Although Matevosian wanted to invite more Turkish publishers to the event, that couldn’t happen. However, I and other to journalists from Turkey hit the road to Yerevan. I also had some other responsibilities. I was participating in the fair as the representative of Istanbul Armenian Literature.

We set-out on the road with Ragıp Zarakolu, founder of the Human Rights Association of Turkey and the owner of Belge Yayınları publishing house, and Professor Ahmet İnsel joined us at the airport. İnsel was visiting Armenia for the first time, so he was excited. And it was Zarakolu’s second visit. The two kept asking me so many questions. İnsel and Zarakolu slipped through passport control. However, I had a little surprise. I handed my Turkish passport to the officer, but he asked me whether or not I had a residence permit. I was surprised at first, but then I told him that I was born in Turkey, so I am a Turkish citizen. Anyway, the problem was solved and I passed through the check points.

We shared the same room for the sake of dialogue

After we landed at Yerevan Airport we were welcomed by an exemplary “dialogue” in Armenia. Armenian-French academic and journalist Michale Marian and İnsel couldn’t find separate rooms at the hotel, so they stayed in the same room. Zarakolu and I had a big surprise because where we hosted was a house rented for a week. İnsel and Marian were surprised, so were we. Although it sounds strange to begin with, we immediately started to enjoy the situation. We experienced everything together – dialogue, discussions, chats, sorrow, offences… anything… Although the budget was limited, we had unlimited conversations. We openly criticized Marevosian at times, but then we appreciated him for this little surprise. Now, our biggest objective is to bring Matevosian to the leading book fair in Turkey, TÜYAP Book Fair, and give birth to several projects. During the event, İnsel and Marian participated in panels to introduce the book “Dialogue over the Armenian Taboo,” recently published by İletişim Yayınları. They are co-authors of the book in which they shared personal experiences on the subject matter. It was translated into Armenian by Actual Art. Zarakolu shared his own publisher’s experiences and struggles he went through. And I, as half writer/poet half translator identity, participated in the fair as the representative of Istanbul Armenian Literature. Therefore, I was kind of a bridge. There was a translator. However, I was translating for İnsel or Zarakolu at times and on one side I was trying to tell about my own experience in literature and about my books.

Turkish publishers faced a shower of questions

As a matter of fact, four of us were putting our mark on a historic rendezvous in Yerevan. Despite financial difficulties, we were uniting different Armenian generations from Istanbul and Paris in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. We were uniting two sides of the border. All right, if you ask me that if our duty is over, I could say “No, it is not. We’ll continue.” We will leave politics behind and as real intellectuals set out the road in order to create an atmosphere of dialogue between the two nations. İnsel and Zarakolu faced a shower of questions from Armenian readers. In fact, there were two Turks sitting across to them and they were representing very different viewpoints. So, readers listened to them, asked questions, some of which were quite to the point, but each time we found a common ground. Without doubt, İnsel and Zarakolu were the two figures that showed up on Armenian televisions and press for a week. First, İnsel left Yerevan and returned to Istanbul. The day after Marian flew to Paris. I and Zarakolu remained in Yerevan. I should confess that we got used to living in the same house, though we were critical at the beginning. Since I was in charge of the organization, I had wished to have no flaws. Still, we had a few surprises here and there. Sometimes, it is colorful to have Oriental kinds of surprises, don’t you think?

We believe in dialogue

I should most definitely add that İnsel and Zarakolu took Turkish books to Yerevan. We had an exchange of books. We made promises to join other fairs in the future. If Matevosian manages, we will be back at the book festival in Yerevan next year. But this time, we will invite Turkish authors and publishers from different views because we believe in dialogue. If you want to join us, we will be happy to see you among us. Perhaps we will make a big group, share the same room or even a house. What do you say? As the world’s poet Nazım Hikmet once said “We will see beautiful days, children / We will see sunny days…”