The Armenian Genocide and Turkey: Public Memory and Institutionalized Denial

The book investigates the mechanisms by which denial of the Armenian genocide is reproduced in official discourse in Turkey, examining state education, media discourse, academic publications, and public events. It argues that denialism has become important to a certain kind of Turkish national identity and belonging and suggests ways in which this relationship can be unpicked in future.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 18 April 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Official denial of the Armenian genocide in Turkey is maintained through a complex system of state education, media discourse, academic publications, and public events that regulate how the issue can be publicly conceptualized and understood. Hakan Seckinelgin's book examines the mechanisms by which denial of the events of 1915 are reproduced in official discourse and the effect this has on Turkish citizens. The book argues that there exists a 'grammar or 'repertoire of denial in Turkey which regulates how the issue can be publicly conceptualised and understood. The book's careful analysis examines the way that knowledge about the genocide is censored in Turkey, from the language that must be used to publicly discuss it to the complex way in which selective knowledge and erased history is reproduced from 1915 and subsequent generations until today. It argues that denialism has become important to a certain kind of Turkish national identity and belonging and suggests ways in which this relationship can be unpicked in future.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780755653614