Violence and Genocide in Kurdish Memory: Exploring the Remembrance on the Armenian Genocide through Life Stories

Kurdish memories of the Armenian Genocide challenge the Turkish state's denialism and foster new possibilities for coming to terms with the past. This book examines Kurdish biographies from Van, Turkey, and explores the dynamics of intertwined remembrance regimes concerning political violence on Armenians, Syriac Christians, and Kurdish citizens. It argues that the genocide memory helps the Kurdish society articulate and discuss its experiences with the state and political violence, and that alternative younger voices questioning the forefathers' involvement in the persecution have opened up new trajectories based on their experiences. This sphere of contested and multidirectional memories challenges foundations of denialism and settled stories and makes the Kurdish experiences discussable.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 300 pages
Publication date: 16 May 2022
Publisher: Verlag Barbara Budrich

Kurdish memories of the Armenian Genocide challenge the systematic denialism established by the Turkish state structures and foster new possibilities of coming to terms with the past. This book examines Kurdish biographies, especially from Van, Turkey, and explores the dynamics of intertwined remembrance regimes concerning the political violence on Armenians and Syriac Christians of Ottoman imperial subjects and on Kurdish citizens of Turkey. These life stories shed light on the complexity of remembering, including collective and individual memory notions on violence, perpetration, and victimhood from past and present. The author focuses on the Kurdish collective and individual memories through reconstructing biographical narrative interviews and ethnographic data. Based on such empirical inquiry, Yetkin argues that the genocide memory helps the Kurdish society articulate, describe, and discuss its own experiences with the state and political violence. Thus, denialism as a systematic notion by the Turkish state apparatus appears to be read accurately when the ongoing state violence on Kurds is problematized parallelly. Alternative younger voices questioning the forefathers' involvement in the persecution have repeatedly confronted Kurdish positions in politics and civil society, fostering critical discussions on the past – underscoring reconciliation with Armenians yet employing anachronistic patterns of storytelling. They have opened up new trajectories based on their experiences. Hence, the author understands the situation as a multi-faceted and multi-layered memory complexity that contains interwoven narratives starting with the genocidal violence on Armenians and Syriac Christians of the region and pointing out continuous oppression. In short, the Armenian Genocide has left a lasting impact on Kurdish society, shaping their collective and individual memories of the event. This book explores the complexities of these memories, including the role of the Turkish state in perpetuating denialism and the challenges faced by younger voices who question the involvement of their forefathers in the persecution. It highlights the importance of reconciliation with Armenians while also recognizing the need to address ongoing state violence against Kurds. Through the examination of Kurdish biographies and ethnographic data, the author provides a nuanced understanding of the memory complexity surrounding the Armenian Genocide and its implications for the future.

Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783847425847