Being an Armenian today in Istanbul (2)

Continuing from last week, my last set of questions to my Armenian acquaintances was "Are you thinking of leaving? What makes you stay? What do you want this place to be like?"

Talking about her school years, my colleague Vercihan Ziflioğlu said that for both her Turkish and Armenian teachers, "thinking and questioning" was the only issue that was never acceptable. They agreed only on this matter.

"They wanted unquestioning little brains, whereas I, even from that age, was questioning. My path as an individual was not very easy. A father with a French education, a freedom-loving mother, and a ‘Vercihan' just back from France, it was obvious that my journey would not be easy in this land where I belong. There is, of course, also ‘being Armenian,' which means ‘being different.'"

"I was interested in literature. When I brought Nazım Hikmet books to school one day, they wanted me to take these books out of the school immediately. I could not understand. On the one hand, I was asked to take Nazım Hikmet out of school; on the other hand, all the other landmark writers in the Armenian literature who I loved were said, in class, to have died of ‘tuberculosis.' One day, when I asked why all of the writers had died of tuberculosis and how such a coincidence was possible, just like the day I brought Nazım's book to school, I was asked to go home early and warned not to ask any questions on this matter. This is because all of them had lost their lives in the tragic events of 1915.

"It was the Nazıms and Orhan Velis and Armenian writers who died of ‘tuberculosis' who have shaped the ‘Vercihan' of today. Despite all the bans and impositions, I have learned to question. Instead of getting stuck at the troubles that society went through, I...