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ART OPENS PATH TOWARDS TURKISH-ARMENIAN RECONCILIATION
By Mariam Sutidze
Georgia Today
http://www.georgiatoday.ge/article_details.php?id=9687
Dec 1 2011
Georgia
The traveling exhibition entitled "Speaking to One Another: Personal
Memories of the Past in Armenia and Turkey" is ongoing at the Georgian
National Museum from November 28 to December 10. The exhibition aims
to increase communication between the people of Armenia and Turkey and
to facilitate positive steps towards Armenian/Turkish reconciliation.
Almast Arutynian is both a writer and an ethnic Armenian. His mother
was a victim of the hostile dealings between Turkey and Armenia during
the First World War. There is a chilling passage in a book he wrote
that documents the tragic history of the Turkish-Armenian relationship:
"The Massacre was almost over... There was a Turkish leader on the bank
of the river; he was looking for those Armenians who had survived. He
noticed my mother and her sister. So he took them to the edge of the
canyon to kill them along with 200 other Armenians..."
The conflict, which saw the mass deportation and subsequent massacre
of more than one-million Christian Armenians from Ottoman Turkey
almost a century ago, is still fresh in the minds of many today. The
exhibition certainly brings these memories to the forefront.
The exhibition was organized by the Institute for International
Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association (DVV) and is
part of a project that was implemented in August 2009. Within the
project, both Turks and Armenians worked together for several months
to recount the mutual pasts the two nations share.
"When the Turkish side ended the story-telling, we listened to quite a
different [version] from the Armenians. Both have their interpretations
over the same things," said Nazaret Nazaretyan, explaining the working
process on the project. Nazaretyan is also a project coordinator and
a representative of DVV international.
Nazaretyan contends that despite some difficulties, the project met
its aim. He says that all the information provided in the exhibition is
"objective."
Four displays served as canvases for displaying shared personal
experiences from the past. Huge stands full of individual memories
written in two languages (Georgian and Russian) and portraits of
worn-out, old faces with deep wrinkles of torment sent viewers back
in time.
Giorgi Shaishmelashvili, who attended the exhibition, walked around
the hall several times and listened to the history of the people of
Armenia and Turkey. Then he stood in the center of the exhibition
hall with his hands in his pockets staring at the floor.
"I know how they feel. The problem is sensitive for me, even as a
Georgian," he says. "A good relationship between those two countries
is important for us also. But that project elevated hope for me,
it`s already a positive event, as there was a possibility to carry
it out despite the negative feelings from both sides."
The exhibition turned out to be sad for a lady in her fifties who
had a melancholy look on her face and dark watery eyes. Her name was
Hranush Kharatyan, from the Yerevan State Linguistic University; she
did all the oral history research for the exhibition. Kharatyan was
standing with a young person in his thirties - Ragip Zik, from Turkey.
"There were marriages, love, neighborhoods shared between the people
of Armenia and Turkey, but it ended long ago," remembers Kharatyan.
"This is the history that hasn`t been written down, but was experienced
by the people themselves. We want to make a step towards a better
relationship even if it won't be friendship; we should believe in
each other."
While she was speaking, Ragip Zik stood motionless nodding slightly
now and then to show his sympathy. When the lady mentioned the word
"believe" he decided to involve himself in the conversation to express
his feelings.
"Every story presented here is to read through and feel ourselves,"
he explained. "Each of them is unique as they tell about the same
experiences but with different pain and emotions. We want people to
know more about that pain that is still so common for us in everyday
life."
The traveling exhibition "Speaking to One Another" aims to accomplish
the same; to deliver the message from the people of Armenia and Turkey
to other parts of the world and to achieve forgiveness between the
two countries.
"Today they are afraid of each other, as they don`t know much about
one another," says Nazaret Nazaretyan. According to Nazaretyan, the
project aims to familiarize Armenians with Turkish people. "It is an
attempt to figure out the problem for today, to change attitudes and
to make positive steps towards reconciliation."
Until the exhibition moves on to Batumi, Nicosia, Berlin and Paris,
those interested in looking through a century of tragic history have
the opportunity to visit the Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts.
The exhibition runs through December 10.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
By Mariam Sutidze
Georgia Today
http://www.georgiatoday.ge/article_details.php?id=9687
Dec 1 2011
Georgia
The traveling exhibition entitled "Speaking to One Another: Personal
Memories of the Past in Armenia and Turkey" is ongoing at the Georgian
National Museum from November 28 to December 10. The exhibition aims
to increase communication between the people of Armenia and Turkey and
to facilitate positive steps towards Armenian/Turkish reconciliation.
Almast Arutynian is both a writer and an ethnic Armenian. His mother
was a victim of the hostile dealings between Turkey and Armenia during
the First World War. There is a chilling passage in a book he wrote
that documents the tragic history of the Turkish-Armenian relationship:
"The Massacre was almost over... There was a Turkish leader on the bank
of the river; he was looking for those Armenians who had survived. He
noticed my mother and her sister. So he took them to the edge of the
canyon to kill them along with 200 other Armenians..."
The conflict, which saw the mass deportation and subsequent massacre
of more than one-million Christian Armenians from Ottoman Turkey
almost a century ago, is still fresh in the minds of many today. The
exhibition certainly brings these memories to the forefront.
The exhibition was organized by the Institute for International
Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association (DVV) and is
part of a project that was implemented in August 2009. Within the
project, both Turks and Armenians worked together for several months
to recount the mutual pasts the two nations share.
"When the Turkish side ended the story-telling, we listened to quite a
different [version] from the Armenians. Both have their interpretations
over the same things," said Nazaret Nazaretyan, explaining the working
process on the project. Nazaretyan is also a project coordinator and
a representative of DVV international.
Nazaretyan contends that despite some difficulties, the project met
its aim. He says that all the information provided in the exhibition is
"objective."
Four displays served as canvases for displaying shared personal
experiences from the past. Huge stands full of individual memories
written in two languages (Georgian and Russian) and portraits of
worn-out, old faces with deep wrinkles of torment sent viewers back
in time.
Giorgi Shaishmelashvili, who attended the exhibition, walked around
the hall several times and listened to the history of the people of
Armenia and Turkey. Then he stood in the center of the exhibition
hall with his hands in his pockets staring at the floor.
"I know how they feel. The problem is sensitive for me, even as a
Georgian," he says. "A good relationship between those two countries
is important for us also. But that project elevated hope for me,
it`s already a positive event, as there was a possibility to carry
it out despite the negative feelings from both sides."
The exhibition turned out to be sad for a lady in her fifties who
had a melancholy look on her face and dark watery eyes. Her name was
Hranush Kharatyan, from the Yerevan State Linguistic University; she
did all the oral history research for the exhibition. Kharatyan was
standing with a young person in his thirties - Ragip Zik, from Turkey.
"There were marriages, love, neighborhoods shared between the people
of Armenia and Turkey, but it ended long ago," remembers Kharatyan.
"This is the history that hasn`t been written down, but was experienced
by the people themselves. We want to make a step towards a better
relationship even if it won't be friendship; we should believe in
each other."
While she was speaking, Ragip Zik stood motionless nodding slightly
now and then to show his sympathy. When the lady mentioned the word
"believe" he decided to involve himself in the conversation to express
his feelings.
"Every story presented here is to read through and feel ourselves,"
he explained. "Each of them is unique as they tell about the same
experiences but with different pain and emotions. We want people to
know more about that pain that is still so common for us in everyday
life."
The traveling exhibition "Speaking to One Another" aims to accomplish
the same; to deliver the message from the people of Armenia and Turkey
to other parts of the world and to achieve forgiveness between the
two countries.
"Today they are afraid of each other, as they don`t know much about
one another," says Nazaret Nazaretyan. According to Nazaretyan, the
project aims to familiarize Armenians with Turkish people. "It is an
attempt to figure out the problem for today, to change attitudes and
to make positive steps towards reconciliation."
Until the exhibition moves on to Batumi, Nicosia, Berlin and Paris,
those interested in looking through a century of tragic history have
the opportunity to visit the Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts.
The exhibition runs through December 10.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress