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MY FATHER
Today's Zaman, TUrkey
April 30, 2013 Tuesday 12:49 PM EST
My father died in 1995. Everybody's parents are special and unique. No
matter how ordinary they are, every child believes that his or her
parents are able to do whatever they want. This is pretty normal for a
child. What he or she is aware of since birth is the fact that parents
fulfill their needs and requirements to live.
My father was my hero. He became a real hero as I grew up because he
was really a special man. His father, who was a leading figure and a
rich man, lost everything in the aftermath of the 1915 tragedy; he was
orphaned at age 6 and had to deal with a state of poverty that could
only be depicted in Dickens novels. I did not believe it when he told
me, but our relatives confirmed a story that appalled me: My father
sold ring-shaped doughnuts (simit) he bought from the bakery at 5
a.m., then delivered newspapers and finally went to class at his
school in Taksim. How could a 6-year-old do this? But it can be done.
This is how life is. My father was eventually expelled from the school
because he could not afford it. He experienced pain and agony his
whole life because he was not able to study further.
Next my father started to work in a shoemaker's workshop where he made
custom-made shoes. After completing his military service, he started a
small business. Then, he bought the store next door to expand the
business. In the end, he made a mid-sized shopping mall out of this
small store. This mall was one of the few enterprises in Turkey
offering sales in installments. Almost everything was offered in the
store, from ladies' dresses to watches and refrigerators.
He became very rich, but he never forgot his past. He did a lot of
charity work; he funded the studies and marriages of many young
people, helped the poor and the elderly. He never discriminated among
the people he helped based on their ethnicity or religion. He lost
half of his family in 1915. He struggled with extreme poverty. He paid
the bill for being an Armenian. His nationalism was limited to
demanding the survival of the Armenian language, churches, schools and
orphanages. His nationalism was so moderate that his third wife was a
Circassian woman - my mother - and he had such a universal conscience
that he asked his wife to remain Muslim.
The 100th anniversary of 1915 is approaching. My father died in the
mid-1990s, one of the darkest periods in Turkey. When he died, he was
worried about his country and about us. I wanted him to see these
days. Turkey has created an important democratic base and
infrastructure to confront its past. We are now able to look at the
present time and the future more freely. This enables the country to
get rid of the burdens and baggage of the past. The huge rupture and
tragedy experienced in 1915 now stands as a phenomenon that Turkey
needs to confront with its reason and conscience. Will we keep
carrying the sins and crimes of a racist group that seized power in
the past by relying on the policy of denial or will we confront it
bravely? Will we leave this sphere of confrontation to the radicals or
will we deal with this darkness by relying on a mutual effort of
understanding and empathy?
Today, we have a huge chance to do it. Societies are getting freer and
more liberal. The Turks and the Armenians are the two victimized
communities of this trauma. Have we not realized that we are actually
on the same side by virtue of this fellowship of victimization? I
think that this process has begun. I do not care about politics. I
look at the conscience of people and believe that the enlightenment
there will change the world. True, the people could be intimidated or
conned for a while. However, this is just temporary and no poisonous
ideology or administration can survive in the face of the people's
struggle.
Today's Zaman, TUrkey
April 30, 2013 Tuesday 12:49 PM EST
My father died in 1995. Everybody's parents are special and unique. No
matter how ordinary they are, every child believes that his or her
parents are able to do whatever they want. This is pretty normal for a
child. What he or she is aware of since birth is the fact that parents
fulfill their needs and requirements to live.
My father was my hero. He became a real hero as I grew up because he
was really a special man. His father, who was a leading figure and a
rich man, lost everything in the aftermath of the 1915 tragedy; he was
orphaned at age 6 and had to deal with a state of poverty that could
only be depicted in Dickens novels. I did not believe it when he told
me, but our relatives confirmed a story that appalled me: My father
sold ring-shaped doughnuts (simit) he bought from the bakery at 5
a.m., then delivered newspapers and finally went to class at his
school in Taksim. How could a 6-year-old do this? But it can be done.
This is how life is. My father was eventually expelled from the school
because he could not afford it. He experienced pain and agony his
whole life because he was not able to study further.
Next my father started to work in a shoemaker's workshop where he made
custom-made shoes. After completing his military service, he started a
small business. Then, he bought the store next door to expand the
business. In the end, he made a mid-sized shopping mall out of this
small store. This mall was one of the few enterprises in Turkey
offering sales in installments. Almost everything was offered in the
store, from ladies' dresses to watches and refrigerators.
He became very rich, but he never forgot his past. He did a lot of
charity work; he funded the studies and marriages of many young
people, helped the poor and the elderly. He never discriminated among
the people he helped based on their ethnicity or religion. He lost
half of his family in 1915. He struggled with extreme poverty. He paid
the bill for being an Armenian. His nationalism was limited to
demanding the survival of the Armenian language, churches, schools and
orphanages. His nationalism was so moderate that his third wife was a
Circassian woman - my mother - and he had such a universal conscience
that he asked his wife to remain Muslim.
The 100th anniversary of 1915 is approaching. My father died in the
mid-1990s, one of the darkest periods in Turkey. When he died, he was
worried about his country and about us. I wanted him to see these
days. Turkey has created an important democratic base and
infrastructure to confront its past. We are now able to look at the
present time and the future more freely. This enables the country to
get rid of the burdens and baggage of the past. The huge rupture and
tragedy experienced in 1915 now stands as a phenomenon that Turkey
needs to confront with its reason and conscience. Will we keep
carrying the sins and crimes of a racist group that seized power in
the past by relying on the policy of denial or will we confront it
bravely? Will we leave this sphere of confrontation to the radicals or
will we deal with this darkness by relying on a mutual effort of
understanding and empathy?
Today, we have a huge chance to do it. Societies are getting freer and
more liberal. The Turks and the Armenians are the two victimized
communities of this trauma. Have we not realized that we are actually
on the same side by virtue of this fellowship of victimization? I
think that this process has begun. I do not care about politics. I
look at the conscience of people and believe that the enlightenment
there will change the world. True, the people could be intimidated or
conned for a while. However, this is just temporary and no poisonous
ideology or administration can survive in the face of the people's
struggle.