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PASSAGES FROM HASAN CEMAL'S BOOK, "1915: THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE"
December 10, 2014
Civilnet - Writer and journalist Hasan Cemal's book, "1915: The
Armenian Genocide," was published in Turkey in 2012, becoming a
bestseller. There was a great deal of interest in the book because
the author's grandfather was one of the leaders of the Committee of
Union and Progress - the umbrella political party of the Young Turk
movement, who in 1914 was appointed as Minister of the Navy of the
Ottoman Army. He was also one of the architects and orchestrators of
the attempted annihilation of the Armenian people, which was carried
out under the guise of the First World War and which became the first
Genocide of the 20th Century. Cemal Pasha's grandson, Hasan Cemal,
came to Armenia in 2008, where he went to the Genocide Memorial and
paid his respects to Hrant Dink and to the innocent victims of the
Armenian Genocide. Hasan Cemal will be in Yerevan to participate in the
Civilitas Foundation's Climbing the Mountain program on December 11.
Below we present certain excerpts from his book, translated from
the Turkish.
'Dear Hrant, it is your approach, your pain which has made me write
this book.' This is how Hasan Cemal begins his book "1915: Armenian
Genocide." Right after these words he quotes from Milan Kundera:
"The struggle of the individual against power is the struggle of
memory against forgetting."
When I sat in front of the computer to write this book I said to
myself; 'It seems as though a review of the past is always a must in
my life.' There were strange feelings, questions awakening within me.
I wondered whether writing such a book would be viewed 'opportunism'
or 'pretension to heroism' on my part?
Did the Armenians want, would the Armenians wish to share their own
pain with 'Cemal Pasha's grandson?' I couldn't say.
But then I remembered that morning in Yerevan when the sun rose from
among the mist painting the surrounding landscape scarlet. As I was
leaving three white carnations at the Armenian Genocide Memorial,
I had mumbled to myself: 'Dear Hrant, it is your pain that has
brought me here; I am trying to understand your pain and that of
your ancestors, to feel it in my heart and I share this pain. Rest
in peace my brother.'
I cannot forget that morning in Yerevan in the month of September
2008. With the first lights of the day the gracious peak of Ararat,
was in turn both appearing and vanishing. 'The hand of history'
I jotted that morning, point the right way to those who wish to see it.
How can we move towards the future without confronting the painful
realities of the past, without coming to terms with it? We cannot
remain silent in the face of sufferings! We cannot allow the past to
take over the present.
In addition, the agony of 1915 is not one that belongs to the past but
it is an issue of today. We can reach serenity, we can find peace by
making peace with history - not with the kind of 'invented history,'
distorted history such as ours is - but with the genuine history and by
saving history from the malady of exploitation. Unfortunately, genuine
peace and democracy is only attained by undergoing indescribable pain
and by paying a huge price, as was the case with Hrant Dink.
Hasan Cemal, Istanbul, February, 25, 2012.
Some of the titles from the book
The titles Hasan Cemal has given to the chapters in his book include:
"1915: Armenian Genocide" provides sufficient clues regarding the theme
of the book. "Alone With Hrant in Yerevan, at the Genocide Memorial,"
"Meeting in Yerevan with the Grandson of Those who Shot Cemal Pasha,"
"Pain Cannot Be Compared," "Ataturk Terms 1915 as 'Shameful Doings,
Infamy' But," "The Dink Murder is the Perfect Ergenekon Action,"
"Tayyip Erdogan: To Become a Unionist (Ittihat-ci) When it Comes to
1915," "Will I Say Genocide or Will I Not?"
Who is Hasan Cemal?
Hasan Cemal was born in Istanbul, and graduated from the
political science department of Ankara University. He worked at the
monthlyDevrim. On March 12, 1971 following the military coup in Turkey,
Devrim was shut down. Hasan Cemal was convicted and sentenced to 44
months in prison. Afterward, Cemal worked at several leading newspapers
in Turkey. He is the author of numerous books, which primarily deal
with the establishment of democracy, issues of the military and the
Kurdish issue in Turkey.
http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/55202
December 10, 2014
Civilnet - Writer and journalist Hasan Cemal's book, "1915: The
Armenian Genocide," was published in Turkey in 2012, becoming a
bestseller. There was a great deal of interest in the book because
the author's grandfather was one of the leaders of the Committee of
Union and Progress - the umbrella political party of the Young Turk
movement, who in 1914 was appointed as Minister of the Navy of the
Ottoman Army. He was also one of the architects and orchestrators of
the attempted annihilation of the Armenian people, which was carried
out under the guise of the First World War and which became the first
Genocide of the 20th Century. Cemal Pasha's grandson, Hasan Cemal,
came to Armenia in 2008, where he went to the Genocide Memorial and
paid his respects to Hrant Dink and to the innocent victims of the
Armenian Genocide. Hasan Cemal will be in Yerevan to participate in the
Civilitas Foundation's Climbing the Mountain program on December 11.
Below we present certain excerpts from his book, translated from
the Turkish.
'Dear Hrant, it is your approach, your pain which has made me write
this book.' This is how Hasan Cemal begins his book "1915: Armenian
Genocide." Right after these words he quotes from Milan Kundera:
"The struggle of the individual against power is the struggle of
memory against forgetting."
When I sat in front of the computer to write this book I said to
myself; 'It seems as though a review of the past is always a must in
my life.' There were strange feelings, questions awakening within me.
I wondered whether writing such a book would be viewed 'opportunism'
or 'pretension to heroism' on my part?
Did the Armenians want, would the Armenians wish to share their own
pain with 'Cemal Pasha's grandson?' I couldn't say.
But then I remembered that morning in Yerevan when the sun rose from
among the mist painting the surrounding landscape scarlet. As I was
leaving three white carnations at the Armenian Genocide Memorial,
I had mumbled to myself: 'Dear Hrant, it is your pain that has
brought me here; I am trying to understand your pain and that of
your ancestors, to feel it in my heart and I share this pain. Rest
in peace my brother.'
I cannot forget that morning in Yerevan in the month of September
2008. With the first lights of the day the gracious peak of Ararat,
was in turn both appearing and vanishing. 'The hand of history'
I jotted that morning, point the right way to those who wish to see it.
How can we move towards the future without confronting the painful
realities of the past, without coming to terms with it? We cannot
remain silent in the face of sufferings! We cannot allow the past to
take over the present.
In addition, the agony of 1915 is not one that belongs to the past but
it is an issue of today. We can reach serenity, we can find peace by
making peace with history - not with the kind of 'invented history,'
distorted history such as ours is - but with the genuine history and by
saving history from the malady of exploitation. Unfortunately, genuine
peace and democracy is only attained by undergoing indescribable pain
and by paying a huge price, as was the case with Hrant Dink.
Hasan Cemal, Istanbul, February, 25, 2012.
Some of the titles from the book
The titles Hasan Cemal has given to the chapters in his book include:
"1915: Armenian Genocide" provides sufficient clues regarding the theme
of the book. "Alone With Hrant in Yerevan, at the Genocide Memorial,"
"Meeting in Yerevan with the Grandson of Those who Shot Cemal Pasha,"
"Pain Cannot Be Compared," "Ataturk Terms 1915 as 'Shameful Doings,
Infamy' But," "The Dink Murder is the Perfect Ergenekon Action,"
"Tayyip Erdogan: To Become a Unionist (Ittihat-ci) When it Comes to
1915," "Will I Say Genocide or Will I Not?"
Who is Hasan Cemal?
Hasan Cemal was born in Istanbul, and graduated from the
political science department of Ankara University. He worked at the
monthlyDevrim. On March 12, 1971 following the military coup in Turkey,
Devrim was shut down. Hasan Cemal was convicted and sentenced to 44
months in prison. Afterward, Cemal worked at several leading newspapers
in Turkey. He is the author of numerous books, which primarily deal
with the establishment of democracy, issues of the military and the
Kurdish issue in Turkey.
http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/55202