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A CENTURY LATER, PRIVATE SARKIS RETURNS TO THE STREETS OF CANAKKALE
Agos Armenian paper, Turkey
Oct 14 2014
Lebanese director Nigol Bezjian's work titled 'Canakayna' is on view
at the 4th Canakkale Biennial, open from September 27 to November 2
EVRÄ°M KAYA [email protected]
Bezjian was inspired by his research on Canakkale to realize this
project. Composed of a video and photographs, the name of the work,
'Canakayna' is a pun on the city's name. Bezjian explains: "To return
to look again is similar to looking at yourself in the mirror. I
first went to Canakkale for the screening of my film 'I Left My Shoes
in Istanbul. I returned for this project, and I created this work
entirely by thinking about the history and streets of Canakkale."
In the work, the 15-minute video to be shown as a loop from a screen
mounted on a wall, contains the conversations made by an actor who
wanders the streets of the city wearing the uniform worn by soldiers
who fought at the Battle of Canakkale (also known as the Battle of
Gallipoli, during the Dardanelles Campaign). The actor introduces
himself as 'Sarkis' and asks the people he meets how they are. Bezjian
continues: "Sarkis asks the people he comes across on the street,
'How are you?' and tries to find out if they need anything. Because he
is a soldier who fought for them a century ago; he wants to know if the
people he went to war for are enjoying themselves, if they are happy.
There were some warm dialogues. Only a single person reacted to the
name Sarkis, and began to talk, saying 'Before us, Armenians and
Greeks lived here.'"
The other walls of the section allocated to Bezjian's work features
photographs of Armenian soldiers that served in the army from the
Ottoman period to the present day. There is also a photo of Sevag
Balıkcı in the series, who was murdered on 24 April 2011, the
remembrance day of the Armenian Genocide, whilst carrying out his
military service in Batman. "The history of the army goes further
back than the Republic. As I began to produce this work, I took
into consideration a history of six centuries, because tradition is
continuous," says Bezjian, and adds that his research has not ended:
"I can't say the project has concluded. Two days ago, I found a
photograph of an Armenian who served as a pharmacist in the Ottoman
army. I read the diaries of Avedis Cebeciyan. He was a doctor in the
army. In the diaries he kept during the years 1914-1918 he describes
the Battle of Canakkale. This is a simple answer to the rhetoric that
goes, 'The Armenians were traitors, they joined the Russian Army,'
which is constantly repeated and used as a pretext for the Genocide.
If there were Armenians on that side, there were Armenians on this
side as well. They were at Canakkale together with the Turks."
http://www.agos.com.tr/haber.php?seo=a-century-later-private-sarkis-returns-to-the-streets-of-canakkale&haberid=8369
Agos Armenian paper, Turkey
Oct 14 2014
Lebanese director Nigol Bezjian's work titled 'Canakayna' is on view
at the 4th Canakkale Biennial, open from September 27 to November 2
EVRÄ°M KAYA [email protected]
Bezjian was inspired by his research on Canakkale to realize this
project. Composed of a video and photographs, the name of the work,
'Canakayna' is a pun on the city's name. Bezjian explains: "To return
to look again is similar to looking at yourself in the mirror. I
first went to Canakkale for the screening of my film 'I Left My Shoes
in Istanbul. I returned for this project, and I created this work
entirely by thinking about the history and streets of Canakkale."
In the work, the 15-minute video to be shown as a loop from a screen
mounted on a wall, contains the conversations made by an actor who
wanders the streets of the city wearing the uniform worn by soldiers
who fought at the Battle of Canakkale (also known as the Battle of
Gallipoli, during the Dardanelles Campaign). The actor introduces
himself as 'Sarkis' and asks the people he meets how they are. Bezjian
continues: "Sarkis asks the people he comes across on the street,
'How are you?' and tries to find out if they need anything. Because he
is a soldier who fought for them a century ago; he wants to know if the
people he went to war for are enjoying themselves, if they are happy.
There were some warm dialogues. Only a single person reacted to the
name Sarkis, and began to talk, saying 'Before us, Armenians and
Greeks lived here.'"
The other walls of the section allocated to Bezjian's work features
photographs of Armenian soldiers that served in the army from the
Ottoman period to the present day. There is also a photo of Sevag
Balıkcı in the series, who was murdered on 24 April 2011, the
remembrance day of the Armenian Genocide, whilst carrying out his
military service in Batman. "The history of the army goes further
back than the Republic. As I began to produce this work, I took
into consideration a history of six centuries, because tradition is
continuous," says Bezjian, and adds that his research has not ended:
"I can't say the project has concluded. Two days ago, I found a
photograph of an Armenian who served as a pharmacist in the Ottoman
army. I read the diaries of Avedis Cebeciyan. He was a doctor in the
army. In the diaries he kept during the years 1914-1918 he describes
the Battle of Canakkale. This is a simple answer to the rhetoric that
goes, 'The Armenians were traitors, they joined the Russian Army,'
which is constantly repeated and used as a pretext for the Genocide.
If there were Armenians on that side, there were Armenians on this
side as well. They were at Canakkale together with the Turks."
http://www.agos.com.tr/haber.php?seo=a-century-later-private-sarkis-returns-to-the-streets-of-canakkale&haberid=8369