Gomidas Institute

26/09/2024

Kemal Yalçın, Your Rejoice My Heart (London: Gomidas Institute, 2024), xiv + 396 pp., ISBN 978-1-909382-80-0, pb., UK£25.00 / US$30.00.

“During the preparation of my book, I knocked on the doors of many Armenians. None of these people knew me before. For the first time, a Turk was asking about their backgrounds and wanted to revive their ‘memories’ that had been covered up and forgotten. These people trusted me and opened their doors, their hearts, their thoughts. They opened up and told me about their own or their families’ life stories. I saw that the Armenians I met were experiencing a pain that they could not express and did not wish to express. As they spoke, I realized that every Armenian was a drop from a sea of pain, a flower blooming on the fire, a broken heart. This book helps us to get to know the Armenians with whom we have lived for centuries, a people with their own history, culture, and national identity. I wanted to feel and understand the pain they carried within them, and to think about our past in a healthy, warm and friendly way.”
–From the Turkish edition of this work, Seninle Güler Yüreğim (2006).

Kemal Yalçın is an award winning Turkish writer based in Bochum, Germany. He is a graduate of Çapa Advanced Teachers’ College in Istanbul and the Philosophy Department of Istanbul University’s Faculty of Literature. His works, all written in Turkish, have been translated into major languages, including English, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Arabic, Armenian and Assyrian. You Rejoice My Heart [Seninle Güler Yüreğim] was first published in Turkish in 2006 and appeared in English a year later.

01/07/2024

FORTHCOMING PUBLICATION FROM THE GOMIDAS INSTITUTE
Gerard J. Libaridian, Liberation and Revolution: Critical Essays in Modern Armenian History, London: (Gomidas Institute, 2023), x + 248 pp, ISBN 1-90938327-73-2, pb. US$35.00/UK£30.00.

Pre-order your copy now for free shipping and handling to the UK, USA, Canada, and even Australia.
https://gomidas.org/books

25/04/2024

Eliza Aharon (Der Melkonian) Sachaklian, ELIZA: A Memoir of Love and Resistance, translated by Arpena Sachaklian Mesrobian, compiled and with an introduction by Marian Mesrobian-MacCurdy London: Gomidas Institute, 2021, illustrations, index, 204 pp., ISBN 978-1-909382-55-8, pb., UK£18.00/US$22.00. To order please contact [email protected]
https://armenianweekly.com/2024/04/24/eliza-a-memoir-of-love-and-resistance-refuses-to-remain-silent-in-the-face-of-oppression/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1K1E9X8llUOdp7QZ2PqKXYucDtQ4203nBl9s6NEW2Ti-v6Kylx6sny48A_aem_AR1ZF3MOGgj2-5nz7_PboDFG0-xdUHfU_f6dg3kzPydWpBLqbwljW5k2cJ0jrUV0UVWiTZqQe9TOYjtQbkW_4pyK

Eliza: A Memoir of Love and Resistance By Eliza Aharon (Der Melkonian) Sachaklian; translated by Arpena Sachaklian Mesrobian; introduction by Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy Published by Gomidas Institute Books Eliza: A Memoir of Love and Resistance [...]

06/04/2024

STATING THE OBVIOUS: KIGALI GENOCIDE MEMORIAL AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

STATING THE OBVIOUS: KIGALI GENOCIDE MEMORIAL AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
https://blog.gomidas.org/?p=855&preview=true

06/04/2024

STATING THE OBVIOUS: KIGALI GENOCIDE MEMORIAL AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
https://blog.gomidas.org/?p=855&preview=true

25/03/2024

For the more serious readers...
HOLY CROSS CATHEDRAL AND AGHTAMAR ISLAND, 2024
I recently posted a few interesting but uncomfortable items on Dogubayazid and the ancient city of Ani in eastern Turkey. Today I will post something more uplifting and probably surprising for many readers. It concerns the official Turkish website on Sourp Khach Cathedral and Aghtamar island in Lake Van (www.akdamar.gov.tr). I do not know who is behind the content of this site, but it reflects some positive developments. Here are some of the critical elements worthy of note.
* The English, French and German sections of the website refer to Aghtamar (Աղթամար) by the island’s proper name, “Aghtamar,” and not the more common Turkish rendition, "Akdamar." This is a positive compromise and I hope Turkish authorities will also consider changing “Akdamar” to a more fitting, "Ağtamar" one day.
* The main history section of the website starts with "Armenian Kingdom: Aghtamar City and the Kingdom of Vaspurakan." This prominent reference to Armenians also appears in the Turkish section, "Ermeni Krallığı: Ahtamar Şehri ve Vaspurakan Krallığı." Such references used to be anathema in Turkey, even a few years ago. Now we can see them on a government website. So, again, a positive note.
* In the architectural drawings section, the website presents facimile images from the Italian/English publication, "Documents of Armenian Architecture, Aght'amar," an academic series edited by Agopik and Armen Manoukian and published in Italy by Edizioni Ares, 1974. Yet again, this is a positive feature and adds much to the website. I suggest they add a bibliography to the site and list their sources for the more nerdy visitors.
* To its credit, under the section restoration, the website includes the following paragraph:
"The demolition of Aghtamar Church along with many Armenian monuments in the east was decided by the government in 1951, and the demolition that started on 25 June1951 was stopped by the intervention of Yaşar Kemal, who was a young journalist at that time and who coincidentally heard about of the incident. The church, which was neglected and dilapidated for years after that was decided to be restored under the leadership of the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism in the period of 2005-2007, as a step towards the promotion of the relations between the Armenians of Turkey and Armenia."
The Turkish section of the website also includes the same passage:
"Doğudaki birçok Ermeni anıtı ile beraber Ahtamar Kilisesi’nin de 1951’de hükümet emriyle yıkımı kararlaştırılmış, 25 Haziran 1951’de başlatılan yıkım çalışması o dönemde genç bir gazeteci olan ve tesadüfen olaylardan haberdar olan Yaşar Kemal’in müdahalesiyle durdurulmuştur. Bu tarihten sonra yıllar boyu bakımsız kalan kilise 2005–2007 döneminde T.C.Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı öncülüğünde, Türkiye Ermenileri ve Ermenistan ile ilişkilerin geliştirilmesine yönelik bir adım olarak restore edilmesine karar verilmiştir."
I was bowled over when I read it. This forthright passage is a major departure in addressing painful episodes from the past in such a candid manner. However, I find the last sentence a little strange because the benefits of this project are much wider than “the promotion of the relations between the Armenians of Turkey and Armenia.” They also promote better relations between Armenians and Turks in Turkey, Turkey and Armenia, as well as Turkey and the Armenian diaspora.

COMMENT
Many years ago, Armenian history in this region was a taboo subject. The renovation of Sourp Khach Cathedral on Aghtamar island broke that taboo in a monumental fashion in the early 2000s. Today, tens of thousands of Turkish and foreign tourists visit Aghtamar every year, and the island serves as an unofficial memorial to the Armenian heritage of that region. How far any development around Aghtamar Island and related issues go will depend on input from different quarters. Armenians today would do well to be more learned and proactive, stand up for their shared heritage in Turkey, and engage positive opportunities when they see them.

DISCLOSURE: I am a historian of the late Ottoman Empire and modern Armenian history, the executive-director of the Gomidas Institute, and currently head “ProjectKharpert2022,” a Gomidas Institute initiative to rehabilitate the memory of Armenians in the Kharpert region of Turkey.

19/03/2024

JUST DO IT...
EXPEDITION TO VAN: RECLAIMING THE MEMORY OF ARMENIANS
We are cancelling our trip to Van this June because of low interest. Perhaps I should have fired up people's imagination better. I am obviously primed because I work on the Aghtamar Catholicosate and this area as a historian.
Instead, we will go ahead with an "expedition" to the Van region. Our target is to visit the former Armenian mountain settlements of Shadakh and Moks with their distinct culture, aesthetics, and language/dialects. This area was administered by the Aghtamar Catholicosate which was abolished in 1916. There have been very few informed visitors to this lost Armenian world in its own right. While in Van, we will also look for a specific "lost" monastic complex in the Gaboudkogh mountains (west of Aghtamar). We'll obviously share details of our findings.
It is incredible to think that there are still Armenian sites in Turkey that have been abandoned in people's imagination. So, it should be fascinating to use historical sources to find the location of such sites and see what remains.

* The Kars to Kharpert trip will take place between July 14 to 23. There are still four places available for those interested. Itinerary attached.

12/03/2024

SOGHOMON TEHLIRIAN AND THE ASSASSINATION OF TALAAT PASHA
March 15 will mark the anniversary of the 1921 assassination of Talaat Pasha in the streets of Berlin. Some people will revel in the gore of the killing, others will exalt the ARF for organising it, yet others will ponder on the broader historical/political context of that time.
The fact remains that Tehlirian was simply an assassin, a disposable young man, and we still lack critical information about the background to the event.
Tehlirian knew nothing about the actual background to Talaat's assassination. His story is written from a very personal angle. It is both tragic and exciting, and beautifully written by Vahan Minakhorian.
And yes, we have to ask whether Minakhorian's authorship has undermined the significance of the account. I do not think so, because we know a great deal about the background to the writing and editing of the book. I discussed this issue in my introduction to the English translation of Tehlirian's work. In fact, we would not have published the memoir were it not for that archival trail.
--Ara Sarafian

Soghomon Tehlirian, Remembrances: The Assassination of Talaat Pasha, as told to Vahan Minakhorian, translated into English and edited by Bedo Demirdjian, with an introduction by Ara Sarafian
London : Gomidas Institute, 2022, 312 pp., photos, maps, ISBN 978-1-909382-54-1, pb., UK£25.00 / US$30.00

TO ORDER: Simply send your order (with postal address to) [email protected]. You will be billed electronically.

21/01/2024

Positive and Proactive. I want everyone to know that we remain focused on the Gomudas Institute's ProjectKharpert2022. I am off on a research trip that was planned and funded by generous supporters. Thank you. I will share the results of my work when the time is right. Fingers crossed!

17/01/2024

Gomidas Institute’s ProjectKharpert2022 – End of year account presented to members of the board (redacted), Dec. 2023
by Ara Sarafian

ProjectKharpert2022 was launched in October 2022 to press for the Armenian heritage of Kharpert (Harput) to be integrated into current Turkish plans of turning Kharpert into a historical and touristic center. To date, the project has met the following objectives:

1. IN-HOUSE RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS. As planned, ProjectKharpert2022 started with research and analysis of the historical background to Kharpert with a focus on the late Ottoman period. It collected a significant range of Armenian, Turkish, and English language sources, both in print and electronic format. It also undertook significant online and in-person archival work in the US, UK, France and Turkey. We believe that we now have a critical-yet-still-growing collection of historical records that underpin our work.
2. VISITS ON THE GROUND. We made two visits to Kharpert in March and November 2023 to assess developments on the ground. These visits resulted in thousands of photographs related to topography, historical sites, new buildings, museums, etc. of Kharpert and its surroundings, all of which are now part of our documentation and analysis. Such visits are vital to keep abreast of developments in Kharpert, gauge local sentiments, and make local contacts.
3. A STRATEGY OF ENGAGEMENT. Focusing on the 19th and early 20th centuries (before WWI), we continue to advance a simple contention: Armenians are an integral part of the history of Kharpert. We chose this focus because official Turkey simply denies that Armenians have had any significant presence in Kharpert at all. This denial manifests itself in various publications and projects undertaken by Turkish authorities in Kharpert today, including Turkey’s application to list Kharpert as a UNESCO World Heritage site. (See https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6349/)
4. CONCILIATORY LANGUAGE. We decided to use conciliatory language when articulating our position to facilitate a sensible dialogue with Turkish authorities, civil society organizations, and private individuals. Our ongoing narrative is updated as a matter of course and reflects our understanding of the issues we are addressing.
5. TURKISH AUTHORITIES AND CIVIL SOCIETY. We contacted the governor and mayor of Elazig twice (August 2022 and June 2023) and requested that they protect the multicultural heritage of Kharpert in their renovation plans for the city, especially the presence of Armenians. We offered to cooperate with them in this regard but they have not responded so far. We had more positive feedback from Turkish civil society organizations and individual Turks.
6. OUR COMMITMENT TO THE PROJECT. We began raising the public profile of ProjectKharpert2022 with presentations at Pembroke College (Oxford), St. Mary’s Church (Washington DC), the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church (Burbank, CA), Armenian House (London), and AKEBI Center (Berlin). The Berlin event was our first opportunity to address a predominantly Turkish and Kurdish audience. The presentation will be uploaded online in the new year (2024).
7. MORE POINTS OF ENGAGEMENT. In recent months, following our visits to Kharpert, we focused on the content of three new museums opened by the local authorities. These were the Press, Music, and Hamam museums. All of these centers exclude references to Armenians. We recently released preliminary findings on the Press and Hamam museums on our page.

COMMENT AND CONCLUDING REMARKS
While Turkish authorities "renovate" Kharpert as a historical and touristic destination of their choosing, we shall provide critical assessments of their work, share alternative materials for consideration, and propose cooperation with each other.
Over the next four months we will:
(a) continue our academic work and broaden the scope of our focus.
(b) hold more events to raise the public profile of our work.
(c) continue to call for sensible engagement and cooperation with Turkish officials and civil society.
(d) address new developments in Kharpert.
(e) make a strategic appraisal of our work, its impact, and the new options ahead, including next steps in our approach to local authorities.

11/01/2024

Gomidas Institute’s ProjectKharpert2022 – End of year account presented to members of the board (redacted), Dec. 2023

by Ara Sarafian

ProjectKharpert2022 was launched in October 2022 to press for the Armenian heritage of Kharpert (Harput) to be integrated into current Turkish plans of turning Kharpert into a historical and touristic center. To date, the project has met the following objectives:

1. IN-HOUSE RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS. As planned, ProjectKharpert2022 started with research and analysis of the historical background to Kharpert with a focus on the late Ottoman period. It collected a significant range of Armenian, Turkish, and English language sources, both in print and electronic format. It also undertook significant online and in-person archival work in the US, UK, France and Turkey. We believe that we now have a critical-yet-still-growing collection of historical records that underpin our work.
2. VISITS ON THE GROUND. We made two visits to Kharpert in March and November 2023 to assess developments on the ground. These visits resulted in thousands of photographs related to topography, historical sites, new buildings, museums, etc. of Kharpert and its surroundings, all of which are now part of our documentation and analysis. Such visits are vital to keep abreast of developments in Kharpert, gauge local sentiments, and make local contacts.
3. A STRATEGY OF ENGAGEMENT. Focusing on the 19th and early 20th centuries (before WWI), we continue to advance a simple contention: Armenians are an integral part of the history of Kharpert. We chose this focus because official Turkey simply denies that Armenians have had any significant presence in Kharpert at all. This denial manifests itself in various publications and projects undertaken by Turkish authorities in Kharpert today, including Turkey’s application to list Kharpert as a UNESCO World Heritage site. (See https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6349/)
4. CONCILIATORY LANGUAGE. We decided to use conciliatory language when articulating our position to facilitate a sensible dialogue with Turkish authorities, civil society organizations, and private individuals. Our ongoing narrative is updated as a matter of course and reflects our understanding of the issues we are addressing.
5. TURKISH AUTHORITIES AND CIVIL SOCIETY. We contacted the governor and mayor of Elazig twice (August 2022 and June 2023) and requested that they protect the multicultural heritage of Kharpert in their renovation plans for the city, especially the presence of Armenians. We offered to cooperate with them in this regard but they have not responded so far. We had more positive feedback from Turkish civil society organizations and individual Turks.
6. OUR COMMITMENT TO THE PROJECT. We began raising the public profile of ProjectKharpert2022 with presentations at Pembroke College (Oxford), St. Mary’s Church (Washington DC), the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church (Burbank, CA), Armenian House (London), and AKEBI Center (Berlin). The Berlin event was our first opportunity to address a predominantly Turkish and Kurdish audience. The presentation will be uploaded online in the new year (2024).
7. MORE POINTS OF ENGAGEMENT. In recent months, following our visits to Kharpert, we focused on the content of three new museums opened by the local authorities. These were the Press, Music, and Hamam museums. All of these centers exclude references to Armenians. We recently released preliminary findings on the Press and Hamam museums on our page.

COMMENT AND CONCLUDING REMARKS
While Turkish authorities "renovate" Kharpert as a historical and touristic destination of their choosing, we shall provide critical assessments of their work, share alternative materials for consideration, and propose cooperation with each other.
Over the next four months we will:
(a) continue our academic work and broaden the scope of our focus.
(b) hold more events to raise the public profile of our work.
(c) continue to call for sensible engagement and cooperation with Turkish officials and civil society.
(d) address new developments in Kharpert.
(e) make a strategic appraisal of our work, its impact, and the new options ahead, including next steps in our approach to local authorities.

18/12/2023

23/11/2023

ARMENIANS IN IZMIT, IZNIK AND BURSA...
Hagop Oshagan's remarkable novel, "Remnants: The Way of the Womb," is set in the village of Sölöz near Iznik (ancient Nicaea). Many people are surprised to hear that there were Armenian communities in these areas of the Ottoman Empire. Well, Armenians made up between 5-10% of these areas. They constituted up 30 % in the central kaza of Izmit. These communities were wiped during WWI (with the exception of those in the province of Kutahia). Attached is a colourised map from the forthcoming book, "Remnants: The Way of the Womb, part 1."

17/11/2023

FORTHCOMING...
FROM THE GOMIDAS INSTITUTE...
AN EPIC OF WESTERN ARMENIAN LITERATURE...
IN MASTERFUL ENGLISH TRANSLATION...

Hagop Osgahan, "Remnants: The Way of the Womb, Book 1," 3rd edition, transl. by G. M Goshgarian and intro. by Nanor Kebranian (London: Gomidas Institute, 2023), 248 pp, map, pb. US$25.00 / UK£20.00. ISBN 978-1-909382-77-0.

To order, contact [email protected]

"Oshagan’s Mnatsortats (The Remnants) is his magnum opus and the culmination of a series of powerful, innovative novels that have as their theme Muslim-Christian, and especially Turkish-Armenian, relations in the Ottoman Empire. Mnatsortats is a literary reconstruction of the pre-genocide world of the Armenians told through the horrific collapse of a family—the Nalbandians. The author intended the novel to be divided into three parts (Part I: The Way of the Womb; Part II: The Way of Blood; Part III: Hell) but was unable to write the third part, which was to be devoted to the extermination of the Armenians, depicting the twenty-four hours during which the Armenian population of Bursa was annihilated...
"Set in an unnamed Armenian village in the Bursa region of Turkey, the novel spins a story of s*x and murder; spans several generations of Nalbandians; gathers into its sphere an array of memorable characters and an inventory of habits and customs; describes the region’s religious, political, spiritual and material culture; and delineates the relationship between the Turkish authorities and their Armenian subjects—all this projected against the background of a disintegrating empire."
--Taline Voskeritchian

06/11/2023

DR. LIBARIDIAN HOSTED BY ARMENIAN DEMOCRATIC LIBERAL PARTY, NY/NJ CHAPTER
Dr. Libaridian gave a fascinating presentation at St. Leons Armenian Church yesterday. Organized by the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party-Ramgavars (Armenagan-Hovsepian chapter of NY/ NJ), the opening remarks were delivered by Dr. Vaghenag Tarpinian, followed by Dr. Libaridian's presentation. His focus was on his latest book, "A Precarious Armenia: The Third Republic, the Karabakh Conflict, and Genocide Politics" (Gomidas Institute, 2023). Erudite, well organised, and delivered eloquently, Dr. Libaridian's presentation was followed by a lively question and answer session. All of his books at the event were sold out.
Thank you St. Leon (NJ) and the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party-Ramgavars (Armenagan-Hovsepian chapter of NY/ NJ) for organising this event.

PHOTO: Dr. Libaridian (3rd from left) with members of the Armenian Democratic-Liberal Party - Ramgavars (Armenagan-Hovsepian chapter of NY/ NJ).

16/10/2023

KHARPERT PLAIN/HARPUT OVASI, 1878
Karekin Srvantsdiants was an Armenian clergyman who visited Kharpert in April, 1878 on an inspection tour. While in Kharpert, he obtained detailed figures showing the population of Kharpert province and submitted them in a report to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople. We have mapped Srvantsdiants' statistics onto a map of the Kharpert plain and beyond as part of our ProjectKharpert2022. Practically all of the locations mentioned in the report can be identified in the Kharpert plain today. Of particular interest is the ethnic profile of the towns and villages. While Armenians and Turks lived on the most fertile lands, Kurds dominated the surrounding areas. We will discuss this map and its significance in our presentation at Armenian House (Haydoon) on October 26th, 2023.
[If you intend to come, please RSVP at [email protected]]

09/09/2023

ENGAGING-TURKISH-AUTHORITIES-IN-KHARPERT-TODAY
- A Message from Ara Sarafian
The Western Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church will be hosting my presentation on ProjectKharpert2022. This will be an opportunity to discuss some of the core issues we are dealing with, the progress we have made, and what lies on the horizon. I believe this presentation will be a launch of the second half of our project.
ProjectKharpert2022 is yet another pro-active project in Turkey, a diasporan voice, that engages substantial issues related to modern Armenian history. I thank our sponsors and network of volunteers for making this project possible. I hope more people will choose to support us in the months ahead. Thank you Archbishop Derderian and the Western Diocese for giving us a platform. Things don't just happen, sometimes we make them happen.
Please share and circulate.
https://www.wdacna.com/event/662/PROJECT-KHARPERT-2022:-ENGAGING-TURKISH-AUTHORITIES-IN-KHARPERT-TODAY

The Gomidas Institute is an independent academic organisation dedicated to modern Armenian and regio

21/08/2023

"A Precarious Armennia: The Third Republic, the Karabagh Conflict, and Genocide Politics" by Gerard Libaridian, live/zoom presentation on 23 September 2023 at NAASR, Belmont, MA.

26/05/2023

Forthcoming Publication:
A PRECARIOUS ARMENIA: The Third Republic, the Karabakh Conflict, and Genocide Politics

G. J. Libaridian explores a number of fundamental issues regarding Armenia’s foreign and security policies and scrutinizes Armenian political culture as the framework within which positions have been defined and solutions sought. The previously published and unpublished materials collectively analyze the political thinking that characterized the response to the challenges that the Third Republic faced and failed to address from the standpoint of statehood versus a vague but powerful nationalist discourse. The author achieves this difficult task by studying themes such as Armenia and Armenians as agents of their own history as opposed to the dominant sense of victimhood, maximalism confused with patriotism, the role of mediators and other states as saviors, the comfort zone of illusions and legends as opposed to hard realism and pragmatism. Libaridian argues that the dominant but faulty framework led leaders of the state and Diaspora to a policy that bet on war rather than peace, a second Karabakh war that Armenia lost in 2020, a war that should have been avoided.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gerard J. Libaridian is a retired historian and diplomat. Between 1991 and 1997 he served as advisor to the first President of Armenia and was First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of the National Security Council, and negotiator with Azerbaijan and Turkey He has taught and written on Armenian history and authored numerous books, articles and reports on contemporary Armenian, Middle Eastern and South Caucasus politics and international relations. He has also taught and lectured extensively in institutions of higher learning in the US and internationally. Most recently (2000-2012) he was Alex Manoogian Professor of Modern Armenian History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he also served as Director of the Armenian Studies Program. Libaridian is currently working on a number of book projects.

BIBLIOINFO: Gerard G. Libaridian, A Precarious Armenia: The Third Republic, the Karabakh Conflict, and Genocide Politics (London: Gomidas Institute), xlvii + 582, ISBN ISBN 978-1-909382-76-3, pb. US$55.00/UK£45.00

Release date: June 30, 2023.
For advance copies please contact [email protected]

19/05/2023

Seeking Zabel Yessayan... An Interview with Dr. Nanor Kebranian
This interview was conducted by Ara Sarafian (Gomidas Institute) on the occasion of Dr. Kebranian's latest publication, "Zabel Yessayan on the Threshold: Key Texts on Armenians and Turks as Ottoman Subjects" (London, Gomidas Institute, 2023). For more information contact [email protected].

An interview with Dr. Nanor Kebranian on the occasion of her book "On the Threshold - Key Texts on Armenians and Turks as Ottoman Subjects" (London: Gomidas ...

19/05/2023

Seeking Zabel Yessayan...

By Nora Vosbigian 1. Could you tell me a bit about the genesis of this book? It’s sort of difficult to say when the ideas initially germinated. How far

03/05/2023

PRESS RELEASE
3 May 2023

Reading Zabel Yessayan as Never Before in a New Edited Collection
by Nora Vosbigian (London)

LONDON (UK). Author and social advocate, Zabel Yessayan (1878 – 1943?), was one of the most outspoken critics of sectarianism and one of the greatest proponents of solidarity across identities and creeds. These significant aspects of her literary and political interventions have nonetheless failed to garner much attention. A pioneering new edited volume of translations by Dr. Nanor Kebranian – "Zabel Yessayan on the Threshold: Key Texts on Armenians and Turks as Ottoman Subjects" – sheds an entirely fresh light on these forgotten yet timely aspects of Yessayan’s legacy. This collection of hitherto unread, unrecognized, and even previously unknown pieces comment on the need for unity across imposed identities and against the horrors of social inequality.
Through meticulous archival research and unparalleled close readings, Dr. Kebranian unearths and presents a series of eleven seminal but overlooked writings that speak directly to current engagements with the history and contemporary realities of Armeno-Turkish relations. This book is therefore a first of its kind in broaching the often hidden or lost experiences of the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional Ottoman past. It is also one half of a larger project, which will culminate with the forthcoming publication of Yessayan’s original Armenian texts – as well the Armenian version of Dr. Kebranian’s introduction – in the second volume of Pakine Literary Journal’s monograph series.
Readers can traverse a span of approximately twenty-five years – from the period just prior to the First World War, through the Armenian Genocide, and ultimately the exclusionary 1923 founding of today’s Turkey – to discover the often startling and prescient dimensions of Yessayan’s confrontation with imperialism. From in*******al love and religious violence to the prospects of Islamo-Christian women’s solidarity, the stories and essays in this book resist received versions of Ottoman history and Armenian memory.
As valuable, perhaps, is Dr. Kebranian’s deeply informative introduction, which leaves no doubt regarding the immeasurable worth of Armenian literature – and, accordingly, of Armenian language proficiency – in advancing both scholarly knowledge and broader cultural receptions of the Ottoman-Armenian past. With its probing analyses and questions, the introduction initiates productive debates regarding the possibilities and limits of both Armenian and Ottoman Studies today. Dr. Kebranian’s breadth of knowledge and expertise in history, literature, and law serve to direct readers towards a clearer and more complex understanding of the Armenian literary heritage.

ABOUT DR. NANOR KEBRANIAN: Dr. Kebranian is a published scholar and translator, having received her doctorate from Oxford University with fellowships from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and Oxford’s Clarendon Fund. In addition to her appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University, she has also held research positions at Queen Mary University of London and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Aside from her own published translations, she has commissioned and edited several published translations of Armenian literature and scholarship. Her much-lauded edited volume, "Captive Nights: From the Bosphorus to Gallipoli with Zabel Yessayan" (Trans. G. M. Goshgarian), appeared with The Press at California State University, Fresno in 2021.

BIBLIOINFO: Nanor Kebranian (Transl., Ed., and Intro.), "Zabel Yessayan on the Threshold: Key Texts on Armenians and Turks as Ottoman Subjects" (London: Gomidas Institute), 144 pp., illust, ISBN 978-1-909382-75-6, pb., UK£20.00 / US$24.00. To order please contact [email protected]

REVIEW COPIES AND PRESS MATERIALS: Available upon request.