Editor

İclal Ayşe Küçükkırca

Language

Turkish, English

1st edition - May 2018
172 Pages

The fifth book of the “Sounds of Silence” series has been published with the support of Consulate General of Sweden and Consulate General of Netherlands. Kayseri’s Armenians Speak, is a product of the oral history project carried out since 2011 by Hrant Dink Foundation. The Sounds of Silence - V: Kayseri’s Armenians Speak, which compiles 10 out of the 28 interviews.

The book contains, in addition to the oral history interviews conducted, the introduction by the historian Dr. Mehmet Polatel and the afterword by the editor Dr. İclal Ayşe Küçükkırca, whom are members of the Hrant Dink Foundation's History Program.

Kayseri’s Armenians Speak is taking us to a visit through the memoirs of the Armenian society. This book is giving clues about the “self” and “other” perception the Armenian society carries, by giving examples on the deportation and genocide memories transmitted through generations, as the other books of the series.

 

Kayseri was one of the rare cities in which Armenians continued to live during the Republican period, with 1,978 Armenians registered there according to the 1927 census. This total dropped to 1,600 in 1932, to 800 in 1960 and to zero today. After the migration of Armenians living in various areas of Anatolia to Istanbul, predominantly in the 1950s, a significant number of Armenians from Kayseri gathered in the Samatya district in particular.
Mehmet Polatel, Introduction

In the narratives of Kayseri's Armenians, Kayseri is a city which has an ancient history, which is self-sufficient and even has economic activity extending beyond its own area; a city which has 'happy' social ties based on mutual love and respect, as well as hierarchical and violent social conflicts. Perhaps this might be why it is a 'real' homeland in the memories, rather than being an 'ideal' and perfect space of nostalgia.
İclal Ayşe Küçükkırca, Afterword

 
Kayseri's Armenians Speak available in all bookstores and Hrant Dink Foundation
Book Name
Kayseri's Armenians Speak
Subtitle
The Sounds of Silence - V
ISBN
9786056710674
Price
175 TL
Pages
172
Width
150 mm
Weight
210 mm
Weight
350 gr
Printing
1st edition - May 2018
Language
English
Editor
İclal Ayşe Küçükkırca
Project coordinator
Lara Taş
Editor
Altuğ Yılmaz
Interviewes
Lori Durmaz, Vahakn Keşişyan, İclal Ayşe Küçükkırca, Koray Löker, Karun Özçelik, Arican Paker, Mehmet Polatel, Lara Taş
Cover Photo
Kayseri, Tavukçu Mahallesi (1986) © Gonca Büyükmıhçı
Page layout
Sera Dink ve Leda Mermer
Index
Lara Taş
Printed in
Mas Matbaacılık

With the contribution of the Consulate General of Sweden and the Consulate General of Netherlands...

 

 

  • Introduction
    Mehmet Polatel
  • Looking into the baptismal font, we see ourselves
  • What was lacking in huge Kayseri?
  • We’d been tenants of our own vineyards
  • Pastrami and gata of Armenians...
  • We couldn’t learn our own language
  • I’m a Hay, a son of a Hay
  • I lived a bit madly, but I lived well
  • My Armenianness always comes first
  • I wish the state had brought me up
  • “You infidel!”
  • Our Story, Stephen Ohanian
  • Afterword
    İclal Ayşe Küçükkırca
  • Index