I recently posted an article about the great Turkish amnesia about the Armenian tragedy. It’s a topic under consideration on the 100th anniversary of the mass slaughter. It’s a complicated subject that often gets less than the nuanced discussion it deserves. I recently reviewed for Historical Novels Review an excellent novel, Orhan’s Inheritance, set in these events. I noticed the New York Times Book Review also featured Ohanesian’s book. So here is my review, first published in Issue 72, May 2015 Historical Novels Review. It’s a book worth considering.
“And if he is Turkish, what does that mean? Is he the prodigal son of a democratic republic or a descendant of genocide perpetrators? Maybe he is all of those things and none of them.” So the main character of Orhan’s Inheritance ponders after he digests the long concealed secrets of his family dating back to WWI and those of a mysterious woman whose life is inextricably bound with his. Orhan’s Inheritance moves between 1990 and 1915, interweaving Armenian and Turkish history through the eyes of both sides in a moving way. Ohanesian’s characters draw us in, fully fleshed and vividly alive. In modern Turkey, the mass slaughter and deportation of the Armenians is a taboo subject—even illegal to discuss. On the other hand, the Armenian people have dedicated themselves to active remembrance of the tragedy. Ohanesian’s sensitive treatment balances the two possible downfalls of these differing single-minded approaches and transcends them with her effective and compelling storytelling. She neither allows her characters to deny the past nor does she allow them to become “soaked and mired in [the past’s] bitter liquid.” This is a grim tale, but also a humane and ultimately hopeful one.
The Turks have an interesting, maybe I should say Orwellian, view of history. They can tell you in great detail about how their early ancestors migrated west from what we now call Xinjiang, China. The Turks call it Eastern Turkistan. They know that the Turks were created by God as the original people on the Earth because the word “Adam” means “man” in Turkish. The creation of the modern Turkish state by Kemal Ataturk from the shambles of the Ottoman Empire is relevant and of great interest to them. Ask them about the Armenians and you get a blank look of total incomprehension. There is no cultural memory of the genocide, it is their historical black hole.
I’ve never heard anyone put forth the China connection, but you’ve spent a lot of time in this part of the world. “Historical black hole” is a good way to put it, Bob. While there are many thoughtful Turkish scholars and archaeologists examining history in intelligent ways (although not generally about this particular “black hole”), for a lot of Turks nationalism filters into the perception of things and often distorts reality.
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