Armenian-American professor hopes to start dialogue with exhibitions

[Yervant1]

Today's Zaman, Turkey
June 29 2014


Armenian-American professor hopes to start dialogue with exhibitions



Armen T. Marsoobian, an Armenian-American professor who is the
chairman of the Philosophy Department at Southern Connecticut State
University, has been seeking to provide new perspectives to Turkey's
long-standing Armenian issue with exhibitions he has opened in various
provinces in Turkey, stating that Turks and Armenians can come closer
by sharing their common past.

Marsoobian launched exhibitions this year in Ä°stanbul, Merzifon and
Diyarbakır featuring a photograph archive that was collected by his
extended family, who documented the social life of Anatolia during the
19th century with their cameras. Marsoobian also plans to open an
exhibition in Ankara in October.

When asked the reason why he wanted to exhibit the photos in Turkey,
Marsoobian said: `A century ago, there was a rich cultural past in
these territories. We wanted to shed light on the forgotten history of
the 19th century with these photos. If Armenians had not been forced
to leave this territory, Anatolia would be much [culturally] richer
today,' Marsoobian said in an exclusive interview with Sunday's Zaman.

Sharing details about the intentions of his exhibition, Marsoobian
said: `The exhibition changes a little, depending on the location. But
what I would like to do is to expose Turkish citizens, whether they
are of Armenian background or not, to the cultural wealth of these
lands from which Armenians were removed in 1915 and where, in years
after, they were silenced and repressed.'


Main goal of Marsoobian's exhibitions


According to Marsoobian, the main goal of the exhibitions is to tell
the story of the Armenians living in Anatolia during the World War I.
He believes that his family lived and wrote about Armenians' lives in
Anatolia not just for their children but also for others to
experience.

`They [his family] survived the worst of times in 1915 through to the
end of the war. I think this is the story that is not often written,
about what Armenians did and went through in that period. And the
ultimate goal is to get people to talk about the past,' Marsoobian
said.

When asked whether those goals were achieved, he said that time will
provide an answer to this question: `I will open the book and people
will read from it. Some people will, others will not. If someone is
very strongly anti-Armenian or a denialist, they may never bother to
even walk through the door. But I know there are plenty of people who
have come and seen the exhibitions and now they appreciate the role
Armenians played in this country.'

Emphasizing that the exhibitions in Diyarbakır, İstanbul, Merzifon and
Ankara can be considered documentaries about the 1915 incidents, he
noted that the materials, documents and photographs were given to him
by his uncle toward the end of his life.

`My uncle was a photographer and he carried out the photographical
tradition in the family after my grandfather. My mother was also a
photographer, but she stopped much earlier. My uncle trusted me with
this because I was always very interested in his work in photography.
Even though he did not explicitly tell me what to do with this
material, I saw it as his trust in me to not just leave it in the
closet. But of course, my job is to teach philosophy and as chairman
of the department,' he added.

Stating that he has been very busy with these materials for many
years, Marsoobian noted that the they coincided with his work in
philosophy surprisingly well, as he has worked in the field of ethics
and moral theory. Mentioning the saying by philosopher George Santiano
that `those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it,'
Marsoobian said that he started to write about these issues of
memories and how to institutionalize them


Marsoobian emphasizes significance of education



Urging both the Turkish and Armenian sides to focus on education about
sensitive issues to ease hostile attitudes, Marsoobian said that
intellectuals should think more positively about each other, adding:
`The fact is that education is important. Education should not close
down questions, it should open them up. So when I was working on these
issues and in philosophy, I also saw that I have material here that
will contribute to memories. I also have a love of art and I see
photography as a form of art. So in a way, sharing the photographs is
sharing the art, sharing the memory and sharing the history.'

In response to a question about what Turkey and Anatolia mean to him,
he said that if he had to use one word, it would be `home.'

`It feels like home. I would have never imagined that 10 years ago,'
he laughs. `But when I am in Merzifon and Sivas, I have this feeling
that there is a deep connection, even though it is culturally
different from United States. I know that I will probably keep coming
[to Turkey] until I die or I am physically unable to come, even when
all this work is finished. It is not that I do not feel at home back
in the US. You can feel at home in more than one place. Since last
April, this has been my seventh trip to Turkey,' he added.

Referring to the April 23 condolence message that Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip ErdoÄ?an offered to the grandchildren of Armenians who lost
their lives in 1915, Marsoobian stated that although this was a
certainly significant move, as this was the first time that an
official statement had been made by a Turkish government since the
foundation of the Turkish Republic, he does not think the statement
will open anything politically.

`In the statement, the prime minister said that people in Turkey
should be able to talk about 1915 from different perspectives. The
implication is that there won't be any punishment or suppression, even
when opinions are offensive or provocative. ErdoÄ?an says `we should
tolerate them.' I assume he includes himself in that. I take that as a
positive step, but there is a difference between words and deeds. If
you truly are saying `we should tolerate pluralism,' then domestically
you should not be putting journalists in jail. I don't think making
[journalists'] lives difficult is supporting pluralism, whether they
[the government] agree with the viewpoint of your newspaper or not. I
don't see how that is supporting pluralism. Let's see if the deeds
support the words. I applaud the words for now,' he said.

Claiming that other things in the statement were just re-stating what
has been said before, Marsoobian said: `ErdoÄ?an keeps emphasizing
that all the achieves are open, but for example, if you try to access
the 1915 military archives in Ankara, there is no access there,' he
said.

Profile

Armen T. Marsoobian is a professor of philosophy at Southern
Connecticut State University and chairman of the Philosophy
Department. He defines himself as a child of Turkey, in the sense that
both his parents were born in Anatolia. He is a scholar, philosopher
and historian who has worked on his family's history, which is a story
of Anatolia and Ottoman history and goes back hundreds of years. So in
a way he both has a personal and scholarly connection to the Armenian
issue, both in the past and today, because he feels that it is
important for Armenians to participate in civil society in Turkey, and
that is what he has been trying to do in the past few years.

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-351568-armenian-american-professor-hopes-to-start-dialogue-with-exhibitions.html

 

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