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Dirtad Dirtadian (Hairenik contributor) The Armenian Weekly APRIL 2012 NOTES 27 King of Spades (1): Fantasies of Sovereignty in a Pathology Plot—By Burcu Gursel 3 Editor’s Desk 33 A Tale of Two Monuments: An Extremely Belated Anatomy 4 Contributors of Two Radically Understudied Makings and One Unmaking—By Ayda Erbal ARTS & LITERATURE 35 Does the French Law Penalizing Genocide Denial Restrict Free Speech?—By Harut Sassounian 5 Taboos, Tattoos, and Trauma: Making ‘Grandma’s Tattoos’—By Suzanne Khardalian FOR THE RECORD 9 The Seed that Finally Took Root: The Kernel that Led to ‘The Sandcastle Girls’—By Chris Bohjalian 38 Virtuous Victims: Imagining Armenians in the West 11 The Making of ‘Deported/a dream play’—By Joyce Van Dyke —By Matthias Bjørnlund 43 Armenian Representation in Turkey?—By Talin Suciyan PERSPECTIVES 45 Syrian-Armenian Memory and the Refugee Issue in Syria under the French Mandate (1921–46)—By Seda Altu˘g 14 Turkey Has Acknowledged the Armenian Genocide —By U˘gur Ümit Üngör 17 Post-Denial Denial—By Henry C. Theriault 21 Tlön, Turkey, and the Armenian Genocide ON THE COVER: —By Marc Mamigonian Cover design by 3rd Eye Communications/Vanig Torikian Editor’s Desk The Power of Words BY KHATCHIG MOURADIAN conflict, and in the past mutual rhetorical conflict.” Mamigonian looks at how “[i]nstead of confronting the genocide head-on, ark Twain once said, “The difference between the right deniers play upon widespread ignorance of the subject and seek to word and the almost right word is the difference create doubt,” which is then propagated by lazy journalism. Gursel, Mbetween lightning and the lightning bug.” Over the in turn, explores problematic discourses by looking at representa- years, the April magazine issue of the Armenian Weekly has pro- tions of the Armenian Diaspora in Turkish newspapers, tearing vided extensive space to the topic of choosing the right words and apart disease, psychological illness, and rape analogies. adopting the proper discourse—a challenge that seems to pervade In 2011–12, novels, plays, and films approaching the Armenian much of the writing on minorities, gender, human rights viola- Genocide from different vantage points have been or will be tions, and genocide. released. We have asked a playwright, a novelist, and a filmmaker to The magazine you hold in your hands (or are reading on your tell the story of how their work took shape. The power of their computer/smartphone screen) tackles this challenge head on. For words and the themes they explore echo the issues raised above. example, Theriault examines “the commitment to denial,” non- And finally, a third section in the magazine examines perceptions denial, and the space in between, and points out how denialism of and discourse on Armenians—as genocide victims, as refugees, conceals truth in a “multiplicitous ambiguity,” where “all discus- and as citizens in an unrepentant perpetrator state–in the early- and sions of mass violence in the present [become] mutual military mid-20th century, and how those perceptions resonate today. April 2012 | THE ARMENIAN WEEKLY | 3 Contributors Seda Altug teaches at Bosphorus University. Her dis- Marc A. Mamigonian is the director of academic sertation is entitled “Sectarianism in the Syrian affairs of the National Association for Armenian Jazira: Community, land, and violence in the memo- Studies and Research (NAASR). He is the editor of ries of World War I and the French mandate “Rethinking Armenian Studies” (2003) and “The (1915–39).” Her research interests are state-society Armenians of New England” (2004) and the author or relations, and minority issues in colonial and post-colonial Syria. co-author of several scholarly articles on the writings of James Joyce. Matthias Bjørnlund is a Danish archival historian Harut Sassounian is the publisher of the California specializing in the Armenian Genocide. He currently Courier, a weekly newspaper based in Glendale, Calif. teaches at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad He has a master’s degree in international affairs from (DIS) in Copenhagen. Columbia University and an MBA from Pepperdine. Chris Bohjalian is the author of 15 Talin Suciyan is an Armenian from Istanbul, cur- books, including the New York Times bestsellers The rently based in Munich pursuing her Ph.D. She works Night Strangers, Secrets of Eden, Skeletons at the Feast, as a teaching fellow at Ludwig Maximilian University, The Double Bind, Before You Know Kindness, The Law in the Institute of Near and Middle Eastern Studies. of Similars, and Midwives. His work has been trans- Henry C. Theriault earned his Ph.D. in lated into over 25 languages and 3 times have become movies. philosophy from the University of Massachusetts. He Bohjalian’s novel of the Armenian Genocide, The Sandcastle Girls, is currently professor in the philosophy department arrives on July 17. at Worcester State University. Since 2007, he has served Ayda Erbal is writing her dissertation in the depart- as co-editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal ment of politics at New York University. Her work “Genocide Studies and Prevention.” focuses on the politics of changing historiographies in Turkey and Israel. She is interested in democratic U˘gur Ümit Üngör is assistant professor at the theory, democratic deliberation, the politics of department of history of Utrecht University and at “post-nationalist” historiographies in transitional settings, and the the Institute for War and Genocide Studies in politics of apology. She is a published short-story writer and Amsterdam. His recent publications include worked as a columnist for the Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos Confiscation and Destruction: The Young Turk Seizure from 2000–03. of Armenian Property (Continuum, 2011) and The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913–1950 Burcu Gürsel grew up in Istanbul and received her (Oxford University Press, 2011). degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania (comparative literature). Joyce Van Dyke is a playwright and descendant of In 2011 she held a postdoctoral fellowship at Forum Armenian Genocide survivors. She is the author of Transregionale Studien, Berlin. “Deported / a dream play” and “A Girl’s War,” a story of love and war set in Karabagh which has received Suzanne Khardalian is a documentary filmmaker multiple productions and awards and was published based in Stockholm, Sweden. Her films include “Back in Contemporary Armenian American Drama (2004). Her play, to Ararat,” “I Hate Dogs,” and “Grandma’s Tattoos.” “The Oil Thief,” won Boston’s Elliot Norton Award for best new She contributes regularly to Armenian-language play in 2009. newspapers. The Armenian Weekly The Armenian Weekly ENGLISH SECTION THE ARMENIAN WEEKLY The opinions expressed in this April 2012 Editor: Khatchig Mouradian (ISSN 0004-2374) newspaper, other than in the edi- torial column, do not necessarily Copy-editor: Nayiri Arzoumanian is published weekly by the Hairenik Association, Inc., reflect the views of THE Art Director: Gina Poirier 80 Bigelow Ave, ARMENIAN WEEKLY. Watertown, MA 02472. ARMENIAN SECTION Manager: Armen Khachatourian Sales Manager: Nayiri Khachatou r ian Editor: Zaven Torikian Periodical postage paid in Boston, TEL: 617-926-3974 Proofreaders: Garbis Zerdelian MA and additional FAX: 617-926-1750 USPS identification state- mailing offices. Designer: Vanig Torikian, E-MAIL: ment 546-180 3rd Eye Communications This special publication has a [email protected] print run of 10,000 copies. WEB: www.armenianweekly.com 4 | THE ARMENIAN WEEKLY | APRIL, 2012 Arts& Literature TABOOS, TATTOOS, & TRAUMA Making ‘Grandma’s Tattoos’ By Suzanne Khardalian have a tree, my own tree in Stockholm. A Why am I writing about my tree? The oak evokes in me a world that dead oak tree. Majestic from a distance. Yet is disappearing. But what fascinates me is this unique state, of being it holds as its secret the big hole inside its half dead, half alive. What does a dead tree have to offer? Not life! trunk. You will not see it unless you climb Herein are the origins of my interest in memory and its reflec- down and examine it closely. This magnifi- tions in my work. cent oak has still kept its form.