Aesthetics of Displacement: Turkey and Its Minorities on Screen
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Köksal, Özlem. "Notes." Aesthetics of Displacement: Turkey and its Minorities on Screen. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. 185–202. Topics and Issues in National Cinema. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 27 Sep. 2021. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781501306471.ch-007>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 27 September 2021, 12:20 UTC. Copyright © Özlem Köksal 2016. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. Notes Introduction 1 This is most visibly the case in the discussions of the Armenian genocide in Turkey, which is discussed at length in Chapter 4. Even when there is agreement on the historical evidence, there is rarely agreement on what the evidence might mean. 2 For an edited collection of articles on the relationship between history, memory, and cinema see Sobchack (1996), Landy (2000), Grainge (2003). For an analysis of history and cinema through the use of flashbacks see Turim (1989). For a comparative study on history and film see Rosenstone (1996). 3 There have been a growing number of publications in recent years on various aspects of the new cinema of Turkey, particularly in relation to identity and memory. In addition to Asuman Suner, Gönül Dönmez-Colin (2008) has written an introductory book on different aspects of identity in Turkish cinema. There have also been two edited collections, with articles looking at various aspects of cinema in Turkey. See Deniz Bayraktar (2009) and Miyase Christen and Nezih Erdogan (2008). 4 See Chapter 2 for a more detailed account of the evacuated villages of Eastern Turkey. 5 See Miyase Christen and Nezih Erdogan (2008); Deniz Bayraktar (2009); Gokcen Karanfil and Serkan Savk (2013); Deniz Bayrakdar and Murat Akser (2014). 6 Practicing mainly in Turkey, Alevis are members of a special sect of Islam incorporating pre-Islamic belief with Shiite Islam. 1. Memory, Identity: The Turkish Context 1 According to Kadığolu, the efforts gained momentum in 2001, and important constitutional amendments were made in 2001 and 2004 (Kadığolu 2007: 292). 2 For a comprehensive analysis of the history of radio broadcasting in Turkey in relation to nation-building in Turkey, see Ahıska (2010). 9781501306464_txt_print.indd 185 04/11/2015 13:54 186 Notes 3 ROJ TV was not allowed to transmit from within Turkey because it was in Kurdish, hence it broadcast from Denmark. However, Turkey protested to the Danish authorities for allowing it to transmit from Denmark, based on the accusation that it is the mouthpiece of PKK, which Turkey regards as a terrorist organization. 4 I would like to thank Deniz Kandiyoti for suggesting the concept. 5 Unless otherwise stated, all translations from Turkish to English are mine. 6 Although there have been few films on the coup during the 1990s, it seems there has been a particular interest in the subject since the beginning of the 2000s. Vizontele Tuuba (Yilmaz Erdogan, 2004), Babam ve Oğlum/My Father and My Son (Çağan Irmak, 2005), Beynelmilel/International (Sırrı Süreyya Önder, 2006), Eve Dönüş/Return Home (Ömer Ugur, 2006), Zincirbozan (Atil Inanc, 2007), and O… Çocukları/Sons of B… (Murat Saracoglu, 2008) were all made between 2004 and 2008. 7 Although they are often used interchangeably with secularism, and even though there are shared traits among them, Taha Parla and Andrew Davison (2004) write that the two are not the same. In Turkey the word laiklik is used to describe the relations between the state and the religion; it derives from the French laicisme. Parla and Davison note, “Kemalist laicism is most often described throughout the literature as ‘secularism’, leaving the impressions that Kemalist laicism achieves everything from a radical separation between state and tradition to the privatization or elimination of religion in the conscience.” They argue that it is “at odds with these ideals in both concept and practice” (Parla and Davison 2004: 13–14). 8 For a comparative analysis of Greek, Armenian, and Arab nationalisms during the decline of the Ottoman Empire, see Göcek (2002). 9 The idea that the Turkish identity should be protected by the state still continues today. The highly controversial Article 301 makes it possible to prosecute people on the bases of “insulting Turkishness.” In 2006, Armenian–Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was prosecuted. Dink was assassinated by a nationalist group in 2007. 10 See Birinci Türk Tarih Kongresi, 1932. 11 This hesitant attitude resulted in Turkey waiting twenty-two years, until 1945, for its single-party era to end. Although there was an understanding that transformation was needed, attempts at political pluralism ended in opposition political parties either being closed down, or closing themselves down, because the Republic was “not yet ready.” This is usually described as the “tutelary democracy.” See Parla and Davison (2004). 12 Kemalism, named after Kemal Atatürk, and based on his ideas and principles, has been the dominant ideology in Turkey. According to Haldun Günalp, Kemalism “was a paradigmatic model of Third World nationalism in that it perceived and defined Westernisation as the attainment of ‘universal’ civilisation” (Günalp 1997: 61). 9781501306464_txt_print.indd 186 04/11/2015 13:54 Notes 187 13 The politics of creating a unified language is discussed also in Chapter 2 in relation to the films analyzed. 14 Avram Galanti, a Turkish citizen of Jewish origin, wrote a book called Vatandaş Türkce Konuş! in order to explain why the transition to Turkish could take time, explaining the situations of the minorities while also trying to convince the minorities to adopt the Turkish language. The book was published in March 1928, two months after the campaign was launched. 15 In their comparative study on nationalism in Turkey and Greece, Umut Özkırımlı and Spyros A. Sofos write that “the Turkish Historical Thesis needs to be understood in the context of the broader Kemalist project which entailed a complete break with the immediate Ottoman Islamic past” (Özkırımlı and Sofos: 96) as its aim was to demonstrate the continuity of the Turks in Anatolia. 16 PKK (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan) is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey. Its leader, Abdullah Öcalan, was arrested in 1999, and has been in prison ever since. At the time of writing the Turkish government is engaged in a fragile “peace process” with the Kurdish movement, and Öcalan is participating in discussions with the government through Kurdish MPs. See Chapter 5 for a detailed background. 17 This dilemma is problematized in many recent films by paying exclusive attention to language. Also see Chapter 2. 18 For more on CUP, see Ahmad (2005: 31–51), Zurcher (2004: 93–165). 19 There is also extensive discussion on what happened after the majority of the Armenian population died or was deported, which enhances the accusations against the Turkish state and its complicity. The fate of Armenian properties, many of which were confiscated, forms the major part of these discussions. See ğU ur Ümit Üngör and Mehmet Polatel (2011). 20 There have been a number of conferences on the issues of memory and the Armenian genocide in Turkey. The first attempt to discuss the genocide was stopped by a court order. Such attempts also face protests from nationalists. Similarly, historians and other intellectuals who are willing to admit the genocide are called “traitors.” Recently, Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk faced prosecution and received death threats for a speech he made in Germany, in which he stated, “In Turkey, thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were massacred.” See Chapter 4 for a detailed discussion on the existing discourse. 21e Y şim Ustaoğlu’s film Bulutları Beklerken/Waiting for the Clouds (2003) deals with this aspect of history from the point of view of a woman who lost her family during the forced migration. The film is discussed in Chapter 3 in detail. 22 Aktar notes that caricatures ridiculing Jews were in circulation from the 1930s, and in 1942 reached their peak, mocking all non-Muslims in the figure of a Jew and picturing them as greedy money grabbers (Aktar 2008: 143). 9781501306464_txt_print.indd 187 04/11/2015 13:54 188 Notes 23 Both the Capital Tax, and the pogrom of September 6 and 7, 1955, were tackled by the director Tomris Giritlioğlu. Her film on the Capital Tax, Salkım Hanımın Taneleri/Mrs. Salkım’s Diamonds (1999), and Güz Sancısı/Pains of Autumn (2008), dealing with the pogrom, are both discussed in Chapter 3. 24 What is referred to as the 1964 İnönü Kararnamesi (1964 İnönü Enactment) is one of the least talked about issues in Turkey regarding the minorities. See Aktar and Demir’s (1994) İstanbul’un Son Sürgünleri (The Last Exiles of İstanbul). See also Chapter 3, for a discussion of the film Politiki Kouzina (Tassos Boulmetis, 2003), which centers around a family who had to leave the country as result of the enactment. The stories of deported families was also recently the subject of an exhibition in Istanbul entitled 20 Dollars, 20 Kilos, as they were only allowed to take 20 dollars and 20 kilos worth of belongings with them. 25 The opening day of the “Grand National Assembly” is celebrated as the “National Sovereignty and Children’s Day” (April 23), the day Atatürk started the War of Independence is celebrated as “Atatürk’s Commemoration, Youth and Sports Day” (May 19), the establishment of the Republic as the “Republic Day” (October 29), and the end of the War of Independence is celebrated as the “Victory Day” (August 30). 26 Atatürk’s life, including the trivial details of his childhood, is known to anyone who went to school in Turkey. His picture is still found in every single government office, as well as in classrooms, and even in some houses.