YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. “You Rejoice My Heart”, “Survivors”: These are some of the works where Kemal Yalçin referred to the theme of the Armenians, who became islamists because of the violations during the Armenian Genocide. I met the Turkish writer for the first time near Komitas statue. Later, a passerby approached us and suggested to buy one of his books, which he sold not suspecting that the man standing in front of him is Turkish. Creations about Ararat mountain were completed in that book. Yalçin was already ready to buy one of those books, but the passerby was terrorized to learn that the buyer was Turkish. He just grabbed the book from Yalçin’s hands, saying “I will not sell a book to Turkish”. And after a long conversation, we managed to explain the passerby that the man standing in front of him was not considered the ideological follower of the perpetrators who implemented the Armenian Genocide.

After arriving to yerevan, Kemal Yalçin who is exploring the issue of the Armenians who became islamists in the result of the violations, frankly told about his life story in the interview with “Armenpress”. “I was born and educated in Turkey. In Turkey there were no memories about about Armenians, Greeks or Assyrians. Then I entered the university, where I learnt psychology. In that period, there was just written about Armenians, but it was mentioned that they were betrayers, who hit Turks from behind and killed them. Armenians were introduced as an enemy and that much I knew about the Armenians during my exploration.”, Turkish author told.

He is full of hope that Armenian-Turkish relations will eventually be resolved as there are more and more people in the latest years in Turkey who wish to reckon with their past.  But the writer also mentioned that the only force that distorts this process is today’s leading party in Turkey and the President Erdoğan.

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Photos by Felix Arustamyan