Greek periodical reflects on 100th anniversary of Armenian Genocide

ATHENES, JULY 13, ARMENPRESS. The Greek periodical “Memory” introduced some details of the first genocide of the 20th century in a comprehensive article and stressed there that Turkey leads a negation policy till now. As Armenpress reports citing “Free Day,” the author not only tells about the Armenian Genocide in the article “Unpunished Crime” published in “Mνήμη” periodical, but also introduces the points of view of Turkish intellectuals. They have become more daring lately and present the historical truth. A considerable part of the article is about the Islamized Armenians of Turkey. The author tries to introduce the fates of Islamized Armenians through Fethiye Çetin’s story.

Fethiye Çetin is a Turkish lawyer, writer and human rights activist. Growing up, Fethiye Çetin had no reason to suspect that she had other than Turkish Muslim roots, until one day her maternal grandmother, Seher, revealed to her that she was by birth an Armenian Christian, named Heranuş Gadaryan, born to parents Hovannes and Isguhi Gadaryan, who had been taken away from her mother on a death march in the course of the Armenian Genocide and adopted by a Turkish military official, Hüseyin Çavuş, who was unable to have children. This legacy inspired Çetin's first book, a recounting of her grandmother's story in the memoir entitled My Grandmother. The book, translated into English by Maureen Freely, has become demanded reading piece at some progressive Turkish institutes of higher education, such as Sabancı University. Hugh Pope, reviewing the book for Today's Zaman, characterises the book as "part of a trend in Turkey that is grappling with a history of denial, nationalism and fears of political consequences" in regard to "the lost Armenians". As a lawyer, Çetin has been representing the family of the murdered Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor Hrant Dink. In September 2010, Fethiye Çetin visited Australia as an invited guest to a public discussion in a Sydney bookstore, about her memoir My Grandmother. She also went to Melbourne as an invited guest to the Melbourne Writers' Festival.