Pınar Selek tries to break through wall of denial with her book “Because they are Armenians”

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Turkish intellectual and sociologist Pınar Selek’s book “Because they are Armenians” is the testimony of those who broke through denial and doubt all the “truths” that Turkey preaches. “Armenpress” reports that Selek told the aforementioned to journalists. She has visited Armenia for the first time.

“I haven’t managed to see a lot of things but I am like a little girl; I become excited constantly, I laugh, I have been in high spirits since the morning. This meeting is very symbolic for me. Real meetings have always changed my life,” the author of the book noted stating that the book told about those meetings and the changes they made.

When introducing the book, the author emphasized that it questioned the education system of Turkey, the street names, and the dark black spot that existed in people’s conscience which she also had but tried to escape it.

The Book tells about how Pınar Selek lived in denial. She was not born in a family of nationalists, and her family members had opposition views, her father was imprisoned, grandfather was also an oppositionist and despite all of this she did not understand the issue of genocide.

However, due to all the meetings she had, she understood she had to break down these viewpoint and own identity to reshape it again. Though it was difficult, she was able to do that. After that she began to see things which she then wrote about.

“It is the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide this year, and this is an important issue in terms of public awareness. I did not have hopes that the 100th anniversary would lead to justice and thus I wanted to support struggle for justice with this book. As I also have problems connected with justice and I struggle for it, I know how important even small testimonies are,” she pointed out.

Pınar Selek (born October 8, 1971) is a Turkish sociologist, feminist, and author. She is known for her work on the rights of vulnerable communities in Turkey, including women, the poor, street children, sexual minorities, and Kurdish communities. She is the author of several books published in Turkish, German, and French, and is one of the founding editors of Amargi, a Turkish feminist journal.

Selek has been prosecuted over a 15-year period in Turkey in connection to an explosion that occurred at the Spice Bazaar, Istanbul in 1998. Tried and acquitted of all charges on three occasions (in 2006, 2008, and 2011), her most recent acquittal was amended in November 2012 by the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 12, which sentenced her to life in prison on January 24, 2013. Selek's lawyers have appealed the verdict and announced plans to bring her case before the European Court of Human Rights.