Violence and Genocide in Kurdish Memory

Eren Yıldırım Yetkin works at Koblenz University of Applied Sciences in Germany

• From the Contents1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. ACCESS TO THE FIELD AND RESEARCH PROCESS 1.2. RESEARCH ETHICS1.3. OUTLINE OF THE STUDY2. RESEARCH DESIGN2.1. FOCUSED ETHNOGRAPHY2.2. BIOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH2.2.1. Biographical Narrative Interviews: Overview of some Terms2.2.2. Data Collection2.2.3. Analysis2.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS3. STUDYING MEMORY: APPROACHES, CONCEPTS, AND COMPLEXITIES3.1. CONCEPTUALISING MEMORY3.1.1 Violence in Processing3.2. CONTESTED MEMORIES3.3. CONCLUDING REMARKS4. ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND THE TALE OF VAN4.1. A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE CONTEXT4.1.1. History of Histories4.2. VAN4.2.1. Towards the Van Resistance4.2.2. Resistance of Van and Mass Destruction of the City4.2.3. Post-1915 Van and Violence Afterwards4.3. NAMING THE CONTEXT IN (POST-)VIOLENCE AND STRUGGLE FOR THOSE LEFT BEHIND4.3.1 Subjectivities4.4. 1915 ALONGSIDE HISTORIOGRAPHY4.5. CONCLUDING REMARKS5. THE CONFLICT OF RECOGNITION AND DENIAL5.1. ON DENIALISM (OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE)5.1.1. The brief chronology of the Armenian Genocide Denialism5.2. THE CONTEMPORARY SITUATION IN THE “WEST”5.2.1. Just Memory. A novel approach?5.2.2. On the field with events5.2.3. Brief Excursion to Social Media and Political Engagement5.2.4. The “Depo(t)” for counter memories5.3. CONTEMPORARY SITUATION IN VAN5.3.1. The War as the Context5.3.2. Denialism as the Context: Memorial Site of Zeve5.3.3. Collective Memory on the Armenian Past, Genocide and Violence in Van5.4. RECOGNITION DEBATE(S) AMONG KURDS IN TURKEY5.4.1. Actors and Political Positions5.4.2. Reflections in the Kurdish Society or Scholarship5.5. CONCLUDING REMARKS6. LIFE STORIES. RECONSTRUCTING BIOGRAPHICAL EXPERIENCES AND MEMORIES6.1. MEHMED6.1.1. Analytical Abstraction6.1.1.2. Biographical Synopsis6.1.1.2. Elements of Violence in Narration6.2. DELAL6.2.2. Analytical Abstraction6.2.2.1. Biographical Synopsis6.2.2.2. Elements of Violence in Narration6.3. ZAL6.3.1. Analytical Abstraction6.3.1.1. Biographical Synopsis6.3.1.2. Elements of Violence in Narration6.4. CONCLUDING REMARKS7. VIOLENCE AND GENOCIDE IN MEMORY. A COMPARATIVE DISCUSSION7.1. SEMANTICS OF VIOLENCE. HOW TO DESCRIBE, WHAT TO DISCUSS7.1.1. Mnemonics: Space and Material7.1.2. Protagonists7.1.3. Collective References: Outlines and Frames7.1.3.1. Idealising the Past and Victims7.1.3.2. Narrative of Instrumentalisation and Victimhood7.2. CONTINUITY OF VIOLENCE AND TEMPORAL QUESTIONS7.2.1. Anachronisms and Analogies7.2.2. Generational Questions7.2.3. Envisioned Futures7.3. THE CONTESTED AREA AND THE SELF7.3.1. Memory in Transition7.4. CONCLUDING REMARKS8. CONCLUSIONNOTESREFERENCES

“Violence and Genocide in Kurdish Memory provides insight into how visions of the past shift within a turbulent political climate and how these shifts impact ongoing struggles.” Middle East Journal, Volume 76, Number 4, Spring 2023“Regardless, allowing his interviewees to speak for themselves through frequent and often long quotations, Violence and Genocide in Kurdish Memory provides us with an understanding of the multi-layered meaning of the recognition of events in a society that has been subjected to various instances of sociocultural repression, political violence and injustice. Overall, Yetkin’s refreshingly candid model of oral history makes a valuable work in memory studies.”Kurdish Studies Journal, 2 (2024)