pinar-selek Archives

Pınar Selek Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide

March 21, 2015 By administrator

By: Hambersom Aghbashian

Pınar Selek, Recognized The Armenian Genocide

Pinar Selek is one of the Turkish intellectuals who always tackles the Armenian genocide subject , and according to Cem Sey, who writes for the liberal newspaper Taraf, “the Turkish judiciary often cracks down on artists and writers who tackle taboo subjects like Kurdish rights and the Armenian genocide.” (3)

According to “www.france24.com”, January 24, 2013, ” Pinar Selek, cleared three times of complicity in a 1998 explosion in Istanbul, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Turkish court. She told France 24 that ” the authorities want to silence her research on Armenian and Kurdish issues.” Pinar Selek, lives in self- imposed exile in France.(4)

Pinar Selek, a political refugee in France, who is currently carrying out research into the transformation of the militant Turkish sphere and its influence on movements of the Armenian Diaspora, lunched her new book ” Parce qu’ils sont arméniens” (Because They’re Armenians). On this occasion, “www.lianalevi.fr” wrote on February 5, 2015, ” April 2015 will mark the centenary of the Armenian genocide—a dark chapter in Turkish history, still controversial, still taboo. What might a Turk born in the 70s make of this community and this period of history? Pinar Selek responds with this personal and engaged account woven from memories, observations, and encounters. We learn along with her, from the inside, what it means to be formed by reciting slogans at school proclaiming national superiority, studying from misleading textbooks surrounded by fearful and silent classmates, wandering through a city where Armenian names have been expunged from public signs, campaigning in extreme-left movements having accepted this denial. The sensitive and controversial testimony of a woman of conviction whose personality and writing continues to be influenced by the Armenian question.”(5)

Pınar Selek (born October 8, 1971) is a Turkish sociologist, feminist, and author. She attended the French-language high school Notre Dame de Sion Fransız Lisesi in Istanbul and completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in the sociology department at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies in political science at the University of Strasbourg. Pınar Selek 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. She currently resides in France. 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.(1)

In December 2008, two hundred prominent Turkish intellectuals released an apology for the “great catastrophe of 1915”. This was a clear reference to the Armenian Genocide, a term still too sensitive to use so openly. The signatories also announced a website related to this apology, and called on others to visit the site and sign the apology as well. The brief text of the apology is: ” My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I apologize to them.” Pınar Selek was one of the signatories.(2)

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*The Spice Bazaar (Turkish: Mısır Çarşısı, meaning Egyptian Bazaar) in Istanbul, Turkey is one of the largest bazaars in the city. Located in the Eminönü quarter of the Fatih district, it is the most famous covered shopping complex after the Grand Bazaar.

1- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%B1nar_Selek

2- http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=200_prominent_Turks_apologize_for_great_

3- http://www.dw.de/turkish-human-rights-activist-pinar-selek-faces-third-trial/a-14809844

4- http://www.france24.com/en/20130124-pinar-selek-turkey-france-pkk-kurds-armenian-genocide-justice/

5- http://www.lianalevi.fr/f/index.php?sp=liv&livre_id=517

Turkish Pinar Selek is fighting for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide

March 1, 2015 By administrator

Pinar Selek, essay Because they are Armenian

In the new essay Because they are Armenian, published February 5, 2015, Pinar Selek, Turkish sociologist and dissident, confirmed and signed. After the Kurdish issue, it now attacks the denial of the Armenian genocide and indoctrination of society by the state. The tireless activist came to present this controversial book on TV5MONDE tray.

Feminist, anti-militarist, pacifist, Pinar Selek is all fights. A sociologist by training, in the 90s, she conducts research on Kurdish militants in Turkey. A survey which earned him interrogations, prison and ceaseless trial (or box).

“The deep state,” a state within a state to authoritarian practices, will the young Turkish woman “an example” for all those who, like her, would put in the public square the Kurdish issue, Armenian or the homosexuality. These topics considered by the deep state, predominantly nationalist and military, as a declaration of war on the size of the Turkish nation. Physically and legally persecuted Pinar Selek not decline either. 20 years later, it continues “to touch the red lines.” The last of these, including the Armenian Genocide this year 2015 marks the centenary. Denial of State

In his book, published in France in early February 2015, it evokes a state denial and indoctrination of Turkish society. She describes militarization, severe repression and how the State has educated several generations with Turkey “very nationalistic doctrines,” especially that of the 80/90 decade. “All the talk was to say” When there are disputes, they are Armenians who run. “ “When something goes wrong, it is because of the Armenians.” A package that starts at school “of the books that we had to learn by heart, line by line, the devil named Armenia was the eternal enemy of the Turk, “she wrote in the first of his essay pages.

Throughout the pages, Pinar Selek also reveals his personal journey toward awareness to the Armenian cause. One that considers “one point of the bigger picture,” tells how she survived torture through letters sent daily by anonymous. On leaving prison, she will discover that it was an “old Armenian priest.” At their first meeting, he will say, “do not we see you with me, it could harm you.” “For a long time they were considered traitors, enemies within the company, especially genocide survivors,” she is unworthy. All Armenians

Among the items that have “played a lot in its transformation,” also talks about his meeting with the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was murdered in 2007 “because he was Armenian.”

Founder of the bilingual weekly Agos and man of peace, he had done much to the emergence of an Armenian cause but also for democracy in Turkey in general. “Despite the repression in the mid 90s, he had created a real activist space and Agos became a meeting place. “Thanks to him the protest movements, including left-wing movements, which hitherto denied, too, genocide, have changed their position. A phenomenon which, according to the activist, was amplified after the murder.

The recent killing of Charlie Hebdo, echoes the murder of his friend. The massive demonstration that ensued too. “There were similarities 300 000 to 400 000 people took to the streets shouting” We are all Armenians “. It was the first time the Turks marched to an Armenian. “ Although, she says, “the context was different. We, accusions the state. »

At the time we could not use the Armenian word now it is no longer taboo. Following the event, a new movement is emerging around Agos. The genocide issue is more characteristic of a Armenian minority, many Turks also seized. “Before, we could not use the word” Armenian “now it is no longer taboo. In Turkey, there is a change that comes from the bottom of the social movements that comes and begins to influence the political field. Now we can talk about the subject. Although we paid dearly! »

A change that the author attributes to the approximation of the different social struggles. Feminist, LGBT, but also leftist movements, anti militarist, ecologist … Now they are fighting together. And even if the road is still long, the dissident is optimistic the transformation is on … “We recreated a new discourse, a new breath especially among my generation. “And this is also true Armenian side. Agos journalist Karin Karakaşli is now … the spokesperson of Pinar Selek support committee in Turkey. A symbol.

Wednesday, February 4, Pinar Selek was the guest of the 64 ‘TV5MONDE.

There is never as black and white. Justice, for example, remains independent.

watch video

http://information.tv5monde.com/terriennes/pinar-selek-la-dissidente-turque-et-les-armeniens-14315

Just published Pinar Selek: Because they are Armenians

February 5, 2015 By administrator

Just published by Editions Liana Levi’s new book Pinar Selek, because they are Armenians, she said: “My book is a small token. But a cry too. »

April 2015 will mark the centenary of the Armenian Genocide. A black page in Turkish history, still controversial, still taboo. Pinar Selek, born in the 70s, offers a personal narrative, woven memories and encounters … With it, we earn from

within the meaning build reciting in school slogans proclaiming national superiority, studying lying on textbooks, cutting through a city where Armenian names were erased signs …

Committed sociologist, writer and Turkish activist Pinar Selek was accused of terrorism in 1998 because of his work on minorities (prostitutes, transvestites …), Kurdish militants, the army … who disturb power. She lives for over 16 years a true judicial harassment. Her feminist work, militarism continues in France, where she lived in exile since 2012. She is currently conducting research on space militant Turkish and Armenian diaspora movements at ENS Lyon.

Big Table Pinar Selek receives, sociologist, writer and Turkish activist in exile in France since 2011, author of several essays, a novel The House of the Bosphorus (Liana Levi, 2013), with a thesis on the emancipation movements Turkey. She is now a researcher attached to the ENS de Lyon and publishes Because they are Armenians (Editions Liana Levi, February 2015). With philosopher Michel Marian, working for many years on the issue of Armenia, member of the editorial board of the journal Esprit, contributor to magazine News from Armenia and co-author with Ahmet Insel Dialogue on Armenian taboo (Liana Levi, 2009).