Migration and Literature: Reflections of the “Armenian Deportation” on Migration

updated at: 06.11.14 published at: 30.10.14

Date: November 7, 2014 Friday
Time: 17:00-20:00
Place: santralistanbul Campus, E3-101

Keynote speech: Marc Nichanian

Panel:
-Ragıp Zarakolu (Moderator)
-Fethiye Çetin
-Halil İbrahim Özcan
-Gülçiçek Günel Tekin
-Zülküf Kışanak

The panel is organized by İstanbul Bilgi University Center for Migration Research with the support of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Turkey. The event will be held in Turkish and English with simultaneous translation.

Contact: migcentre@bilgi.edu.tr / 0212 311 53 50

Marc Nichanian was professor of Armenian Studies at Columbia University, New York, until 2007, and is now teaching as a visiting professor at Sabanci University, Istanbul, in the Program of Cultural Studies. He is the author of Entre l'art et le témoignage (three volumes, MétisPresse, 2006-2008), and Edebiyat ve Felaket (Literature and Catastrophe), the Turkish translation of a series of public lectures in Istanbul (Iletişim, 2011). His most recent publications are Mourning Philology (Fordham University Press, 2014), and the Armenian translation of three novels by Maurice Blanchot (Death Sentence, The Madness of the Day, The Last Man, éd. Inknagir, Erévan, 2013). Forth-coming: Le Sujet de l'histoire. Pour une phénoménologie du survivant (Paris: Lignes). Fethiye Çetin, born in Maden-Elazığ, works on human rights law and especially on minority rights. She was a member of the Human Rights Center at the Istanbul Bar Association, where she founded the Minority Rights Working Group and served as its spokesperson. She was awarded the Padova Righteousness plaque and is an honorary member of the French Union of Armenian Lawyers. Fethiye Çetin was the lawyer of Hrant Dink, who was killed in front of the office of his newspaper in 2007. Çetin is still the lawyer of Dink Family and the Hrant Dink Foundation. Her publications: Anneannem (Metis, 2004)-awarded the Armenian price in Marseilles, translated into French, English, Eastern Armenian, Western Armenian, Italian, Flemish, Bulgarian, Greek, German and Romanian, still being translated into Arabic and Urdu; Torunlar (co-written with Ayşe Gül Altınay)-translated into French and English; Utanç Duyuyorum, Hrant Dink Cinayetinin Yargısı (Metis, 2013). Halil İbrahim Özcan, born in Kayseri-Talas, studied at Kayseri Education Institute. He served as teacher for three years in Giresun and Kayseri. Özcan attended Anadolu University Turkish Literature Department as well. He lived in Syria and Lebanon. Between the years of 1981-1991 he was imprisoned for political reasons in different cities around Turkey. Being an editor and actor, Halil İbrahim Özcan is the vice president of PEN Turkey and the chairperson of the Committee of Writers in Prison. His works: Cezaevi Şiir Antolojisi; Kırık Zar (poem); Yüzünü Temiz Tut Ecel Her An Gelebilir (poem); Kavgalı Küçük Fener (poem); Randevu Hazırlığı (stories); Ejderha Yılları (novel); Çankaya’nın Duvaksız Gelini Fikriye (novel); Küller Arasında (novel); Rüzgara Karşı Yürüyen Adam Nazım; Renklere Son Veda: Tarlabaşı. Gülçiçek Günel Tekin, born in 1956 in Batman-Kozluk, studied at Kozluk Girls’ Boarding School and Van Girls’ First Teacher School, from where she was transferred to Ankara Higher School for Teachers because of her achievements. Being a graduate of Diyarbakır Education Institute Department of German, Günel Tekin worked as German teacher for 25 years. For the last 20 years, she has been studying on state policies of rejection, denial, destruction and assimilation. She has 7 books, including Kara Kefen and Kürtler Ermeni Soykırımını Anlatıyor. Zülküf Kışanak, born in Kerteş (Çavuşlu) village of Şanlıurfa-Siverek in 1967, studied in Mersin-Tarsus until high school. He dropped out of Marmara University Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance and worked at various newspapers with free press approach including Yeni Ülke, Özgür Gündem, Özgür Ülke and Azadiya Welat. His works: Yitik Köyler; Ahparik Sarkis; Delala Çimrengîne Rê Qesîdey; Neolotik Dönemden Günümüze Batman.