Moving Article by Turkish Writer About Armenian Grandmother

Ermenihaber.am presents an article titled "My Armenian" by the well-known Turkish journalist and writer Bekir Coşkun, addressing the theme of genocide.

In the article, the author recounts his experiences with his step-grandmother, discovering her Armenian background only after he grew up.

"I only had one Armenian..."

After my mother passed away, my father, who was a civil servant, took my sister and me to our maternal grandmother's house. Our grandmother welcomed us into a large house in the gardens of Tulmen, not far from Urfa. Many of my childhood memories have faded, but I distinctly remember the affectionate way she treated us. She was unlike my aunts and the other women living in that big house; she was tall, slender, blonde, and blue-eyed. Her name was Ummuhan.

The entire family held her in special respect and love. They always sought her advice and considered her opinions. What stood out the most was the strict respect and trust my father had for her. We grew up and later found out that she was not our biological grandmother but had come to us after the death of our real grandmother.

My grandfather had taken her from a caravan of Armenians being forcibly deported to Syria, where they were being destroyed in various places, and married her. My grandfather, my aunts, and the daughters-in-law—everyone loved her. She was regarded as the matriarch of the house.

I could see how her beautiful eyes would sometimes become moist when she loved me and my younger sister; I could discern the hurt on her face that she could never fully hide...

This is my Armenian question.

I don't know what they have done to the Armenians, whether there is any meaning left in this dispute, or where the truth lies. But I wish to know who tore my grandmother away from her homeland and her home when she was still a young girl...

I would like to demand accountability for the suffering she had to hide, for the longing she did not wish to show, for the tears she might have shed secretly every night. I would like to know who condemned her to this endless exile...

I don't know about a million, I only had one Armenian...

The melancholic woman I loved so much...

This was my story...

You cannot imagine how many insults I received after publishing this, which were expressed in phrases like 'Armenian race' and 'Armenian abomination.'

But how can you tell the world about 1915 to a head that cannot comprehend the feelings contained in an article published in a newspaper?

Brother, your ignorance is so vast that...

Bekir Coşkun, April 23, 2015, "Sozcu".