Day 0: arrived at my cousin Sue's house in London at almost midnight. Her 16 year old son Stepan was already asleep, as he had school the next day. My other cousin, Maral, who is Sue's sister Ginny's daughter, was there at the house, but she was going to leave the next morning to return to Paris. Day 1: slept until around 3:30 PM (due to jetlag), and nothing blogworthy happened.
Day 2 was when things became kind of exciting.
I went downtown with Sue and Stepan. Stepan and I went to the London Dungeon, which is a sort of a combination between a haunted house and a history museum. Basically, there are people in costumes telling you about the creepiest, bloodiest, and grossest things that happened in the history of London, but they would also try to scare you as well. One of the actresses was teaching us about how she tortures people, and showing us the tools she uses for that. Featured in this tour were the plague, some stuff about the 1666 London Fire, Bloody Mary, and of course, Jack the Ripper. While being full of things that startle people, it was also very interesting from a historical perspective as well. Props to Kiana for having suggested that I go there.
That evening, Sue and I went to a viewing of a short film. I forget the name of the film, but it was about an Armenian oud player named Armenak who goes to Istanbul to search for a lost piece of his family history. Initially he hates the city, for what it reminds him of in his family history (for what happened there to his grandfather in the genocide). In the city, he finds the house which used to be his grandfather's oud shop, (his grandfather was a master oud-maker), and becomes friends with the Turkish woman and her daughter who live there.
After the film, we had a discussion panel about the film, and what it represents. The audience consisted of both Armenians and Turks alike. The director, and the lead actor were both there. Sue was leading the discussion panel. Many topics were brought up about relations between the Turkish and Armenian people. The film, which was made by a mix of Armenian and Turkish people, required the crew, including the director himself, to come to terms with both sides of the issue at hand. I learned some very interesting things from this. First, all of the most respected Turkish scholars agree that the Genocide did take place.
Secondly, there was a lot I didn't know about the late Hrant Dink, an Armenian journalist who was a citizen of Turkey, who was an advocate of reconciliation of the Armenian and Turkish people, and was assassinated in 2007 by a nationalist. What I didn't know was that while he advocated Turkish recognition of the genocide, he opposed the movements of the diaspora trying to make other countries such as the US and France recognizing the genocide. His views on the foreign recognition of the genocide alienated him from other Armenians. His reasoning resounds what Tip O'Neill said about how "All politics is local"*. It's Turkey's responsibility to recognize what they had done. Not America's. Not the UK's. Not France's**. No, it is Turkey's responsibility.
*What Tip O'Neill meant to say was "All politics is loco". just kidding
**Rant about the recent French legislation pending since it is 3:34 AM here and i need some sleep. Tomorrow I'll probably post the rant about the french legislation as a comment to this entry.
Day 2 was when things became kind of exciting.
I went downtown with Sue and Stepan. Stepan and I went to the London Dungeon, which is a sort of a combination between a haunted house and a history museum. Basically, there are people in costumes telling you about the creepiest, bloodiest, and grossest things that happened in the history of London, but they would also try to scare you as well. One of the actresses was teaching us about how she tortures people, and showing us the tools she uses for that. Featured in this tour were the plague, some stuff about the 1666 London Fire, Bloody Mary, and of course, Jack the Ripper. While being full of things that startle people, it was also very interesting from a historical perspective as well. Props to Kiana for having suggested that I go there.
That evening, Sue and I went to a viewing of a short film. I forget the name of the film, but it was about an Armenian oud player named Armenak who goes to Istanbul to search for a lost piece of his family history. Initially he hates the city, for what it reminds him of in his family history (for what happened there to his grandfather in the genocide). In the city, he finds the house which used to be his grandfather's oud shop, (his grandfather was a master oud-maker), and becomes friends with the Turkish woman and her daughter who live there.
After the film, we had a discussion panel about the film, and what it represents. The audience consisted of both Armenians and Turks alike. The director, and the lead actor were both there. Sue was leading the discussion panel. Many topics were brought up about relations between the Turkish and Armenian people. The film, which was made by a mix of Armenian and Turkish people, required the crew, including the director himself, to come to terms with both sides of the issue at hand. I learned some very interesting things from this. First, all of the most respected Turkish scholars agree that the Genocide did take place.
Secondly, there was a lot I didn't know about the late Hrant Dink, an Armenian journalist who was a citizen of Turkey, who was an advocate of reconciliation of the Armenian and Turkish people, and was assassinated in 2007 by a nationalist. What I didn't know was that while he advocated Turkish recognition of the genocide, he opposed the movements of the diaspora trying to make other countries such as the US and France recognizing the genocide. His views on the foreign recognition of the genocide alienated him from other Armenians. His reasoning resounds what Tip O'Neill said about how "All politics is local"*. It's Turkey's responsibility to recognize what they had done. Not America's. Not the UK's. Not France's**. No, it is Turkey's responsibility.
*What Tip O'Neill meant to say was "All politics is loco". just kidding
**Rant about the recent French legislation pending since it is 3:34 AM here and i need some sleep. Tomorrow I'll probably post the rant about the french legislation as a comment to this entry.
ok, this is the french legislation that I was going to rant about. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/23/french-senate-bans-denial-of-armenia-genocide/ They recently banned anyone in France from denying that the genocide happened, enforced with a year in prison, and a fine of 45,000 euros ($57,000). France already has recognized that the genocide took place, and so do all of the respectable Turkish scholars. Why arrest and fine the idiots who deny that the genocide took place? Answer: because the French government thinks it can obtain the favor of the Armenian minority of the french population. I warn any Fransiahays reading this, this legislation does not help your cause, nor our cause in general of getting Turkey to admit what they did. This legislation by the French government is entirely a PR move to try to appease you, to win your support.
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