The Civilitas Foundation public forum entitled “From Ebru to Grandchildren” consisted of two  hours of soul-searching, discovery, accusation combined with social, political and also very personal analyses of the challenges of cultural diversity and newly found Armenian identity in today’s Turkey.

The discussion catalyst was the photographic work of Attila Durak, who spent seven years traveling the Turkish countryside and documenting the lives of over 40 cultures and language groups. The outcome? A large colorful book of photographs and essays, called EBRU, as well as a photo exhibit that toured 26 cities around the world, including 10 in Turkey, where the lives of Turkey’s diverse groups were chronicled and displayed.  

The Civilitas public forum took place within the EBRU exhibition at the Armenian Center for Contemporary and Experimental Arts, and focused on the experiences of Durak and three colleagues, all represented in the book, and each searching for ways to see Turkey not as a monolithic society where “Turkey is for Turks” as was said for decades, but a marbled, varied ‘ebruesque’ Turkish society today.

Besides Durak, the forum’s panelists included Fethiye Cetin, an attorney and the author of the groundbreaking memoir, “My Grandmother,” anthropologist and professor of cultural studies Ayse Gul Altinay, and Takuhi Tovmasian Zaman of Aras Press, and the author of  the cookbook memoir “May Your Table Be Jolly”.

The four panelists represent the layer of Turkish society that understands that for Turkey’s own democratic development, the rights of minorities today, and the recognition of their part in Turkey’s history. The program was moderated by Civilitas Director Salpi Ghazarian.

Fethiye Cetin’s involvement in this process began with her political convictions and continued when she published her memoir, the ground-breaking My Grandmother, in which she chronicled her own discovery of her Armenian background – this after years of representing the late Hrant Dink in his many legal cases before the Turkish government.  Çetin recalled that following Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s comment that his ancestors could not have committed genocide, a journalist recommended he read Çetin’s book.

Anthropologist Ayse Gul Altinay was instrumental in the publication of EBRU. She has recently published, together with Çetin, a new book entitled The Grandchildren – about the many Turks who are also discovering the Armenian identities hidden by their grandparents.

Takuhi Tovmasian spoke about her life in Turkey and in the struggle to present Turkey’s Armenians. Her stories made clear the difficult position of the second and third generations of Armenians after the genocide, who had to preserve a culture, while struggling for basic civil rights, daily.

“From Ebru to Grandchildren” public forum served as a sounding board for those Turks wishing to tackle yesterday's history and today's politics, and Armenians still looking for acknowledgment. Questions from the audience both welcomed the recognition and contrition that the guests demonstrated, while also expressing the anger and pain that remains unhealed by Turkey’s continuing denial.