AGOS, Armenian newspaper about WHISPERING MEMORIES

“A REAL COWARD IS ONE THAT IS AFRAID OF ONE’S OWN MEMORIES” 

FUNDA TOSUN – AGOS (Armenian newspaper published in Turkey)

20 June 2008

“Whispering Memories”, a documentary film is telling the story of ‘The Converts’, which are Armenians who stayed behind by silently becoming Muslims during the 1915 atrocities. The film will be shown on the Turkish news channel CNN Turk soon.

‘Geben’, meaning a passage in Turkish, derives from the Armenian word ‘Gaban’. The village of Geben, lying on the ancient Silk Road, has been a bridge between Armenians and Turks with its heritage of thousands of years. The story of Armenians, who stayed behind and kept living in the region after the 1915 atrocities, has been whispering in the region.

Mehmet Binay, an experienced documentary filmmaker, listened to whispered stories and started travelling into unknown pages of our history by taking a lead on a quote by writer Elias Canetti, “A real coward is one that is afraid of one’s own memories.” Director Binay is whispering quietly and silently about what we remember and have forgotten about a group of people who live between the lines and all the things forming our social memory...

-       How did the “Whispering Memories” project come to life?

I came across a small town called Geben in the Kahramanmaras province of Turkey when I was travelling for documenting the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline between the years 2003 and 2007. I had the opportunity to meet a group of young people who had formed a village development cooperative there. Having well travelled in eastern Anatolia, I’d witnessed that these young people were different than ones in other communities with their liberal attitude and their spirit and enthusiasm for entrepreneurship. When I went back to the village in April 2006, they told me about their interest in an amateur oral history project to find out more about hidden pages in the recent history of their community. They had also prepared questions about Armenians, their relationship with Turks and Armenian culture that lived in this vicinity until 1915. All this has inspired me to get answers to questions, which could enlighten things we have forgotten, or we were forced to forget about our past. Then the idea of documenting this project came to reality and we started filming work in August 2006.

- Could you please explain the reasons and foundations of the idea of turning an oral history project into a documentary film?

I thought that this documentary without any political or official foundations could resemble a small yet important step in today’s Turkey because our official history writing doesn’t gear us much when we’re in foreign countries and in Turkey herself, even discussing some historical issues creates huge arguments and discussions. Official history writing, both on the Turkish and Armenian sides does not establish a close link with the people themselves, requiring laymen to understand political, social and economic conditions of the late 19th century as well as complex big power relations. I thought that it would be a simple yet wise idea to start from people’s own stories and memories to understand what happened back then. The oral history project initiated by a small number of young people was going to answer questions about this particular settlement and its people in a manner not exaggerating or underestimating real memories. The oral history project was also going to unearthen hints to some facts, which could inspire sociologists, anthropologists and economists to enrich their future academic research.

- In your film, it seems that the oral history project repeats what official history is already telling us. It seems like not that it doesn’t really find out what has been forgotten but what is still remembered. Aren’t those remembered already things the official history allows us to do so?

There were contradictory statements in the interviews conducted by youngsters with village elders. Some of the memories were not sufficient enough because first generation witnesses had already passed away. However I thought that forgetting is part of our reality and I tried keeping those in the documentary as well yet some of the memories were sharp and clear, therefore it was quite remarkable to hear why and how Armenians had left that settlement in 1915. A first hand witness in the village told us those. I am aware that some of the stories told were quite weak and they seemed insignificant but they will be quite important for those who are able and willing to read between the lines of our history because my film is all about a group of people who were forced to live ‘between the lines’.

- Can we assume that the reason behind your role as a director –not reminding people about what they don’t tell or able to tell- is a conscious choice and you did not interfere into the story as an investigative reporter but remaining an observer at all times to document the reality in its pure form?

I made a clear decision to use the camera as an observer and keep myself distant to village youngsters and elderly conversations’ when I developed the cinematographic concept of story telling for “Whispering Memories” through which I remained loyal to my initial choice. I wanted to free myself from the role as an investigative reporter and be an observer throughout the filming process. I was curious to know what they remember about those times, what they have forgotten, and how willing they were to remember things they knew before. The end result was a 42 minute long documentary film, edited out of footage recorded during village conversations and soundbites. A three day long Cukurova (a wide and arid plain in the south of Turkey) wedding was also filmed to set as a leitmotiv resembling the continuation of generations producing “Whispering Memories” which is a series of stories mixed out of race, religion and languages.

- There is a nationalist and sexist language in the film. The Converts, as most other people who converted or had to convert to survive, are the most conservative ones in their communities…

Yes, exactly. In one instance, there is talk of an Armenian grandmother and there they use the term “that woman” despite a direct genetic link to the person. There is a constant marginalisation of those who were different in race, religion or language when they joined Turkish families. Those behaviour or approaches are typical for the converts. It serves as a defence mechanism for those who want to prove - they are Turks now-. This is common talk among the converts because they constantly know are they are reminded they are ‘the other in the society’. There is a final quote in the film “I am also a Turk but I know that I am different though.” The word “but” or “still” is quite important and enriching in terms of multicultural identities. I have a friend whose uncle once gathered all the sons who became 15-16-17 years old and came out to them that their family is converted from being Armenian to Turks and Muslims. Some of the family members are very conservative and also ultra-nationalists. It is hard to face that truth if you think you are something else. I think we need to make peace with our personal histories, our reality.

- It is obvious in your film that a patriarchal system is still ruling over the families and the community in Geben. How do you explain this?

This is exactly the reason why I picked up the wedding as a leitmotif for my film. The wedding, in its dramaturgical meaning, served as a perfect visual material to me but it also illustrated how the girl and the boy were looked at in a rural society. The bride was being married off –symbolically- from the “Christian village” and she was taking away her memoirs by leaving behind her identity. Moreover, the theatrical play during the wedding was a typical for the Cukurova region where a middle-aged man was walking from one village to the other with a woman and her two daughters for whom he was looking for ‘appropriate’ grooms. As they arrive in the village the girls would start flirting with two of the village boys and they would be called “daughters of the infidel.” All those words are not incidental. This theatrical play present many hints to what some Armenian women went through who stayed behind during the atrocities starting in 1915.

-       Where will your film be shown?

“Whispering Memories” will be broadcasted on CNN Turk, a news channel in Turkey at 21:00 on 11 July 2008. Later, our film will be shown at the Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan, Armenia 13-20 July 2008. We’ve also been invited to Seoul International Film Festival in September.