{"id":16083,"date":"2009-11-17T08:42:44","date_gmt":"2009-11-17T06:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=16083"},"modified":"2009-11-17T08:42:44","modified_gmt":"2009-11-17T06:42:44","slug":"call-for-turkish-armenian-peace-from-theater-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2009\/11\/17\/call-for-turkish-armenian-peace-from-theater-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Call for Turkish-Armenian peace from theater stage"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/span><\/h1>\n
VERC\u0130HAN Z\u0130FL\u0130O\u011eLU
\nISTANBUL – H\u00fcrriyet Daily News
\nMonday, November 16, 2009<\/em><\/h5>\n

The G\u00fclbenkyan Foundation, an Armenian organization in Lisbon, has given full support to the play \u2018Armenian Concert or Turkish Proverb\u2019 to be staged in Turkey. \u2018We cannot live by getting stuck in tragedy,\u2019 says the writer and composer of the play, Gerard Torikian. Also, director Serge Avedkiyan, who adapted the play to the stage, talks about the new initiative among the diaspora<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
The reconciliation process between Turkish and Armenian people has received support from the Armenian diaspora.<\/div>\n
The G\u00fclbenkyan Foundation, an Armenian organization in Lisbon, has provided financial support for \u201cLe Concert Armenian ou le Proverbe Turc\u201d (Armenian Concert or Turkish Proverb) to be staged in Turkey. The play is the work of world-renowned Armenian composer and France-based actor Gerard Torikian, who wrote it in collaboration with French playwright Isabelle Guidard. It received full support not only from the G\u00fclbenkyan Foundation but also from Turkey and France.<\/div>\n
Anadolu K\u00fclt\u00fcr (Anatolian Culture), which is a civil society organization run by Osman Kavala that supports the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process by organizing cultural and artistic events, played a leading role in bringing Torikian\u2019s play to Turkey.<\/div>\n
In his play Torikian questions historical events and reveals the struggles in his inner world. Directed by France-based Serge Avedikyan, \u201cArmenian Concert\u201d was first performed in 2006 in France and has been performed throughout the world since. Its Turkish premi\u00e8re, meanwhile, was Thursday in the southeastern city of Diyarbak\u0131r. It will be performed Tuesday at Garajistanbul in Istanbul\u2019s Galatasaray neighborhood at 9 p.m. Though the original language of the 1.5-hour play is French, there will be Turkish and English subtitles.<\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Facing the past<\/p>\n

Torikian and Avedikyan, who came to Istanbul right after the Diyarbak\u0131r performance, spoke to the H\u00fcrriyet Daily News & Economic Review. Although Torikian came to Turkey for the first time last year, his roots are in Anatolia. His father\u2019s family is from the northwestern city of Bursa while his mother\u2019s family comes from the Black Sea region. The artist grew up hearing about the painful events of 1915.<\/div>\n
Torikian said he had prejudices until he came to Turkey. \u201cI felt myself a part of this land as soon as I came to Turkey because my grandfather and grandmother are part of this land.\u201d<\/div>\n
He said he was warmly welcomed during his visit last year. \u201cI returned to France with very nice memories. As a result of this nice experience, I decided to stage the play here.\u201d Torikian defined the painful events in 1915 as \u201ca big tragedy.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThere was a big tragedy like genocide but it makes no sense to get stuck in the tragedy. The best way to get rid of the pain is to be able to see it from a distance,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n

\n

\u2018We can\u2019t define our identity through genocide\u2019<\/p>\n

Even though Torikian and Avedikyan are Armenian, they grew up in different cultures. Avedikyan lived in Armenia until he was 15 while Torikian lived his entire life in France. Discussing the concept of \u201cbelonging,\u201d Avedikyan said, \u201cWhen I am alone, I question where I belong: To France, where I live, or to Armenia, or to Anatolia?\u201d<\/div>\n
He said similar questions appeared in his inner world from time to time. \u201cI saw that one cannot survive by getting stuck in the past. As Armenians, if we continue to define our identity through genocide, we won\u2019t be able to proceed. We are Armenian, but we remember that we are human first.\u201d<\/div>\n

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New trend in diaspora<\/p>\n

There are more than 1 million Armenians spread around the world from Anatolia. \u201cThe diaspora is finally changing,\u201d said Avedikyan. \u201cThoughtful artists from the diaspora reject politics and pressure. They stay away from excessive nationalist statements and viewpoints. They never deny the genocide but are more positive about the future.\u201d<\/div>\n
As for the reconciliation protocol that was signed between the two countries recently, Avedikyan said, \u201cI prefer the sound echoed in the conscience of people rather than the signatures of politicians. Let\u2019s support the reconciliation of Turkish and Armenian people, let peace be our goal.\u201d<\/div>\n

About \u2018Armenian Concert\u2019<\/p>\n

In the play an Armenian composer is preparing for an Odyssey Suite recital, but inspiration for the suite, the Homer Saga, never sets him free. The past is determined to capture the composer with thousands of ghosts. He is surrounded by these ghosts from the past. The composer fights against the past and the ghosts with all his might. The power of music helps the composer and he succeeds in being freed from the past. As soon as he is free, he looks at the face of the past and realizes the best way to vanquish the past is to make peace with it.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VERC\u0130HAN Z\u0130FL\u0130O\u011eLU ISTANBUL – H\u00fcrriyet Daily News Monday, November 16, 2009 The G\u00fclbenkyan Foundation, an Armenian organization in Lisbon, has given full support to the play \u2018Armenian Concert or Turkish Proverb\u2019 to be staged in Turkey. \u2018We cannot live by getting stuck in tragedy,\u2019 says the writer and composer of the play, Gerard Torikian. Also, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":775211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-armenian-question"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}