Your Man In This Column. Hrant Dink, İstanbul, Hrant Dink Vakfı Yayınları, 2021. 341 p. 15x21 cm Text in English ISBN: 9786057183507
"Your Man in This Column is a collection of articles by Hrant Dink published in the newspapers Agos, Yeni Binyıl and Birgün between 1996-2007. The collection is a chance to share his message once more, to understand his message once more. Now available in English, the book looks at the main issues and segments of society which Hrant Dink addressed and on which he focused his thoughts. The thematic framework of this volume centers on the author’s experiences, observations and views on Turkey, the world, leftist politics, minorities, the Kurdish problem, the headscarf debate, the Armenian community of Turkey, the Turkish-Armenian issue, the West, the Diaspora and the Armenian identity. A stunning aspect of the book is that the articles in question remain as valid as if they were written today. Not only is it clear that Hrant Dink’s analyses and political know-how are on point, but that the struggle for fundamental issues remains relevant as ever. As Vicken Cheterian says in the foreword to the English edition of the book, “...these articles show the reader that there is only one way of healing…The firm belief in positive change through human action.” “I am from Turkey… I am an Armenian… And I am an Anatolian right down to my very bones. Not for a single day have I contemplated abandoning my country and building my future in the ‘readymade heaven of freedoms’ known as the West, or latching on like a leech to democracies that others have paid such a heavy price to create. My main concern has always been to transform my own country into such a heaven of freedoms. When my country cried for Sivas, I cried too. When my people were struggling against the gangs of the deep state, I was beside them in their struggle. I bound my own fate to my country’s quest for freedom. As for the rights I may or may not enjoy at this moment, they did not come free. I have paid for them, and I continue to do so. But now… I have had enough both of the bogus flattery that always speaks of ‘our Armenians’ and of the provocative refrain of ‘the traitors among us.’ I am sick and tired both of the suffocating embraces and of the exclusion that leads people to lose sight of the fact that I am no more than a common, ordinary citizen. It goes without saying that I know the fate my ancestors suffered. Some of you call it a ‘massacre.’ Some, a ‘genocide.’ Some of you call it a ‘deportation.’ And others, a ‘tragedy.’ My ancestors from Anatolia would call it ‘decimation’. I choose to call it ‘devastation.’ And I know well that if it wasn’t for this devastation, today my country would be a much more habitable place, a place that would inspire admiration.”
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