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The Name of This Place
The Opening
Over the course of ten months in 2014-2015, I traveled to Turkey three times. I went to reconnect with the land where my grandparents had been born and the places they had fled—my grandfather after the Adana Massacres in 1909 and my grandmother after the Armenian Genocide of 1915.




Nancy, thank you for the great article on the rarely reported events of the past few years and especially the “Sur Gentrification” photo. Of course, destroying the armenian neighborhoods erases evidence of our existence and is a continuation of the Genocide. Please shed further Sunshine on the destruction of Dikranegerd
Thanks, Garbis. It really is heartbreaking for Armenians and for Kurds. This article in the Guardian from 2016 has more photos of the destruction. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/feb/09/destruction-sur-turkey-historic-district-gentrification-kurdish
Wonderful report, Nancy. Among other things, it tied together accumulated rumors that had been confusing to me. So this is where Dikranagerd/Diyarbekir/Amed stands these days… Thank you.
Thanks, Markar. As I mention, there are varying reports about what is happening with Sourp Giragos right now. The area is still a “closed construction zone.”
Thanks, Nancy, for your excellent essay on the destruction of Sur. It’s even more painful because there had been a short period of hope in Dikranagerd before the crackdown and the leveling of the ancient neighborhood. The U.S. government’s continued resistance to recognize the Armenian Genocide has aided and abetted Turkey’s ethnic cleansing of the Kurds.
Thanks, Judith. There was a motto at Occupy Wall Street that comes to mind: “All of our grievances are connected.”
What a great article indeed. My eyes are leaking like the titanic. I met many survivors from that part of the world, and they told me about their childhood days. Stories, not happy but sad. Real stories and not fictions. They recalled the years of 1890’s and the early 1900’s. I am sure whoever reads this article will be reconnected to his/her roots because while fire turns to ashes your narrative turns ashes back to fire.
I am proud to know that we still have great Armenian authors like you. God Bless you.
Thanks, Michael, for the kind words about the writing. And what you say
about the sad stories reminds me of an Armenian proverb: Hayastan, vorpastan. (Land of Armenians, land of orphans)