Ayse Gunaysu - 2/4 - The Armenian Weekly

Gunaysu: A ‘Bolsetsi’ in Los Angeles

December 27, 2011 at 1:17 pm Ayse Gunaysu 23

I was in Los Angeles from Nov. 23-27, a place I never imagined I would go! Long journeys to unknown lands have always frightened me. But this time I was invited by the ANC-Western Region […]

Gunaysu: Denial Is a Hate Crime and Denialist Discourse Is Hate Speech

August 11, 2011 at 6:53 am Ayse Gunaysu 42

“It is as if a general orphan-like spirit floats over the [Muslim] quarter. Laziness, an apathetic attitude toward life is the character that appears among the Muslims. In contrast, if you enter the quarter of […]

Gunaysu: Snapshots from the Fragmented Landscape of Turkey

May 19, 2011 at 9:16 am Ayse Gunaysu 43

This time my column will have no structural integrity. It will be fragmented just like life itself and just like my thoughts wandering around, coming and going at unexpected times, intertwined to form strange, disconnected […]

Gunaysu: Kurds Challenge Turkish Nation-State

January 21, 2011 at 8:37 am Ayse Gunaysu 41

On Dec. 20, 2010, Turkish members of parliament, including the ultra-nationalist MHP, Islamist AKP, nationalist CHP, and others, were listening to the tall woman addressing the session during the budgetary discussions for the Ministry of […]

Gunaysu: Armenian, Turkish Publishers Launch Book on Akhtamar in Van

October 11, 2010 at 9:15 am Ayse Gunaysu 11

Sarafian (L) and Koker during the book event. (Photo by Ayse Gunaysu) It’s Sept. 17, two days before church services will be held at the Holy Cross (Sourp Khatch) Church on Akhtamar Island. A multi-storey […]

Gunaysu: Akhtamar: A Lost Paradise

October 2, 2010 at 7:15 am Ayse Gunaysu 59

My Akhtamar visit was a huge pile of mixed thoughts and feelings, mainly that of despair and indignation from being in physical contact with evidence of the painful truth. Images are engraved in my mind… […]

Gunaysu: A Turkey Classic: Grotesque Co-Existence of Make-Believe Liberalism and Fascism

August 23, 2010 at 2:13 pm Ayse Gunaysu 5

The Turkish state recently made a simultaneously liberal and fascistic move on the same subject: the “Armenian issue.” The result was a perfect example of what makes Turkey the setting of the grotesque co-existence of […]

Gunaysu: Silenced but Resilient: A Groundbreaking Panel Discussion in Istanbul

August 3, 2010 at 8:17 am Ayse Gunaysu 31

It was an unusually hot and very exciting day. It would be the first time that critics of Turkish intellectuals’ discourse about the “Armenian issue” would voice their arguments at a public meeting in Turkey, […]

Gunaysu: Turkish State Wages War Against Kurdish Civilian Political Movement

December 24, 2009 at 5:30 pm Ayse Gunaysu 33

North Kurdistan People’s Initiative calls for “total revolt” (Special report from Istanbul by Armenian Weekly columnist Ayse Gunaysu) ISTANBUL, Turkey (A.W.)–The Turkish state started a new war against the civilian Kurdish political movement in 11 […]

Gunaysu: Dreams of Peace May Come True After 25 Years of War

October 21, 2009 at 8:30 am Ayse Gunaysu 4

Thirty-four PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party) members were released after their surrender to Turkish security forces in support of the peace process to resolve the Kurdish issue. Thousands of Kurds in Istanbul, Diyarbakir, on the Habur […]