Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Aug 4 2009
Armenian translations to take Turkish lit across borders
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
VERCÄ°HAN ZÄ°FLÄ°OÄ?LU
YEREVAN – Hürriyet Daily News
Works by leading poets of contemporary Turkish literature will be
translated for the first time into Armenian. The project will be
backed the Turkish Culture Ministry’s Translation Subvention Project.
Armenia is taking a radical step: From now on, not only the works of
authors who sympathize with the Armenian problem but also the leading
names in Turkish literature will be translated into Armenian.
As part of a project coordinated by Yerevan State University and
Armenian Authors’ Union member, poet, critic and interpreter Professor
Arthur Antranikyan, more than 20 poets who have left their mark on
Turkish literature will be translated into Armenian by a commission of
specialists.
Armenian readers will have access to works by well-known Turkish poet
Orhan Veli Kanık, who played a leading role in modernizing
Turkish poetry, in the form of a 300-page special selection.
Turkish support via TEDA project
`Let’s realize this project together. We can’t overcome our problems
unless we know each other. We need to jointly contribute to this
project. I am waiting for support from you,’ said Antranikyan, calling
on the Turkish Culture Ministry and Turkish artists.
The Turkish Culture Ministry Translation Subvention Project, or TEDA,
coordinator and Publications Deputy General Manager Ã`mit
YaÅ?ar Gözüm said they were ready to support the
project. `This project is important in helping the two publics become
closer,’ he said. `We are ready to make things easier for Armenia for
copyright matters. We can start working once we receive the
applications.’
Turkish literature through Russian
The people of Armenia experienced Turkish literature for the first
time during the period of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics. They read Turkish works in Russian. It did not change after
the union dissolved because the Russian language is still significant
in all of the republics, which acquired their independence in the
beginning of the 1990s.
In recent years, interest in their mother tongue has increased in the
young republics of the Caucasus, which started to turn their face to
the Western world. Although the old generations did not abandon their
tradition and attempted to keep Russian culture alive, the new
generation has already given signals of change.
`I wish Pamuk was shown interest in my country due to his literary
value’
Interest in Turkish literature has increased in Armenia in recent
years; many books have been translated into Armenian. The most recent
one was Nobel laureate author Orhan Pamuk’s `Kar’ (Snow). The book was
translated with the initiation of the Hamazgayin Education and Culture
Institute in Yerevan. But the most important detail here is that
almost all authors whose books are translated into Armenian are those
who sympathize with the Armenian problem.
Antranikyan criticized the special interest in Pamuk: `Pamuk is a
master, and the Nobel Prize is the biggest evidence to that. The
reason Armenia shows a special interest in Armenia is evident. I wish
Pamuk was shown interest in my country for his literary value.’
Pamuk’s statements such as, `One million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds
have been murdered on this land,’ before he won the Nobel Prize were
applauded by Armenia and diaspora.
Antranikyan calls for common sense
Because of threats that he received after his statements, Pamuk did
not talk about the issue again, causing confusion among the Armenian
community. Although he doesn’t mention names, Antranikyan defends the
idea that some Turkish authors take advantage of the Armenian problem
for their own benefit in order to make their names heard
internationally.
He said this manner made the already troubled Turkish-Armenian
relations more complicated. `It cannot be denied that people have
suffered too much. But we must think of our own people more than our
personal interests and act with common sense,’ he said.
Turkish, Armenian interaction
Antranikyan made some Turkish literature translations from Russian to
Armenian in the 1980s. He said the project on which he worked had been
shaped in those years, adding that as part of his project, he also
searched for the effects of contemporary Turkish literature on
Armenian literature in Istanbul. Based on his research, Antranikyan
said common themes like `otherness’ and `alienage’ existed both in
Turkish and Armenian literature, and they had a strong interaction
with each other.
`Orhan Veli Kanık’s effects on Istanbul Armenian poems
especially cannot be denied,’ he said.
He said he attached great significance to translating Turkish
literature into Armenian. `This project will be realized by any
means,’ he said. `Another step of this project will be translating
Armenian literature into Turkish. I will form a commission and work
with members of the Turcology department from Yerevan State
University.’
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.c om/n.php?n=turkish-literature-opens-to-armenia-wit h-support-from-culture-ministry-2009-08-04