Narrative, Practice and Reality: Historical Criticism of Ümit Kurt’s Book Antep 1915 as a Diaspora-oriented Narrative

Abstract

This article consists of three sections. First of all, the narrative that Armenians, who live in Western countries as a community who suffered from deprivations while migrating, have built out in the diaspora about the causes and processes of the migration has been described. Second, the criticism on the description of this narrative by Mr. Ümit Kurt, in his work Antep 1915 which radically verifies the narrative without interrogating its validity, that attempts to reveal the factual practice likewise has been made. In the end, the fact that the life practices of Armenians in Antep mostly invalidates the arguments built out by the narrative by the memoirs of the Armenians concerning their life experiences in Antep whom Mr. Enç, as a personal witness of the migration process, encountered in the United States in his lifetime has been emphasized. Thereby, Mr. Ümit Kurt has radically adopted the narrative, that a diaspora community has produced to persevere in the diaspora, which sometimes distorts historical factuality disregarding historical documents and oral history narratives and also some more evidence. Therefore, Mr. Ümit Kurt has tried the harmonize the factuality with the narrative. In this article, a critical analysis of Kurt’s book has been made in the light of historical documents. In addition, the information expressed in the book has been compared with the lived experiences of Armenians in both Antep and the United States, which Mitat Enç conveys in two works (Unending Night; Manly Talks).

Keywords

• migration
• antep armenians
• diaspora
• ümit kurt
• mitat enç