Historical Traumas Among Armenian, Kurdish, and Turkish People of Anatolia: A Transdisciplinary Perspective Toward Reconciliation

The deep wounds that exist from long-standing conflicts between Turks, Kurds, and Armenians have not yet been sufficiently addressed and healed. Nermin Soyalp explains the collective traumas and their significant psychosocial impacts in terms of the potential for reconciliation among these politically conflicted groups. Discussion centers on the transgenerational implications of the Balkan wars of 1912-1913, the Armenian genocide of 1915-1917, the Greco-Turco war of 1920-1922, the formation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the population exchange with the Balkans in 1924, the conflict between the Turkish government and Kurdish identity since the formation of the Republic, as well as the impacts of assimilation policies on minorities. Drawing on the complexities of history, psychology, and identity, this book elucidates how collectively and historically shared traumas become inherently more complex, and more difficult to address, generation by generation. Epistemologies of ignorance in Turkey have suppressed the transgenerational experiences of trauma and prevented healing modalities. The Turkish state and society have consciously and unconsciously denied historical realities