Echoes across the National Divide: Common Topoi in the Turkish Literature of the War of Independence and the Greek Literature of the Asia Minor Disaster

Year 2021, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 32 - 56, 30.06.2021

Anastasia Aglaia Lemos

Abstract

This paper draws attention to common features of the early literatures of the Turkish War of Independence and of the Greek Asia Minor Disaster. The salient feature is the emphasis on victimhood, with each literature presenting the sufferings of its own side. This explains the different choice of subjects, for the Turks the Muslim peasantry during the war, for the Greeks Christian captives and refugees at and after its end. To convey these sufferings as lived experience both literatures use first person narration and in both literatures the boundaries between fact and fiction are hard to determine. Works in both literatures are also strongly influenced by political and other circumstances at the time of composition rather than of the war itself. These points are illustrated by examples from the work of Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, Halide Edip Adıvar and Elias Venezis. Finally the treatment of the refugee experience both in literature and the recording of oral history is briefly surveyed and reasons are suggested for its prominence in Greece and its absence in Turkey.

Keywords

Halide Edip Adıvar, Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, Elias Venezis, Stratis Myrivilis, national narrative

References

• Adak, H. (2003). National Myths and Self-Na(rra)tions: Mustafa Kemal's Nutuk and Halide Edib's Memoirs and The Turkish Ordeal. The South Atlantic Quarterly, 102(2), 509-527. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/43702.
• Adıvar, H. E. (1924). The Shirt of Flame. کوملک اتشدن Ateshden Gömlek. New York: Duffield & Company.
• Adıvar, H. E. (1928). Turkish Ordeal being the Further Memoirs of Halide Edib. London: John Murray
• Adıvar, H. E. (1995[1926]). Vurun Kahpeye.[Strike the Whore]. Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi
• Adıvar, H. E. (2014[1962]). Türkün Ateşle İmtihanı. İstiklâl Savaşı Hatıraları. [The Turks’ Ordeal by Fire. Memories of the War of Independence]. Istanbul: Can Yayınları
• Adıvar, H. E. (1922). In Karaosmanoğlu, Yakup Kadri, Atay, Falih Rıfkı, Atay and Mehmed Asım Us, 1922. İzmir’den Bursa’ya Hikâyeler Mektublar ve Yunan Ordusunun Mesu’liyetine dair bir Tedkik [From İzmir to Bursa: Stories, Letters and Investigations Pertaining to the Greek Army’s Responsibility]. Dersaadet (Istanbul): Akşam – Tesbit Matbaası.
• Adıvar, H. E. (nd). Karaosmanoğlu, Yakub Kadri, Falih Rıfkı Atay and Mehmed Asum Us, İzmir’den Bursa’ya [from İzmir to Bursa]. With an introduction by İnci Enginün. Np.: Atlas Kitabevi.
• Akı, N. (Ed). (1997[1985]). Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu Hikâyeler. Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları
• Avgeris, M. (2006 [1923]). Από την Αιχμαλωσία. Κατά το Ημερολόγιο του Αιχμαλώτου Αεροπόρου Β.Κ.[From Captivity: According to the Diary of the Captured Airman V.K.]. Athens: Kastaniotis. Balabanlılar, M. (Ed). (2003). Türk Romanında Kurtuluş Savaşı. İnceleme [The War of Independence in the Turkish Novel. A Study]. Istanbul: Kültür Yayınları.
• Balta, E. (2003). Ottoman Studies and Archives in Greece. Istanbul: The Isis Press.
• Beaton, R. (1999). An Introduction to Modern Greek Literature. 2nd Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Bedlek,
• E. Y. (2016). Imagined Communities in Greece and Turkey.Trauma and the Population Exchanges Under Atatürk. London: L. B.
• Tauris Binyazar, A. (2003). Halide Edip Adıvar: Türkün Ateşle İmtihanı-Ateşten Gömlek-Vurun Kahpeye [Halide Edip Adıvar: The Turks Ordeal by the Fire-The Shirt of Fire-Strike the Whore]. In Balabanlılar, pp. 12-23.
• Çokona, A. (2008). Türkçe’ye Çevirilmiş Yunan Edebiyatı [Greek Literature Translated into Turkish], Çevirmenin Notu Dergisi [The Translator’s Note Journal]. http://cevirmeninnotu.blogspot.co.uk/2008/04/ari-okona.html.
• Demirözü, D. (2011). To 1922 κaι η Προσφυγιá στη Ελληνικη κaι στην Τουρκική Αφηγηση [1922 and the Refugees in Greek and Turkish Narration], Δελτίον Κέντρου Μικρασιατικών Σπουδών [Bulletin of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies] 17, 123-50. Athens: Centre for Asia Minor Studies.
• Doukas, S. (1980 [1929]). Η Ιστορία ενός Αιχμαλώτου [A Captive’s Story]. Athens: Kedros Doukas, S. (2003). Bir Esirin Anıları [A Captive’s Memoirs]. Translated by Osman Bleda. Istanbul: Belge Yayınları.
• Doulis, T. (1977). Disaster and Fiction: Modern Greek Fiction and the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922. Berkeley: University of California Press. Dukakinlerden Basri Bey. (1340 [1922]) Muhacir Mehmetoğlu Milli Roman [Refugee Mehmetoğlu]. Istanbul : İkdam Matbaasɪ, Güntekin, R. N. (1993 [1922]). Çalıkuşu [The Wren]. Istanbul: İnkılâp Kitabevi.
• Hidiroglou, P. (1997). Η Ελληνική Προσέγγιση της Τουρκικής Λογοτεχνίας Ισχυρός Παράγων Επηρεασμού των Ελληνοτουρκικών Σχέσεων [The Approach to Greece of Turkish Literature: An Important Factor Influencing Greco-Turkish Relations]. Thessaloniki: Vanias.
• Hirschon, R. (1998). Heirs of the Greek Catastrophe The Social Life of Asia Minor Refugees in Piraeus. 2nd ed. New York and Oxford: Berghahn.
• Jacobson J. S. (1971). Occidental Elements in Yakup Kadri’s Novel. Yaban. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Utah.
• Karaosmanoğlu, Y. K. (1958). Vatan Yolunda Millî Mücadele Hâtıraları [On the Way to the Motherland. Memories from the National Struggle]. Ιstanbul: Selek Yayınları.
• Karaosmanoğlu, Y. K. (1973 [1929]) Ergenekon Millî Mücadele Yazıları [Ergenekon Articles on the National Struggle]. Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı (Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi).
• Karaosmanoğlu, Y. K. (2006 [1932]). Yaban. Ιstanbul: İletişim Yayınları (Muallim Ahmet Halit Kitaphanesi).
• Karaosmanoğlu, Y. K. (2009 [1928]). Sodom ve Gomore [Sodom and Gomorrah]. Ιstanbul: İletişim Yayınları. Kastrinaki, A. (1999). To 1922 και οι Λογοτεχνικες Αναθεωρησεις [1922 and Literary Revisions], Ο Ελληνικός Κόσμος ανάμεσα στην Ανατολή και τη Δύση: 1453-1981 [The Greek World between East and West], edited by Asterios Argyriou, 165-174. Vol I. Athens: Ellinika Grammata.
• Kitromilides, P. M. (Ed). (1982). Η Εξοδος. Μαρτυρίες από τις Επαρχίες της Κεντρικής και Νότιας Μικρασίας [ The Exodus. Testimonies from the Provinces of Central and South Asia Minor]. Vol.II. Athens: Centre for Asia Minor Studies
• Kitromilides, P. M. (Ed). (2013). Η Εξοδος. Μαρτυρίες από τις Επαρχίες του Μεσογείου Πόντου. [Τhe Exodus. Testimonies from the Provinces of the Inland Pontos]. Vol. III. Athens: Centre for Asia Minor Studies. Kitromilides, P. M. (Ed). (2015). Η Εξοδος. Μαρτυρίες από τον Ανατολικό Παράλιο Πόντο [The Exodus. Testimonies from the Provinces of the Eastern Pontos Litoral]. Vol. IV. Athens: Centre for Asia Minor Studies.
• Kitromilides, P. M. (Ed). (2016). Η Εξοδος. Μαρτυρίες από τον Δυτικό παράλιο Πόντο και την Παφλαγονία [The Exodus. Testimonies form the Provinces of the Western Pontos Litoral and Paphlagonia]. Vol. V. Athens: Centre for Asia Minor Studies
• Kurdakul, Ş. (1922). Çağdaş Türk Edebiyatı [Contemporary Turkish Literature] 4 Vols. Ankara: Bilgi Yayınevi.
• Lemos, A. A. (2018). Aspects of the Literatures of the Turkish War of Independence and of the Greek Asia Minor Disaster. Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/30967/1/4646_Lemos.pdf
• Mackridge, P. (1992). Kosmas Politis and the Literature of Exile. Δελτίο Κέντρου Μικρασιατικών Σπουδών. [Bulletin of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies], Athens, vol. 9, 223-39.
• Mackridge, P. (2004). The Myth of Asia Minor Greek Fiction. In R. Hirshon (Ed.) Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1923 Compulsory Population Exchange between Greece and Turkey. New York: Berghahn Books. 235-46.
• Matthaiou, S. (1985). Η Εφημεριδα ¨ΚΑΜΠΑΝΑ¨: ‘Οργανο των Εφεδρων και των Ντοπιων Συμφεροντων’: Μυτιληνη 1923-24 [‘The Newspaper “The Bell”: Speaking for Ex-servicemen and Local Interests’]. Mnimon, 10, 212-235. Available online at https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/mnimon/article/viewFile/8029/7883 (accessed 28 May 2021)
• Millas, H. (2001). Εικόνες Ελλήνων και Τούρκων Σχολικά βιβλία Ιστοριογραφία Λογοτεχνία και Εθνικά Στερεότυπα. [Images of Greeks and Turks, School Books, The Writing of History Literature and National Stereotypes]. Athens: Alexandreia Myrivilis, S. (1924). Η Ζωή εν Τάφω [Life in the Tomb]. Mytilini.
• Myrivilis, S. (1930). (second edition revised) H Zωή εν Τάφω Ιστορίες το Πολέμου [Life in the Tomb. Stories from the War]. Athens: Estia
• Myrivilis, S. (2006). Hayat Mezarda! Gençlik Siperlerde Savaşın Kitabı. [Life in the Tomb The Book of War] (Trans. Kriton Dinçmen). Istanbul: Arion Yayınevi
• Myrivilis, S. (2007 [1933]) Η Δασκάλα με τα Χρυσά Μάτια [The Schoolmistress with the Golden Eyes]. Athens: Estia.
• Neyzi, L. (2008). Remembering Smyrna/İzmir. Shared History, Shared Trauma. History and Memory 20(2), 106-26.
• Neyzi, L. (2010). Oral History and Memory Studies in Turkey. In Kerslake et al (Eds.) Turkey’s Engagement with Modernity in the Twentieth Century (pp. 443-459). Istanbul: Palgrave MacMillan. Ölümünün 100 Yıllında Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu. 1989. Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi, no 16, Marmara Üniversitesi Yayınları, no 480. Istanbul: Edebiyat Fakültesi Basımevi.
• Parla, J. (2007). From Allegory to Parable: Inscriptions of Anatolia in the Turkish Novel. New Perspectives on Turkey, 36, 11- 26, Spring. Cambridge University Press.
• Sevük, İ. H. (1925). Türk Teceddüt Edebiyatı Tarihi [A History of Turkish New Literature]. Istanbul: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Vekâleti Neşriyatından https://ia800600.us.archive.org/17/items/trkteceddtedebiy008800/trkteceddtedebiy008800.pdf
• Seyhan, A. (2014 [2008]). Tales of Crossed Destinies in a Comparative Context. New York: The Modern Languages Association of America.
• Spanomanolis, C. A. (1969 [1923]). Αἰχμάλωτοι τῶν Τούρκων [Captives of the Turks]. Athens: Estia.
• Tanpınar, A. H. (2010 [1946]). Beş Şehir.[Five Cities]. Istanbul (Ankara): (Ülkü Yayınları) Dergâh Yayınları.
• Tenekidis, G. (1980). Εξοδος. Μαρτυρίες από τις Επαρχίες Δυτικών Παραλίων της Μικράς Ασίας [ Exodus Testimonies from the Provinces of the Western Coast of Asia Minor]. Vol. I . Athens: Centre for Asia Minor Studies.
• Theotokas, G. (2008 [1940]). Λεωνής [Leonis]. Athens: Estia
• Theotokas, G. (2008). Leonis Bir Dünyanın Merkezindeki Şehir İstanbul 1914-1922 [Leonis Istanbul, the Centre of a World 1914-1922] (Trans. Damla Demirözü). Istanbul: İstos Yayın
• Toynbee, A. J. (1922). The Western Question in Greece and Turkey A Study in the Contact of Civilisations. London: Constable and Company Limited. Available at https://ia800201.us.archive.org/12/items/cu31924027921778/cu31924027921778.pdf (accessed 28 May 2021).
• Umar, B. (2002). Yunanlıların ve Anadolu Rumlarının Anlatımıyla İzmir Savaşı [The War of İzmir in the Accounts of Greeks and Anatolian Rum]. Istanbul: İnkilâp.
• Venezis, E. (1931). Το Νούμερο 31328: Σκλάβοι στα Εργατικά Τάγματα της Ανατολής: Ρομάντσο [Number 31328. Slaves in the Labour Battalions of Anatolia. A Romance]. Mytilini: Ekdotikos kai Typografikos Oikos N. Theoharid, and S. Lampadaridi. Venezis, E. (1943). Αιολική Γή [Aeolian Earth]. Athens: Alpha Publishers.
• Venezis, E. (1945). Το Νούμερο 31328. Το Βιβλίο της Σκλαβιάς [Number 31328. The Book of Bondage]. (second edition, revised) Athens: Oı Filoi tou Vivliou.
• Venezis, E. (2008 [1952]). Το Νούμερο 31328. [Number 31328] (third edition, revised) Athens: Estia. Venezis, E. (2013). Eolya Toprağı [Aeolian Earth) (Trans. Burcu Yamansavaşçılar). Istanbul: Belge Yayınları.
• Venezis, E. (2015) Numero 31328 Amele Taburu [Number 31328 Labour Battalions] (Trans. Evdokia Veriopulu). Istanbul: Belge Yayınları.
• Yalçın, K. (2005 [1998]). Emanet Çeyiz. Mübadele İnsanları [Entrusted Trousseau. Exchanged People]. Istanbul: Birzamanlar Yayıncılık