My Ethnic Quest
London: Gomidas Institute, 2012
x + 186 pp.
ISBN 978-1-903656-28-0
UK£12.00/US$18.00
To order please contact books@gomidas.org
My Ethnic Quest delves into conflicts that stem from issues of national identity, religious intolerance and social prejudice againstr Turkey's minorities. The book presents a mosaic of ethnicities: of Jews, Greeks, Armenians, Syriacs, Kurds, Yezidis abd others. However, it also describes the silence imposed by the state to reduce the centuries-old mosaic into a frab mural. Much of this reflection has been sustained with unique personal narratives reflecting on a range of issues from everyday pressures on minorities to assimilate to such extraordinary episodes as discriminatory conscription into labour battalions (1941), confiscatory taxation with the imposition of the Capital Levy Tax (1942-43), anti-Jewish measures in Thrace (June-July 1934) and organised pogroms against Greek communities (September, 1955). It is against such a background that the author had to leave his native land for good.
About the author
Agop J. Hacikyan was born in Istanbul and moved to Canada in 1957. A Professor Emeritus of Literary Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada, he is the author of books on literature, linguistics and novels, including A Summer without Dawn, an international bestseller. He has also translated and edited the works of major Armenian poets and fiction writers. He lives in Montreal.
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About the author
Agop J. Hacikyan was born in Istanbul and moved to Canada in 1957. A Professor Emeritus of Literary Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada, he is the author of books on literature, linguistics and novels, including A Summer without Dawn, an international bestseller. He has also translated and edited the works of major Armenian poets and fiction writers. He lives in Montreal.