Maksudyan, Nazan. “Walls of Silence: Translating the Armenian Genocide into Turkish Self-Censorship” (2009)

Nazan Maksudyan describes how Turkey’s nationalist ideology influences Turkish translations of English historical texts regarding the Armenian genocide. “[T]ranslators, editors and publishers … strive to abide by social and contextual norms and not to conflict with predominant ideas in the society,” meaning they censor themselves because they do not want to contradict the “dominant historical narrative” that denies the Armenian genocide has ever happened (636). (Self-)censorship is enforced through “a set of unwritten rules,” determined by nationalists who “demand” a glorified and positive narrative of Turkey’s past, which dictates the production of the translated works (638). Maksudyan describes three methods of how censorship distorts the historical narrative: extirpation—erasing and connecting loose passages of the text (640); euphemization—weakening the original argument of the author in order to make contradiction of historical facts easier (641); and denial of the author’s authority—changing the author’s intent (643). In this manner, the “official Turkish historiography” is kept in “perfect harmony” (646).

Important to note is that this article only looks at texts that originate from English and were first published between 1950-2000. Moreover, it was published in 2009, meaning that its findings could be outdated. Maksudyan also notes that there have been books which have not resorted to “any self-censorship mechanisms” (649). However, considering that the Turkish Republic still refuses to acknowledge the genocide as such and that censorship laws such as Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code are also in effect, Maksudyan’s findings about (self-) censorship show how Turkey uses this method to deny the genocide. Any reference to the Armenian genocide in the texts used by Maksudyan is either translated to Turkish as an act of self-defense or as a consequence of war rather than systematic killings. Armenian genocide denial has been inscribed in the invented history of Turkey since the formation of the Republic in 1923. It has become the only truth that is accepted by the Turkish state and its citizens. The denialism, aided by censorship, perpetuates the victim-perpetrator debate with both groups, Armenian and Turkish, claiming themselves to be the victim.

Author of this entry: Helenie Demir.

Maksudyan, Nazan. “Walls of Silence: Translating the Armenian Genocide into Turkish Self-Censorship.” Critique 37, no. 4 (2009): 635-649.