You Rejoice My Heart

by Kemal Yalçın You Rejoice My Heart reflects the author’s encounter with deeply uncomfortable truths regarding the mass persecution of Armenians in his native Turkey, a subject he engages in the most open and compassionate manner. "During the preparation of my book, I knocked on the doors of many Armenians. None of these people knew me before. For the first time, a Turk was asking about their backgrounds and wanted to revive their ‘memories’ that had been covered up and forgotten. These people trusted me and opened their doors, their hearts, their thoughts. They opened up and told me about their own or their families’ life stories. I saw that the Armenians I met were experiencing a pain that they could not express and did not wish to express. As they spoke, I realized that every Armenian was a drop from a sea of pain, a flower blooming on the fire, a broken heart. This book helps us to get to know the Armenians with whom we have lived for centuries, a people with their own history, culture, and national identity. I wanted to feel and understand the pain they carried within them, and to think about our past in a healthy, warm and friendly way.”       –From the Turkish edition of this work, Seninle Güler Yüreğim (2006). 396 Pages Gomidas Institute (2024)