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ON ZOHRAB
**************************
By 1915 we had been so thoroughly ottomanized
that we found the concept of genocide unthinkable.
We ignored countless warnings
by foreign as well as domestic observers.
When Zohrab predicted the coming catastrophe,
he was dismissed with the words;
“Zohrab effendi is exaggerating.”
*
It is to be noted that Zohrab wasn’t just a writer.
a dealer in abstractions, a scribbler
or mental masturbator --
as most Armenians prefer to think of their
“medavoragans” (intellectuals) and
“vodanavorjis” (versifiers).
He was an insider,
a member of the Ottoman 1%,
a close friend of Talaat and
an internationally respected lawyer..
*
I have been translating and writing
for forty years now
and all I have accomplished is
making more enemies who,
judging by their comments,
regret the fact that I am lucky
not to have someone like Talaat and Stalin
to deal with.
*
Talaat and Stalin: hombres with cojones
who knew how to deal with scum like me.
*
Why do I continue to write?
The only conceivable answer:
death wish.
#
**************************
By 1915 we had been so thoroughly ottomanized
that we found the concept of genocide unthinkable.
We ignored countless warnings
by foreign as well as domestic observers.
When Zohrab predicted the coming catastrophe,
he was dismissed with the words;
“Zohrab effendi is exaggerating.”
*
It is to be noted that Zohrab wasn’t just a writer.
a dealer in abstractions, a scribbler
or mental masturbator --
as most Armenians prefer to think of their
“medavoragans” (intellectuals) and
“vodanavorjis” (versifiers).
He was an insider,
a member of the Ottoman 1%,
a close friend of Talaat and
an internationally respected lawyer..
*
I have been translating and writing
for forty years now
and all I have accomplished is
making more enemies who,
judging by their comments,
regret the fact that I am lucky
not to have someone like Talaat and Stalin
to deal with.
*
Talaat and Stalin: hombres with cojones
who knew how to deal with scum like me.
*
Why do I continue to write?
The only conceivable answer:
death wish.
#
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