An Obsession with Denial

In 2015, on the eve of the centennial commemorations of the Armenian Genocide, we interviewed journalists and authors Guillaume Perrier and Laure Marchand about the political and societal shifts in Turkey’s reckoning with its past over the years. While a portion of Turkish society, prominent journalists, academicians, and cultural and political leaders have acknowledged the Genocide, and significant progress has been made in the recognition of the Genocide by the international community since that time—not least of which the official recognition by the United States achieved just last year—much of the denialist attitude and rhetoric in Turkish politics remains the same. Here, Marchand and Perrier reveal their own impressions, which are still relevant today, of this still largely taboo issue as they experienced it during their ten years living and working in that country.

Produced by AGBU WebTalks in partnership with the Zoryan Institute.

Originally published April 2020.

About the speaker

Guillaume Perrier, Laure Marchand

Guillaume Perrier is a French journalist and writer. He was a correspondent for Le Monde in Turkey from 2005 to 2014 and covered all major events in the region. Laure Marchand is a French journalist and writer. She was Le Figaro's correspondent in Istanbul from 2006 to 2014. Together they co-authored La Turquie et le Fantôme Arménien (Turkey and the Armenian Ghost) (Actes Sud), an award-winning book translated into Turkish (Iletisim, 2014) and English (McGill-Queen’s University Press) on the centennial of the Armenian Genocide in April 2015.

Guillaume Perrier, Laure Marchand