A single voice of reason or Ahmet Altan has balls of Steel

You’ve probably never heard of him, but Ahmet Altan is a crusader for freedom and justice. He may not have a cape, but this Turkish journalist and founding editor of the left wing Turkish newspaper Taraf, represents dissent in a country where no serious political opposition exists. Altan and his newspaper strive to keep Turkey honest, a gargantuan effort in a country controlled entirely by the state. One of the issues Altan has been brave enough to tackle is the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Hrank Dink , Taner Akcam and countless others, have been arrested, jailed and even assassinated for doing the same. At the close of 2011, PEN International reported 30 writers/ journalists jailed, with 70 more pending trial.
Altan recently spoke at The Armenian Library and Museum of America. He stressed that the Turkish public is now readier than ever to understand the whole truth of the nation’s past. “Forget the state,” he told the audience, “go to the people.” If the way between Armenians and Turks is “through emotions,” as Altan suggested, then what better vehicle than narrative? I’ve always believed that narrative, people’s stories, were the key to understanding humanity. But is it enough? Will Angelina Jolie’s latest movie, In the Land of Blood and Honey, change the way the world sees the ethnic cleansing that occured in the early-to-mid 90s in Bosnia? Is it enough to pry open the wounds of a people for the whole world to take a good long look? And more importantly, will the exercise have any impact on the perpetrators of such crimes against humanity? Will books and movies like this serve to heal and bring about peace? Let’s hope so, because we all know how things end up when we leave it to the politicians. Maybe, if we’re lucky, the pen is indeed mightier than the sword.