“TURKEY, KEMALISM AND THE SOVIET UNION”: PRESENTATION OF BOOK AT YSU

The presentation was held in Charents hall of YSU.

The YSU Scientific Secretary Levon Hovsepyan, the Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Professor Ruben Melkonyan, the head of the Chair of Turkish Studies Alexander Safaryan, the head of the Chair of Arabic Studies Hayk Kocharyan, the head of the division of Genocide Studies of YSU IAS Suren Manukyan, lecturers and students were present at the event.

Ruben Melkonyan performed a greeting speech. “Armenian science must be represented to the world, particularly as regards Turkish Studies. Due to Vahram Ter-Matervosyan’s numerous articles as well as this monography, Armenian Turkish Studies is getting more recognized”, said Ruben Melkonyan.

Congratulating the colleague, Professor Melkonyan also said, “Due to this book a number of episodes of Armenian history are becoming more available to wide academic circles.

Besides, studies of Kemalism are of great significance when we want to understand Turkey. Such themes as Stalin’s position to Kemalism, today’s understanding of Kemalism and others can be found in the book”.

Vahram Ter-Matevosyan told about the creation of the book noting that the idea of starting the monography had appeared years before when he had started studying Kemalism.
“One of my main goals was to prove that living and working in Armenia we can be published in the most prestigious publishing houses of the world. What is created in Armenia is quite competitive, particularly in the field of Oriental Studies”, said the author of the monography.

Mr. Ter-Matevosyan also spoke about the process of publication. The main goal of the work was to refer to the blanks in Kemalism studies, to present the dynamics of Kemalism development and interior changes.

The monography was followed by the lecture entitled “Turkey, Kemalism and the Soviet Union: Problems of Modernization Ideology and Interpretation” during which the speaker presented the opinions about Kemalism definition.

Dr. Ter-Matevosyan also told about the reformation of Kemalism in the 1920-1930s, about Kemalism transition into super power in the 1940-1950s.

The author also spoke about 6 principles of Kemalism: republicanism, nationalism, secularity, revolutionism, democracy, etatism.

Among the features of the Soviet Union Dr. Ter-Matevosyan outlined Stalin interpretation, suspiciousness, distrust, criticism as well as Kemalism influence on social solidarity.

The lecture was followed by a discussion.