“70 THOUSAND ASSYRIANS” BOOK BY WILLIAM SAROYAN PUBLISHED IN TURKISH
ISTANBUL, November 19 (Noyan Tapan). On the occasion of the book
fair of Istanbul the “70 Thousand Assyrians” book by William Saroyan
was among the 3 books published by the “Aras” publishing-house in
2004. The book was translated into Turkish by Hovhannes Gljdagh and
Aziz Geokdemir.
According to the “Marmara” newspaper of Istanbul, besides
translation, Geokdemir also gave a number of commentaries in the
preface in connection with Saroyan’s literature and Turkish-Armenian
relations. Geokdemir touches upon 1915 Genocide of Armenians and the
arguments regarding 1915 events. He reminds that Saroyan also often
wrote about these materials pointing to the last work included into the
book where Saroyan writes: “Come and exterminate this people if you
can.” Geokdemir, however, added that Saroyan was one of the writers
who considers not the peoples but individuals to be responsible for
the lawless actions of the world. “Saroyan became Saroyan owing to
the very broad-mindedness,” he emphasized.
The book consisting of about 200 pages is summed up in the “You are
Armenian, Armenian” Saroyan’s work where Saroyan expresses his faith
in the steadfastness of Armenian people.