Istanbul Remembered: An Armenian Childhood

Liji, as I have come to know her, told me she is content with her life. Anything she dreamt of achieving was always within her reach. Her silences told me otherwise. Her life story is one that both complements and contradicts the master narrative of the Turkish nation. In this essay, I explore her life story as she shared it with me one afternoon sitting in her summer flat on Büyükada. I have added quotes from her memoirs and used unique archival material to fill in some of the gaps, but I have left her silences be.