Historieskrivning och nationellt minne i Turkiet: en studie i hur historia kan glömmas och omöjliggöra ett folks upprättelse

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study is to examine Turkish nationalism in order to find what factors that play a part in Turkey's inability to confess and discuss such events as the Armenian Genocide, which took place between the years of 1915.-1923, by the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The factors found and examined closely are collective memory and the use of history. The paper is a case study of Turkey with a theoretical approach, trying to apply theories of nationalism, collective memory and history-writing on Turkish nationalism, in order to find an answer to how these factors stands in the way of reconciliation. Conclusions are that Turkey as a nation is stuck in a romanticization and glorification of the time of their founding leader, Atatürk, and the thought of the pure, homogenous Turkishness. This makes the nation incapable of discussing and accepting what others in this case acknowledges as historical facts. The taboo-making of these matters makes reconciliation today not possible.