I believe it undermines Ataturk’s conception of everyone inside Turkey being Turkish. I suspect Turkish elites are kind of wary of acknowledging the existence of minorities since at least half the fucking Ottoman Empire was pried out of their hands by emphasizing ethnic differences (and the rest of Turkey in Anatolia was nearly colonized as well). A kind of odd religious Turkish friend talked with me about this once and explained her view (not mine) that the Armenians were traitors who were working with the Russians and therefore asking for it even though no genocide actually took place? Others who know better than me please correct me if I’m mistaken.

I visited Turkey and found it pretty amazing. It’s such a fascinating place. There’s so many civilizations that have come and gone there. The Turks themselves are relatively recent arrivals but they’re in this odd situation where the most incredible building in their biggest city is a Byzantine church. My friend tried to square this circle by describing herself as Anatolian rather than Turkish, which is probably true, but it kind of reminds me of Elizabeth Warren ranting like a lunatic about her ancestor’s high cheekbones.