I don't know that I remember the very first time that I spoke with him, but I have a first time in my memory, in the hallways where they had these posters of all the previous productions from student theater groups on the walls.

So I think we were vaguely aware of each other, but we

ran into each other and I remember, I just remember something like him realizing that I was

Turkish, which terrified me because I knew that he was Armenian and I didn't really have

any Armenian friends at that point. I think he said

something like, oh, Adsin, you're Turkish. I was like, yeah. And then he's like, you know I'm Armenian, right?

And I was like, oh, shit, where is this going to go? And I had been told by more hardlinelined Armenians that Turks are bad, they deny the genocide.

When I met Erson, and I learned he was Turkish, I felt a level of discomfort, but we hadn't had any sort of concrete discussion about history or anything like that.

So eventually, at some point, it came up and, you know, we quickly established that at that point,

what he said was he did not believe that there was an Armenian genocide, and we kept our distance.

Yeah. Armenian genocide and we kept our distance.

Today we have a story about our beliefs, about the things were brought up to know to be true about ourselves. Beliefs so strong and powerful that they shape the identity, culture, and attitudes of an entire nation.

And it's also about how, not in one particular moment, but in the moments over time, when we begin to question those very stories.

That uncomfortable space when we're faced with another truth that contradicts our own, and ultimately the histories we were taught over the course of our entire lives.

I'm Razana Zayani. I'm Hibba Fisher. And I'm Jackie Sophia, and I'll be telling you our story today.

This is Kearning Cultures, a podcast dissecting the complex narratives of the Middle East

through stories.

And you're listening to Pernan is predictable.

They've seen it happen.

And one story that always kind of captures my imagination.

The street's lost culture.

And you're listening to Kearning cultures.

...