Ebru Özşahin was a student at the Sabancı University Cultural Studies M.A. Program when she conducted an oral history interview with a middle-aged adult who was raised in a military family. The interview reflects on the tense relationship between someone from the ’60 generation and his father, the effects of military discipline on everyday life, and the ensuing ruptures.
Ebru: “We talked for a total of four hours. It was an unusual experience for both of us. After turning off the recorder, he thanks me for not having asked ‘hard’ questions that do not have answers. In return, I thank him for sharing his life with me. He hugs me at the door, and I hug him. I feel like I made a friend.”
E.: “If you imagine it like, we went to a picnic with my dad, Rocky Mountains, or something like this... There was no such relationship. In fact, I observed that no one has such a relationship in my generation. At best, people go to watch soccer games. I, too, went to my first game with my father. I went to the movie theater first with my dad, but it (the relationship) stayed there, there were two things that we did together.”
“But besides that, as I said, usually there is no such relationship between father and son in our culture. I mean, from my point of view, it is not like in the American movies, baseball games, then eating hot dogs, then fishing. No such thing. Those are my first memories. The movie was ET, by the way, which means that my first visit to the movie theater is in ‘78-‘79. I remember the match of Besiktaş and Eskişehir at İnönü Stadium, those are the first things that I remember.”
This interviewee preferred that his name and photograph not be used.