As an undergraduate student at Sabancı University, Kerem conducted an oral history interview with 'elder brother' Turgut [fictive kinship], who is a film director in Turkey (Turgut Yasalar). In his project, Kerem investigates the effects and results of the 12 September 1980 coup d'état in Turgut's life.
Kerem: “Later on, when I talked with elder brother Turgut, I realized that I was the first person to whom he told this part of his life in detail and for this reason, this was the part where he cried the most. I also realized that no matter how traumatic they were, the stories that had been told before got worn in time and became suitable for sharing. However, this was not the case for those that had not been spoken of before.”
“The most important thing that the transcription process taught me is that I was not a good listener. When transcribing, I became aware of many crucial details that I missed during the interview.”
From the interview:
“In fact, by accepting me, Darüşşafaka [a high school] re-formatted me. I was transformed into someone who no longer belonged to my [social] class. However, by expelling me, it made me part of yet another class. What could our so-called leftism there mean, at the age of 16? There was no serious leftist movement yet at the time. It was so naïve… We had elder brothers from the ’68 generation. Yes, leftist organizations did exist, but we did not even know who they were, where they were… Only after I was expelled from that school, of course…I, for example, in a sense, they pushed me into a socialist movement or a leftist organization.”
“People living near that Police Department in Gayrettepe moved out because they could not sleep at night due to the screams and cries. Years after, I shot scenes of my film, ‘Fog and Night’ in those locations where I had been tortured. Life is like that…And they have turned those cells and thereabouts into a canteen.”
