Dissidence of Ahmet Şerif Şerefli: The Trauma of the «Revival Process»

The article explores the destructive effects of forced Bulgarianization on the identity of a national minority, illustrated by the life and career of Ahmet Şerif Şerefli, a Bulgarian writer of Turkish descent who endured the ‘Revival Process’ policies in the 1980s. The analysis focuses on excerpts from his memoir «We Were Born Turks and Died as Turks» and his essay collection «First and Foremost, They Shackled Our Thoughts». These works highlight the significance of the Turkish language and Turkish identity. Şerefli’s memoirs argue that maintaining one’s native language is crucial for preserving Turkish identity amidst attempts to distort it. The memoirs serve as a means of articulating, processing trauma, and striving to repair a fractured identity. The writer’s traumatic experiences are reflected both thematically and structurally in his memoirs, which resemble a series of short epic narratives without chronological order, forming a mosaic of stories about life in Bulgaria, imprisonment, and Şerefli’s musings on his craft, the fate of his people, language, and identity. This fragmented structure underscores how trauma influences the way memories are expressed.