Making the opening speech at the program held at AAtölye, AA Deputy General Manager of Administrative and Financial Affairs Oğuz Enis Peru said that he believed that this meeting was an important step towards understanding Palestine.
Stating that the Palestine Dictionary was prepared with the effort of being a map of meaning within a memory, Peru said, "A very comprehensive study dealing with Palestine in its historical, legal, political, economic and cultural dimensions has emerged. Such a study was needed." he said.
Emphasizing that memory, meaning and words have also been destroyed in Palestine, Peru said, "We have not only been talking about the occupation of lands for a while. We can say that we are going through a period in which words are also occupied. Some events are taken out of context. Some words replace the truth as they are repeated. Therefore, language is not only the house of thought, but also the house of memory. Protecting a word is sometimes protecting a memory. Recording a concept correctly is a testimony left to the future." he said.
"Palestine Dictionary is an alternative to the occupied literature"
Pointing out that reality gains a different appearance in the language used, Peru continued as follows:
"The pain experienced by a people can be trivialized with a few words. The methodology of the Palestine Dictionary is based on these relationships. The reader does not have to read a single article and leave the work. He can reach the history of Palestine by tracing a concept. He can move from a historical event to a legal debate. He can reach the cultural memory from a name. He can have the opportunity to look at the story of an entire geography from a city. For this reason, we do not see the Palestine Dictionary as a repository of information. We see it as a suggestion for a way of thinking. However, an alternative literature emerges against the occupied literature." puts it."
Stating that Palestine Dictionary has redefined the concepts, Peru said, "It uses the expressions 'apartheid wall' or 'wall of shame' instead of 'security wall', 'usurper' instead of 'settler', '1967 Israeli aggression' instead of 'six-day war'. It also takes a stance against manipulation with the concepts of 'Hasbara', 'holocaust industry', 'anti-Semitism' and 'medical missionary'." "273 academics and researchers from different fields of science contributed to the Palestine Dictionary. A meticulous work was carried out in 15 different editorial fields, resulting in a very comprehensive work consisting of 630 articles." he said.
Emphasizing that keeping records about the story of Palestine carries a great responsibility, Peru said, "As Anadolu Agency, we have been feeling this responsibility in recent years. Anadolu Agency followed the attacks of the Israeli administration, which started in October 2023, with 112 reporters, photojournalists and freelance reporters in the region. 26 of them personally worked in Gaza. We presented what happened in Gaza to the world's witness. Our reporters tried to fulfill their duties in the field by risking their lives." he said.
"Placing the concepts in place should be one of our top priorities."
Later, a panel was held about the Palestine Dictionary book.
AA Board Member and Marmara University Dr. moderated the panel. Lecturer Büşra Tosun Durmuş reminded that in addition to Palestine, which has been occupied for more than half a century, its concepts are also occupied.
Underlining that the book is a struggle for the fortification of the truth, Durmuş said, "We live in an age where the occupation is carried out not only with guns and barrels, but also with perceptions, concepts and a consciously distorted rhetoric. They try to cover up the truth by calling the genocide an operation, the exile as an evacuation, and the great occupation as an ordinary conflict. In this process where words and concepts are under such a heavy attack, understanding the truth by name and placing the concepts in their place should be one of our most important priorities. The Palestine Dictionary, which we came together today for the purpose of introducing It emerged as a result of this concern." made his assessment.
"As academics, our job is to deal with the invasion of concepts."
One of the editors of the book, Hitit University Faculty Member Prof. Dr. Metin Uçar stated that they established the Palestinian Academic Thought Platform after the Israeli attacks that started on October 7, 2023.
Pointing out that the Palestinian issue is not limited to Palestine, Uçar said, "There is organized evil. There is a structure that somehow controls and exploits the whole world. This appears in a very concrete way in Palestine. Therefore, we are talking about the issue through Palestine." he said.
Stating that, as has been said, there is also an invasion of concepts, Uçar continued his words as follows:
"As academics, our job is to deal with the occupation of concepts. Since Palestinians' own land has been occupied and they are fighting against it, our concepts have been occupied and we must fight against it. Of course, when we put the issue in this way, it becomes everyone's problem. Since the concepts are under occupation, our aim is to save the concepts from occupation. We said the best way to do this would be a dictionary. When we came up with this idea, we talked about it, agreed with our friends, and then started the organization process. We did this job at the center of the Palestinian Academic Thought Platform."
"This story needs to be written"
One of the editors is Ankara University Faculty Member Prof. Dr. Hasan Yücel Başdemir also said that there were concepts that made Palestine's struggle invisible and that the intellectual basis to support the resistance was never provided.
Pointing out that the expressions used regarding the Palestinian issue should be questioned, Başdemir stated that although Israel described its attacks in Gaza as a "security operation", the United Nations reports included findings that many children were shot and killed in the region.
Stating that the dictionary aims to reveal an authentic narrative, Başdemir said, "This story needs to be written. This story needs to start somewhere, have a flow and this flow needs to continue. This needs to be reflected in our daily lives, finance, education, cinema and academia. That's why we tell it. This is how we completed the story told by this dictionary." he said.
"The concept of 'Sumud', which expresses determination, gave us strength"
Assistant editor of the book, Hitit University PhD Pınar Ayşe Gidiş, stated that they aim to reconstruct the concepts from local sources by purifying them from manipulation and colonialist language.
Drawing attention to the unique and interdisciplinary structure of the project, Gidiş stated that 10-12 different text versions were prepared for each article, that the editor and his assistants held meetings for an average of 2.5 hours every evening for more than two years, and that they worked 8-9 hours a day to prepare the meetings.
Gidiş stated that cross-reading, source and citation checks were carried out line by line, and noted that only 48 articles within the scope of the letter "A" went through the editorial process 294 times.
Stating that the dictionary was designed not only as a reference source but also as a work that can be read from beginning to end, Gidiş said that connections were made between the articles with reading guides, references, "see" and "see also" notes.
Stating that there are three separate reading guides in the dictionary that offer academic reading, reading with 55 questions and article suggestions at different levels, Gidiş said, "We aim to read our dictionary from beginning to end. We have made special efforts for a holistic reading, not just looking at an article and closing it." he said.
Stating that they draw strength in their work from the concept of "sumud", which expresses the resistance and determination of the Palestinian people, Gidiş said, "The magnificent concept they call sumud has always given us strength. We are not tired, we have become even stronger. We truly owe them a lot." he said.
AA Deputy General Manager and Editor-in-Chief Yusuf Özhan, AA Board Members Prof. attended the program. Dr. Yusuf Özkır and Prof. Dr. İsmail Çağlar, AA Academy and Publications Coordinator Yahya Bostan, AA Publications and Productions Coordinator Oğuz Karakaş, AA Technology Coordinator Emre Çebişli, academicians and Agency employees attended.
