One of the issues that created a significant turning point in terms of collective memory in Turkey's recent history is the events of September 6-7, 1955, when, following news that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's house in Thessaloniki had been bombed, Greeks, Armenians, and Jews were targeted. Considering the Cyprus issue of the 1950s, the way news about these events is presented provokes strong public reactions and fuels nationalist tensions. As a result, the homes and businesses of non-Muslims were looted in Istanbul and other parts of Turkey. While official history addresses this event from different perspectives, the recent rise of memory studies has brought concepts such as trauma, violence, grief, and silence into public discourse. Through Turkish novels, the focus shifts to reflecting on narrative ruptures and silences by viewing events from the perspective of the victim's memory. The aim of this study is not to examine the issue within a political context, but to reveal how this issue is discussed and remembered in literature. The narrative representation of events is presented in six Turkish novels: İstanbullular, Bir Deliler Evinin Yalan Yanlış Anlatılan Kısa Tarihi, Beyoğlu’nun En Güzel Abisi, Beyoğlu Rapsodisi, Pazarın Yalnızları-Beyoğlu and Serenad. The novels open up a discussion, through the lens of space and time, on the exile, mourning, and trauma processes experienced by the minority group who lived through the events of September 6-7. Instead of simply recounting how historical events unfolded, the focus is on the connection literature establishes with the past through fictional characters.
Turkish novel, 6-7 September events, Collective memory, Trauma, Mourning.