Informed by the neo- Freudian trauma theories of Cathy Caruth, Judith Herman and other scholars, this paper examines the intricate process of reconstructing fractured identities in Elif Shafak’s controversial novel The Bastard of Istanbul (2007) shedding light on the characters’ attempt to survive trauma as a prerequisite to self-restoration. Set at the crossroads of America and Turkey, the past and present and evolving around the dialectic of disclosure and silence, The Bastard of Istanbul juxtaposes two terrible traumas: the Armenian collective trauma of the genocide and the Turkish personal trauma of incestuous rape by creating an encounter between two traumatized Istanbulite families the exiled Armenian-Americans, the Tachakhmachians, (the victims) and the cursed Turks, the Kazancis (the perpetrators). While the survivors of the Armenian genocide seek self- healing through remembering, storytelling and collective memory construction, the Turkish characters, particularly Zeliha, a survivor of an incestuous rape whose story is inhabited by the impossibility of telling, opt for silence and memory dissociation to soothe their pain. Though the novel exposes two divergent processes of self-healing, the confrontation with the past is underscored as a crucial step for the oppressor as well as the oppressed to remake their damaged selves. The whole novel can be read as a reflection of guilt and a serious invitation from the empire’s own center for a re-narration of its history and reconciliation with its tumultuous past.