The Summer School is organised by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies of the
Turkey–Armenia Journalists’ Dialogue Programme
Since the establishment of our Foundation in 2007, we are working to continue the legacy of Hrant Dink in the field of human rights and democratization, history, Armenia-Turkey relations, education, culture and arts. Amongst others, the normalization and development of Turkey’s relations with Armenia is one of the main objectives of the Foundation. We are keen on working on the elimination of the physical and mental barriers existing between the people of two countries.
Since 2009, the Hrant Dink Foundation has been organising the Turkey-Armenia Journalists’ Dialogue Programme. The Programme aims at strengthening ties between journalists in Armenia and Turkey, to open up new channels of cooperation and to contribute to the establishment of direct and accurate channels of communication and news making across the two countries.
In the 7th year of the program, we would like to host a group from Armenia, made up of 8 journalists, columnists, editors from various newspapers, news portals and televisions, in Istanbul & Diyarbakır from April 20th to April 26th 2015.
For this period, we will prepare a one-week program based on the interests and needs of our group whereby you will have the chance to hold one-to-one meetings with journalists from the print and broadcast media, non-governmental organisations working in the field of Turkey-Armenia relations, as well as politicians and academics. We will also include special visits in the program, so that you can gain a better understanding about the realities of Armenians of Turkey. 2015 marks the centenary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. The Genocide commemorations in Turkey have a recent history and the public commemorations held in the central square of Istanbul started in 2010. On April 24th, the centennial of the Genocide will be commemorated in Taksim Square in Istanbul. It will be a great opportunity for the journalists from Armenia and the Diaspora to witness these commemorations in Turkey and meet with their colleagues, politicians, civil society organisations and citizens. During the one-week program, apart from Istanbul, we are also aiming to take the journalists to Diyarbakır, which will enable them to meet with their colleagues there, visit the Surp Giragos Armenian Church and take part in the commemoration events in the city.
By the end of the program, we hope you will gain new perspectives and make new contacts in Turkey. We also encourage you to share your impressions, feelings and thoughts through the social media as much as possible, and later on to spread your articles, stories, columns through the news portals as well as print and broadcast media.
During the program, all travel, accommodation and meals will be covered thanks to the support of the MyMedia Program of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs/DANIDA.
The working language will be English. We will provide Turkish-English-Armenian interpretation whenever necessary.
If you are interested in taking part in the program please fill in the below application form and send your application to journalist@hrantdink.org.