P14: Male - Tr - Yavaş Gamats

EXPECTATION
The first time, I heard there is a project of combining people, particularly Armenians and Turks, thought that is what I looking for. I have done it with a greeks (Turg..?) and suggested to do with armenians but became of several reason refused.

The first Armenian I met during my life was an American Armenian whose father was from Diyarbakır, the city I came from. So it is obvious, Armenian used to live there because when you visit old city so many armenian churches, houses etc. welcome you.

And I used to think, it is time to lift prejudges discover that, people are quite different than the way which our school books talk about. I was expecting to see people, open, ready to communicate and discuss, never mean solved problems in the minds but can take favour from the contrubiton that the others can supply.

11.08.05
I had a very early beginning, almost 6:30 AM. I was the first participant, till afternoon when Dikran arrived who was coming from Syria. And in the evening rest of the group.

The first day of the programme, was better than my expectation, everybody quite nice and ready to comunicate. The lectures were very intensive but scholar. Enjoyed whole subjected.

And, I was partipating in the newspaper board. We really tried to do our best for it and this morning when I read it, thought it worths…

12.08.05
It was a dense day. After having the courses, finally we had chance for sightseeing in the city. Visited a great mosaic museum which I know, one of the rare mosaic museums in the world. Also St. Pierre church was a fantastic place, a church in the rock…

And finally Harbiye. A nice view. Even you cannot see the fall, it was nice to hear of the water and imagine :) And back hotel, having fun in the reception. Almost 3 AM. Bed time…

13.08.05
(Saturday) It was a usual day, but liked the lectures, particularly the one about Nationalism. We had a chance to discuss and hear different approaches.

After the class, some uf us went to Lunapark and had a great fun…

(Sunday) After the course visited Vakıfköy and folk-danced, all Armenians, Kurd and Turk…

14.08.05
Only think I can mention about Sunday is LORKE

16.08.05
It was the last day of the lectures. And visited the church and had an other “lecture” there from the priest. But it was nice, and after trampolin section where we jumped and improve Turkey-Armenia relations.

Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process is a programme implemented by a Consortium of eight civil society organisations from both countries with the financial assistance of the European Union under the Instrument for Stability.

The overall objective of the programme is to promote civil society efforts towards the normalisation of relations between Turkey and Armenia and towards an open border by enhancing people-to-people contacts, expanding economic and business links, promoting cultural and educational activities and facilitating access to balanced information in both societies.

The Consortium partners include Civilitas Foundation (CF), Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF), Public Journalism Club (PJC), Regional Studies Center (RSC) from Armenia; and Anadolu Kültür, the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV), Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (hCa), and Hrant Dink Foundation from Turkey. The programme will include a series of activities such as media support, TV talk shows and citizen reporting to contribute to better mutual understanding.

The programme will also include travelling discussions; workshops and trainings for youth and teachers; exchange of artists, architects, and entrepreneurs; fellowship opportunities and travel support to enhance encounters and cooperation across the border. Research on business and economic opportunities; celebrity discussions about the past; and opinion exchanges of high-level former officials will also be a part of the programme.

One of the main pillars of the Programme is inclusiveness – to engage and support new actors in the dialogue process. To this end, the Consortium created a Grant Scheme to invite individuals and civil society organisations from Armenia and Turkey - other than the Consortium members - to propose and implement their own project ideas, which will contribute to the overall objective of the Programme and multiply the shared outcomes.

The results of all activities will be shared with the public through the trilingual website, which will serve as a networking tool featuring the overall picture of the past, current, and future developments in Armenia-Turkey dialogue initiatives.

For further information, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.