On the last day of the summer school, we asked our friends to answer the following questions, in order to give an overall evaluation of this summer school. Here are some of the answers they gave for each question…

1. What are three things you think you will tell others about the Gamats Gamats/Yavas Yavas Summer School, when you return home?

1. You can't even imagine how nice people they were. I have a new thinking about Turkish people and Turkey (partly). More close friends, more details. I know a lot of Turkish words. 2. I had a good rest. I was swimming in the sea. I saw Istanbul, Musa ler, Antakya, I also ate kunefe! :) 3. It was a good organized summer school with the best academicians, trainers, with lectures on interesting topics. I didn't want to come back!!!
(Participant, Armenia)

1. It gave all of us an opportunity to get to know and to communicate with "real" Turkish people that are away from stereotypes. 2. Through this program I made a clear opinion about peace building and that peace is possible anywhere among people. You should just be optimistic and smart. 3. Through this program I made friends with almost everyone from the Turkish group which means that both of our countries' societies can build strong relations in politics, in economy etc.
(Participant, Armenia)

All of my expectations came true. This is a summer school, school, but so much different from other schools. No pressure, no prejudice, no unkind behaving... I'll remember just lots of fun we had together, and our trainings about understanding the real problem... Maybe not official but I solved the problem in my mind. Friendship, negotiation in a way and group-work... Those are my keywords.
(Participant, Turkey)

1. I can say that, it was really so useful for all of us and 2. When anybody gives a decision about an ethnical or national group, I would say that "first, you have to meet with someone from this society" 3. Being with respectful academicians was really a big chance for me.
(Participant, Turkey)

1) Things are not black and white, as we used to think 2) You can overcome your complexes and stereotypes making efforts to open your eyes and heart. It is possible. 3) One meeting is not enough, we need more face to face communication involving larger audience of youth in two countries.
(Tutor, Armenia)

2. From the summer school, what did you find most useful?

Of course lectures and discussions were very important but the most important thing for me was discovering new people. I've never thought that some day I will spend my best summer days with Turkish students. Living with them, joking with them... Also it was important to see the real life of our neighbors, to see it from inside and not from TV or newspapers.
(Participant, Armenia)

Our semi-official journal "Gamats-Yavas", of course.
(Participant, Turkey)

It's very difficult to define the most useful thing out of range of useful ones. Maybe the fact, that the participants of both countries felt free, were ready to, were open for joint activities and cooperation.
(Tutor, Armenia)

1. Communications with Turkish youth. Learning about Turkish history from the other point of view. 3. Freedom in thinking about our countries' conflicts.
(Participant, Armenia)

Doing project, presentations, lessons of Murat Belge and Ferhat Kentel, newspapers (they were really in a harmony to keep us busy and keep us in connection)
(Participant, Turkey)

3. Were the thematic lectures useful for you? Which thematic lecture did you like the most? Why?

Most of them were very interesting. Especially I liked the lectures of Murat Belge, as an expert and clever person giving us opportunity to think freer and get rid of stereotypes. And I also liked the lecture about journalism.
(Participant, Armenia)

Each of them was concentrated on different topics and the way that lecturers presented their topics were quite relevant to questions in our minds and our assumptions. The one that I liked most was Ferhat Kentel, Murat Belge and Nazan Maksudyan's lecture on globalization and identity because through their points I learned the definitions of these concepts fully.
(Participant, Turkey)

Yes they were useful. Learning something about the history of Turkey and also Armenia :) The most I liked the lecture about peace journalism as it showed us that we should think well before writing or even saying something, not to confuse someone who is listening to you, or reading an article. Useful even for everyday life.
(Participant, Armenia)

Sure, thematic lectures were useful for me. I just can't tell exactly which one I liked more. They were all connected or at least I could find some links between them.
(Participant, Armenia)

I think all lectures were useful. The lecture of Ferhat Kentel about his research was beneficial to understand opinion of Armenian Society.
(Participant, Turkey)

4. What about the group-work time? What did you do in the group-works? Did you enjoy it? What were the things you liked/disliked about them?

I liked it very much. We learned lots of different things about Armenia, education, gender, wedding ceremonies, dishes, military services, and mass media. I enjoyed it very much. All the people in my group are very positive and I liked to talk to them.
(Participant, Turkey)

I didn't like the diaries which we were writing everyday. But our group works were very interesting and funny. We were preparing a play about the kingdom of Lemonene and about the biggest lie. And we used to start our group work with morning exercises called "Tyotya-Motya" :)
(Participant, Armenia)

I liked our group-work because we danced a lot and I learned some Turkish dances. I had a very interesting and funny time during our group-work.
(Participant, Armenia)

Sometimes I thought group-work times were boring also I heard similar opinions of other participants. But I liked to prepare a dictionary in Armenian and Turkish.
(Participant, Turkey)

Hmm! This is a hard one because I wasn't feeling so comfortable in my group. When we were doing the map of conflict resolution kind of thing I was going crazy actually. I felt like I had to defense and explain the necessity of everything that we are doing. I don't know if I am overreacting or not, I didn't feel like we became a group and had fun, in most of the cases. But what we came up with in the end was great and necessary so though the process was sometimes kind of hard for me, in the end it was OK!
(Participant, Turkey)

5. Do you think summer schools or similar activities can positively affect the peace-building processes? How? Do you think this one did?

If people coming to these summer schools believe in that they can affect something positively than surely they can. And I believe most of my friends come here because they wanted a change in both societies -so this will be (not could be I'm sure of it) helpful in developing communication of both societies.
(Participant, Turkey)

Yes, summer schools like this one can have a positive affect on the peace building process. Many of the conflicts and prejudices are created because there is no direct contact between the both sides. Events such as summer schools provide good opportunity for students to exchange ideas in search for better understanding. It also helps us become friends which could play dynamic role in the future.
(Participant, Armenia)

I'm nearly sure that this kind of activities can positively affect the peace building process. We all became good friends during this school. I'm sure we'll help each other with some information, materials and the cooperation from lowest level of society can bring to the establishment of peace.
(Participant, Armenia)

Of course it can positively affect the peace building processes. This one was successful from my view. Gamats Yavas created a small group in both countries who believe in the peace building process between Turkey and Armenia. At least, now we know that behind the border there are no "strangers" but there are some people who we know something about. Psychologically, if someone is familiar with the other, he/she feels more positive about it.
(Participant, Turkey)

Yes they affect the peace-building processes, as for example in this case we got to know each other better, learned about the culture, also the differences are not big and they don't play the important role in our lives in my opinion. And on the way back home we're going to tell our friends and others about the summer school, and maybe people will also change their opinion and learn more, as the "unknowingness" is the main reason of the conflicts.
(Participant, Armenia)

No I don't think so. I call such kind of activities (summer schools, protests, etc.) "Hitting the water" which means a waste of time and forces in vain.
(Participant, Armenia)

Of course, this kind of activities affects the peace building processes positively. Sharing ideas, destroying prejudices, building new friendships and mutual perceptions are always positive for peace building processes.
(Participant, Turkey)

6. Among those you tasted in Antakya, which food did you like the most?

Looking at all the answers given to this question, we should say that undoubtedly, “kunefe” won the prize for this question!

7. Did the summer school meet your expectations? What did you expect & what did you attain? Any remarkable anecdotes/memories that you would like to share?

If honestly, it went beyond my expectations. I was expecting to see extremely serious people with ties and the same attitude but... It's great that it wasn't so and so many intelligent people got together and discussed topics that are so important in nowadays. I'll never forget the day and the night at Vakiflikoy. Where I was so excited and so impressed by the way people there celebrated. And it meant a lot to me when my Turkish friends were dancing and having fun with all of us.
(Participant, Armenia)

Surely, summer school met my expectations; moreover exceed my expectations in some sense. The surprising level of solidarity and proper readiness to deal with the problems existed and reveal new ways of their handling. It's my pleasure to accompany Armenian participants during the summer school and make my modest contribution to the initiative having a presentation of TARC activities. I hope follow-up is coming soon. Generally, memories come after. For the time being in Turkey it would be very difficult to surprise you with any memory. The same is in the case of anecdotes.
(Tutor, Armenia)

Yes, it mostly did. I got much better understanding of things that concerns Turkey, Turks and our relations.... There are many remarkable things about the summer school. One of them was discovering that the most Armenian song Lorke is also Turkish and Kurdish, the other one is Raki, I didn't expect it to be that strong!
(Participant, Armenia)

Yes, I expected to break my memorized prejudices and I broke lots of them (not all of course) but I have a tendency to research more about dialogues between Armenia and Turkey. I have lots of memories. At the wedding day at the hotel, we sang "lorke" and danced very much with Turkish, Arabic, English songs. We, at the bus, have lots of joyful memories. While coming back to the hotel from the seaside, we learned Badirjan - Bibar song from Isabella and I never forget that song's words. We also sang Lorke in three languages: Armenian, Turkish, and Kurdish. Anatolia is a place that everything is mixed and complicated.
(Participant, Turkey)

No, the summer school hadn't met my expectations. I was expecting more serious, interesting, useful and concerning to the theme dialogues while in the lectures.
(Participant, Armenia)

Yes, it met my expectations. Actually I was expecting nervous meetings with topics of conflicts from the beginning. But I saw that, first getting to know each other and then talking about conflicts was a great idea. I saw that conflicts can easily be solved by youth. When I got sick, I was sleeping in my room and two girls Lilit and Mariam came and asked if I was OK. That was really important for me because it meant that we became good friends and they liked me that much, which enough to ask how I was. It meant a lot to me
(Participant, Turkey)

8. One last thing… Can you write anything in Turkish/Armenian (whichever is not your mother tongue) for us? [Please include the meaning of the word in English as well!]

sabah - morning; hurriyet - freedom; merhaba - hello; seni seviyorum - i love you; günaydin - good morning; iyi gecilar - good night; beyaz - white; saol - thank you; and a lot of words.... THANK YOU!
(Participant, Armenia)

Bariluys - good morning. Anunı inc e? - what's your name. Es kez si rum em - I love you. Yes el kez - me too. Meg, yergu, yerek, dası - one, two, three, ten. And so on...
(Participant, Turkey)

Khağağutyun (peace), inç beses? (how are you), lav em (fine), I know all numbers until 11 meg, yergu, yerek, cors, hink, wet, yot, ut, ını, das, dasnımeg... Ser (love) sir eli (darling) yes (i) du (you) na (he/she) there are lots of common words: dolma, imam bayildi, garnizon, etc...
(Participant, Turkey)

arkadaşlar - friends, merhaba- hi, burda - here, hep bilhikde - all together, iki-two, sabah - morning, üç - three, egunaudin - good morning, yasindasin - to live, on - ten, seni seviyorum - i love you, visne - cherry, dostluk - brotherhood.
(Participant, Armenia)

khağağutyun (peace) - enkerner (friend) - barew (hello) - kurik (sister) - akhper (brother) - bari luys (good morning) - bari gişer (good night) - bari akhorcak (bone apetit - akhper yesime (I don't know brother!) - akhcik (girl) - diğe (boy) - arag (quick) Barışeng barışeng / ? / hezar tari (Lets make peace and no argue for thousand years)
(Participant, Turkey)