Since 2009, in cooperation with Heinrich Boell Foundation Turkey Office, Hrant Dink Foundation has been implementing the programme “Turkey-Armenia Journalists’ Dialogue” with the aim to strengthen ties between journalists from Turkey and Armenia and to contribute to the establishment of direct and accurate channels of communication ad news reporting across the two countries.
Being committed to the establishment and further extension of sustainable exchange and contacts between the conflicting parties and lobbying the regional cooperation, the South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation in 2012 has decided to contribute to the fourth year activities of the “Turkey-Armenia Journalists’ Dialogue” programme within the frameworks of its projects supporting the dialogue process between the civil society of Turkey and Armenia.
In the fourth year of the programme, in the time period of 12- 18 November, 2012 the visit of a group of 7 journalists from Armenia was organized by the Hrant Dink Foundation in cooperation with the Heinrich Boell Foundation Turkey and South Caucasus Offices. The program brought together journalists, columnists, editors from internet news portals, bloggers with particular interest in social issues bearing in mind the growing importance of online media and social media in Armenia.
Programme participants from Armenia – journalists from various media-organizations as are Civil Net, Internews, Journalists for the Future, Lragir, Radio Liberty, Tert, Yerkir Media – paid their first ever visits to Turkey to gain a better understanding of the political, economic and human rights situation in the country and as well as the important issues concerning media and journalism.
The participant journalists entered the newsrooms of news agencies and media outlets such as Bianet, CNN Türk, Hürriyet Daily News, NTV, Radikal, T24, Today’s Zaman and yeni Safak and had the chance to meet with their colleagues and discuss the bilateral relations and political atmosphere and problems in Turkey. The programme also gave the opportunity to the visited organizations and media outlets in Turkey to interact with a group of journalists from the neighbouring country for the first time. The group also visited the Agos newspaper, Hrant Dink Foundation, Aras Publishing, Nor Radio and Gedikpasa Armenian Evangelical Church and received information about the Armenians in Turkey. To get a deeper insight into a political and human rights developments in Turkey participants met with representatives of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Republican people’s Party (CHP), Helsinki Citizens’ Assebly, Human Rights Association, etc.
As a result of the programme various news articles, short videos and audio reports were produced by participants. More detailed information on the programme as well as about its participants and outcomes accompanied by photographs and press scan examples can be found at the web-site: http://hrantdink.org/?Detail=619&Lang=?Home&Lang=en.
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Let’s pin down the headline at the neighbour’s! (pdf, 25 pages, 10 MB)