There are no diplomatic relations between the two neighbouring countries Armenia and Turkey, and their land border remains sealed since 1993. Even though the two neighbouring countries signed protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations and opening up of the border in 2009, they were suspended before their parliamentary ratification and thus the normalisation process got stalled. The absence of diplomatic relations continue to have its implications in all domains including the civil society efforts. As of 2016, there are not formal mechanisms of cooperation between the public and private institutions of the two countries, there are not systematic exchange programmes in academia.

In such a backdrop, since its establishment in 2007, the Hrant Dink Foundation has been making efforts to encourage and foster relations between Turkey and Armenia in all fields, as one of its priority missions. Throughout these years, having observed the decades long lack of dialogue fed by physical and mental borders, we felt the need for support mechanisms that would help peoples of all ages, professions and backgrounds from both countries to cross the border, to visit their neighbouring country, to meet one another, and to build institutional partnerships.To this end, in 2014, with a view to encourage and facilitate direct contact and cooperation between the peoples of the two neighbouring countries, we established the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant and Fellowship Scheme.

With this publication, we would like to present the outcomes of both programmes implemented between March 2014-June 2015 thanks to the financial assistance of the European Union. Our aim is to particularly introduce the people and organisations who acted as catalysts between Turkey and Armenia, to share the transformation they went through in their own words, to present collaborations that took place in various fields, and to share the Foundation’s experience and lessons learned throughout this process while addressing bureaucratic produces between the two neighbouring countries without diplomatic relations.

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