Let's Pin Down the Headline at the Neighbour's! July 2014 - Armenia

A group of 9 journalists from Turkey visited Armenia from July 14th to 20th, 2014 in the sixth year of the Turkey-Armenia Journalists’ Dialogue Programme, organised by the Hrant Dink Foundation since 2009. This year’s programme has been supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark within the framework of the My Media programme.

In the 6th year of the programme, which aims at strengthening ties between journalists from Turkey and Armenia and contributing to establishment of direct and accurate means of exchanging news sources, culture and arts reporters from Turkey had the chance to visit Armenia during the Golden Apricot International Film Festival which is one of the most prominent cultural event in Armenia. The participating journalists attended several screenings, met cultural actors from the neighbouring country and shared their impressions about Armenia with their readers and viewers.

Journalists from Açık Radyo, Agos, Altyazı, Birgün, CNN Türk, Habertürk, Milliyet, Radikal and Zaman paid their first ever visits to Armenia and thanks to their meetings with various media outlets such as Armenian Public TV H1, Arm News TV and CivilNet, they got to know their colleagues in Armenia and exchanged their opinions about media landscape in both countries. The group also came together in a dinner with former programme participants from Armenia who visited Turkey in November 2013.

During the visit, the journalists had an exclusive meeting with the Minister of Culture Hasmig Poghosyan and had the opportunity to learn more about the culture agenda and cultural heritage of Armenia. They visited cultural hubs such as Sergei Parajanov Museum, Cascade, Cafesjian Center for the Arts and NPAK Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art. NPAK’s founder Edward Balassanian shared with the group the story of NPAK as well as the contemporary art scene in Armenia.

The journalists also met the International Secretary of Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun Giro Manoyan. They were informed about the history and the present of the party and discussed how to carry the shared history of the two peoples a better future and how to solve the common problems in this light.

In their visit to the Genocide Museum-Institute, the journalists asked questions to the Director Hayk Demoyan and learned about the Institute’s plans and preparations for 2015.

The group was hosted by the Head of Delegation of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Traian Hristea and discussed EU-Armenia relations, EU programmes implemented in Armenia as well as the EU’s role in Turkey-Armenia relations. Journalists had to chance to learn more about the EU funded programme ‘Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process’, implemented by a consortium of eight civil society organisations from both countries, during programme’s public presentation in Yerevan.

Thanks to the day trip organised to Gyumri, the group had the chance to learn about the daily lives and expectations of the people living in Gyumri, the second biggest city of Armenia which shares a border with Kars.

In Gyumri, the group visited Berlin Art Hotel, met the sculptor Albert Vardanyan and learned about artistic and cultural life in Armenia with special focus on Gyumri. They visited the studio of well-known Armenian folk rock band Bambir, had the chance to meet the founder Jag Barsegyan and discovered Armenian music and the history of Bambir. On the way back to Yerevan, the journalists visited Akhuryan train station, which used to be the last train stop before Kars until the land border was closed in 1993 and Kars/Gyumri trains were stopped.

During the week, the journalists took part in various events and screenings of the Golden Apricot International Film Festival. The group attended the press conference of the Armenia Turkey Cinema Platform, the premiere of the films by Devrim Akkaya and Derya Durmaz from Turkey, and festival’s closing ceremony at the Opera. After the festival, they came together with Susanna Harutyunyan and Gor Baghdasaryan from the festival crew and learned about the history of the festival as well as festival’s support to the cooperation between directors of Turkey and Armenia.

As part of the one-week visit, apart from the capital Yerevan and the city of Gyumri, the group also made excursions to Etchmiadzin and Sevan Lake.