The Hrant Dink Foundation launched the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant with a view to increase direct contacts and to promote cooperation between the peoples of the two neighbouring countries.

Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant aims to support the travels of at least 200 individuals from March 2014 to May 2015 thanks to the financial assistance of the European Union. Hrant Dink Foundation administers the Travel Grant in partnership with the Civilitas Foundation in Armenia and with the support of Community Volunteers Foundation (TOG) based in Turkey and the Youth Initiative Centre (YIC) based in Gyumri, Armenia.

Hrant Dink Foundation launched the first call for the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant on March 10th, 2014. During the first four rounds, Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant has received over 700 applications, 189 individuals from Turkey and Armenia received the support of the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant and 120 of them have already realised their visits to the neighbouring country. We invite you to read, see and watch their personal accounts, impressions, stories and photos in the recently launched “People Beyond Borders” page.

In the fifth round of the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant, we received a total of 163 applications from both countries. 98 applications, which were in full compliance with the technical requirements mentioned in the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant Regulations, were submitted to the independent Selection Committee. These applications were carefully assessed by the committee in accordance with the selection criteria and priorities mentioned in the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant Regulations.

We are delighted to announce that the Hrant Dink Foundation will be offering support in the form of a travel grant to a total of 81 individuals – 60 from Turkey, 21 from Armenia – for their visits to the neighbouring country with specific purpose and programme mentioned in their submitted application forms.

The number of approved applications is much higher than the initial targets announced, but after the previous rounds of the project, taking into account the budget possibilities, the interest of the applicants and the quality of their applications, we decided to GO BEYOND the initial quota.

  • Alexan Ter-Minasyan from Gyumri, founder of Gallery 25, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Istanbul to get in touch with art galleries and artist studios, to meet professors from arts academy and to discuss possible exchange programmes between the art circles of the two neighbouring countries.
  • Anna Davtyan from Yerevan will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Istanbul to work on her play dedicated to the Armenian Genocide in its centenary that will be performed in Germany in 2016.
  • Hasmik Stepanyan from Yerevan will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Istanbul to give a presentation about Turkish Literature in Armenian Letters at Fatih University and to conduct research about Kevork Pamukciyan for her book.
  • Sona Baghdasaryan from Yerevan will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Istanbul and Diyarbakır to develop her art project that focuses on Armenian and Kurdish community in Istanbul and Diyarbakir.
  • Gohar Kartashyan, Susanna Gevorgyan and Ani Vardanyan from Yerevan, co-founders of the School of Energy and Environmental Management, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Istanbul to meet organisations working on sustainable energy and to discuss possible joint programmes.
  • Areg Khalatyan and Levon Igityan from Yerevan, representatives of the Armenian National Center of Aesthetics, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Çanakkale to take part in the follow-up of the “Art for My Neighbour” project, to exchange experience and develop programmes for engaging children from Armenia and Turkey in creative practices.
  • Heghine Manasyan and Hrachia Khazhoyan from Yerevan, members of Caucasus Research Resource Center – Armenia, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Istanbul to present the findings of the public opinion survey on Normalisation of Armenia-Turkey Relations to researchers, civil society organisations and policy makers in Turkey.
  • Gayane Chobanyan from Yerevan, member of “Youth club of Turcologists” and “Land and Culture” NGOs, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Istanbul to do research for her PhD thesis on the “Islamic movements in Turkey and Azerbaijan’’.
  • Hasmik Hovhannisyan from Yerevan will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Istanbul to work on a series of graphic novels based on works of Western Armenian writers Grigor Zohrap and Zabel Yesayan for her NolaLand transmedia project.
  • Hovik Keshishean from Yerevan will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Istanbul to meet musicians from Turkey and to get engaged in joint production of songs in Turkish and Armenian.
  • Raffi Niziblian from Yerevan will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa and Istanbul to shoot footage for his documentary film about an Armenian coming to terms with his past and his identity as a descendent of Anatolian Armenians living in exile.
  • Sonya Ovsepyan from Yerevan, member of “Bridge of Hope” NGO, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Istanbul to work on digital mapping of the Armenian cultural heritage in Istanbul.
  • Araks Kasyan from Yerevan will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Istanbul to take part in the Armenian Genocide centennial commemorations in Istanbul and to make special reports covering the commemoration events as well as the Armenian community in Turkey for Armenpress News Agency.
  • Mariam Sargsyan and Suren Gharibyan from Yerevan, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Istanbul for the continuation of a collective photography project ‘’The Woman’’ which aims to photograph women at work from Turkey and Armenia to raise the issue of existing stereotypes in both societies about feminine and non-feminine jobs.
  • Yuri Manvelyan from Yerevan will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Ankara to meet Human Rights Agenda Association and to work on their joint project about the impact of the closed border policy on human rights and democracy in both countries.
  • Knar Khudoyan from Yerevan, reporter of epress.am, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Istanbul to cover the Armenian Genocide centennial commemoration events in Istanbul.
  • Cafer Sarıkaya from Istanbul will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan for his research on the Armenian Pontus: Local and Oral History in a Black Sea Town – Ünye.
  • Diren Can Öztemel from Istanbul and Selin Altıparmak from Bursa will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to complete their experimental oral history and art research project “19H15 – How does the Art Remember?”.
  • Umut Azak from Istanbul Okan University will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to make an impact assessment of the Turkey-Armenia Winter School by interviewing the participants from Armenia.
  • Fatma Özkaya, Öykü Gürpınar, Öndercan Muti and Derya Fırat Şannan from Istanbul, a research group from Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts Department of Sociology and members of the Association for the Study of Sociology of Memory and Culture, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to conduct their research on the memory of the Armenian Genocide among young people.
  • Fikret Levent Şensever, Gonca Şahin, Deniz Polat, Zera Çağla Oflas, İlhan Akgün, Batuhan Durmuş from Istanbul, members of the Platform “Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism” and Yıldız Önen from Istanbul, member of the Global Peace and Justice Coalition will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to take part in the Armenian Genocide centennial commemoration events in Yerevan with the support of AGBU Armenia and to strengthen the dialogue channels and contribute to better understanding between the two societies.
  • Duygu Dalyanoğlu, Nihal Albayrak, İlksen Gürsoy, Elif Karaman, Maral Çankaya, Büşra Karpuz, Beril Sarılaltun, Gülşah Gülebakan, Ayşe Damla Pinçe and Deniz Saldıran from Istanbul, member of Boğaziçi Performing Arts Ensemble, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to perform their play ‘‘Zabel’’ in Armenia with the support of Mihr Theater.
  • Pelin Karakuş from Izmir will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to conduct the preliminary research for her field study on Armenian immigrant women who moved to Turkey for labour.
  • Seda Mohul, Nelly Sokolova, Ali Haydar Yıldız and Züleyha Kandöker from Ankara Başkent University will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan and villages to study the cultural and social life of Ezidis of Armenia.
  • Mehmet Karasu and Ezgi Mehmetoğlu from Izmir Ege University will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan and Gyumri to carry out interviews for their research on the mutual attitudes of people of both countries and to meet academics and civil society organisations in Armenia.
  • Nilay Yılmaz, Songül Bozacı and Çiğdem Odabaşı from Istanbul, member of Ibby Turkey – International Board on Books for Young People, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to meet lbby Armenia members and to visit the National Children’s Library Khnko Aper to learn about children’s literature in Armenia.
  • Nilay Cevher, Çağdaş Öztürk, Ali Fuat Kartal, Emre Hasan Akbayrak from Ankara and Aydın İleri, Mustafa Özyürek from Istanbul, members of Turkish Librarians’ Association, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to build relations with librarians in Armenia and meet their colleagues at the National Library of Armenia.
  • Hatice Aydoğdu and Ali Karabayram from Ankara will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan for the fieldwork of their research on verbal heritage including songs, plays, riddles, conundrums to analyse the cultural interaction between the two societies.
  • Zinnure Türe from Istanbul will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to take part in the workshop and public performance of the project ‘‘Cross-Cultural Bridge Between the Youth of Armenia and Turkey” implemented by the ‘‘Forum Theatre’’ NGO.
  • Aylin Samancı from Istanbul Bilgi University, editor of Can Publishers, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to make research for her master thesis on the pre- and post-1915 communal life in Armenian literature.
  • Çiğdem Sarısaltık from Istanbul and Kurtuluş Karasın from Ankara, members of the Development Atélier, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan and villages to meet beekeeper organisations for their research on beekeeping in Armenia and to seek opportunities for building partnerships between beekeepers of both countries.
  • Burçak Aydoğan from Ankara will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to carry out research for her thesis on Armenian painting arts and to visit art galleries and art faculties.
  • Cevahir Coşkun, Işık Demirtaş, Ülkü Özdoğan, Şaheser Münübe Yılmaz, Ayşegül Ayman and Yasemin Çamur from Istanbul, members of NEYYA Nükhet Eren Creative Writing Atélier, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to study the works of Armenian writers and poets before 1915 and to build contacts with the First Armenian Literary Agency.
  • Günal Kurşun from Adana and Roberto Frifrini from Ankara, members of the Human Rights Agenda Association, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to build partnerships for their project on the impact of the closed border policy on human rights and democracy in both countries.
  • Sedat Yılmaz from Istanbul, reporter for Özgür Gündem daily, will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to cover the Armenian Genocide commemoration events in its centenary with special focus on the perceptions of Armenians about Turks and Kurds.
  • Emre Can Dağlıoğlu from Istanbul will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to deepen his research about Faiz el-Ghusein, one of the first authors of eye-witness account on the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
  • Hasan Erbay from Afyon will be supported with the Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant to visit Yerevan to seek academic cooperation opportunities on medical ethics education and to conduct a survey on the perspectives of Armenian students on bioethical issues.

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Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant Selection Committee Members

Anahit Minassian
Dikran Altun
Feray Salman
Gayane Mkrtchyan
Neslihan Özgüneş

Hrant Dink Foundation administers Turkey-Armenia Travel Grant in the period 2014-2015, in the partnership of Civilitas Foundation,
in collaboration of Gyumri Youth Initiative Center and Community Volunteers Foundation (TOG), with the financial assistance of the European Union,
within the framework of the programme Support to the Turkey-Armenia Normalisation Process.