Established in 2008 by the former President of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac, with the mission to ‘support efforts for prevention of conflicts, dialogue between cultures and increasing quality of access to health services’, the Chirac Foundation has announced that its ‘2017 Chirac Prize for Conflict Prevention’ was awarded to the Hrant Dink Foundation.

Having convened on September 27th, the Chirac Foundation’s Jury, has announced its reasons for attributing the ‘Chirac Price for Conflict Prevention’ to the Hrant Dink Foundation as follows: “Hrant Dink Foundation defines the development of a culture of dialogue, empathy and peace as the basis of all its activities. The Foundation approaches to cultural diversity as a richness; defends that the differences are acknowledged as a right; and fosters intercultural relations between the peoples of Armenia and Turkey. The family, instead of withdrawing into itself and bearing the feelings of animosity and revenge, established the Foundation which has become an indispensible actor in the debates on Turkey's democratisation. At a time when hundreds of thousands of refugees are passing through the territories of Turkey, Foundation's preemptive efforts to eradicate hate speech in the media through discourse analysis, media monitoring and education programmes do constitute an immediate and determined act for preventing conflicts.”

During the prize ceremony, which will be attended by the Jury members and selection committee as well as the international media and leading opinion makers that pursue rights-based advocacy, the Chirac Foundation will also present its Culture for Peace Prize to Zoukak theater company, which has been contributing, through theater, to the rehabilitation efforts of refugees living in Lebanon camps.

“Chirac Foundation’s recognition has given us encouragement and strength to continue our efforts of contributing to the democratisation of Turkey through our Foundation which carries out its activities with the support and engagement of a range of individuals from different professions and strives to keep alive the dreams, struggle, language and heart of my husband Hrant Dink - who was taken away from us in 2007; to keep the legacy of his values, to foster a culture of dialogue, peace and empathy. I do hope that this Prize will inspire all other organisations that make efforts for democratisation” said the President of Hrant Dink Foundation Rakel Dink, who will receive the prize from the President of French Republic Emmanuel Macron during a ceremony to be held in Paris on November 23.