February 22. 2015

14.00-19.45

Hrant Dink Foundation, Anarad Hığutyun Building, Havak Hall

The Hrant Dink Foundation organized, as a part of its 'Revealing and Advocating the Multi-Cultural Heritage of Anatolia' project, a new panel with the participation of Cultural Heritage Without Borders (CHwB) representatives in Eastern Europe and of the Association for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (KMKD). This panel provided a platform for the discussion of the importance of the protection, preservation, and revitalization of cultural heritage, as well as its urgency for today and the future.

The panel was composed of three sessions and hold in English and Turkish thanks to simultaneous translation from both languages. In the 1st session entitled “Role of Education in Preserving Cultural Heritage” which started with the moderation of Laki Vingas Jelena Pejkovic, Mirian Bllaci ve Lejla Hadzic  took the floor from CHwB-Albania. Jelena Pejkovic talked on safeguarding historical wine cellars in Eastern Serbia through CHwB regional restoration camps; Mirian Bllaci spoke about approaches to heritage management and education by giving examples from CHwB’s Work in the Balkans; Lejla Hadzic gave a speech about conservation of historical structures and using the process for education.

2nd session entitled “Participatory Methods For Cultural Heritage Protection” started with the moderation of Rabia Harmanşah. Firslty, Elena Mamani from CHwB Albania talked on challenges to the protection of built cultural heritage due to lack of maintenance and abandonment; Višnja Kisić ,who is the general secretar of Europa Nostra Serbia, spoke about unpacking the methodology of heritage management plans; Aleksandra Kapetanović from EXPEDITIO Montenegro took the floor with the issue of cultural heritage protection and management as a participatory process.

3rd session entitled “Armenian And Greek Built Culture in Kayseri” started with the moderation of Gonca Büyükmıhçı. Banu Pekol ve Çağla Parlak from KMKD talked on protecting the architectural heritage of non-muslim communities in Anatolia; Vahakn Keshishian ve Zeynep Oğuz from Hrant Dink Foundation gave a speech about Armenian and Greek cultural heritage of Kayseri; and lastly writer & researcher Zakarya Mildanoğlu hold a floor with his paper on churches in the records of the patriarchate of Turkey Armenians.