Based on the section in the Agos Newspaper titled “I am Looking for My Relative”, during this conversation we will discuss the ads placed in the Agos Newspaper by people searching for relatives, Hrant Dink’s articles on and contribution to this issue and the stories of those looking for their roots and identities.
- All events will be held at the 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory.
- A separate registration form must be completed for each event.
- The events will be held in hybrid format (face to face and on Zoom).
- For face to face events, the capacity is 38 people per event.
- For Zoom events, the capacity is 100 people per event.
- A Guided Tour of the 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory will be held before each event. To join the Guided Tour, please tick the “I will attend the Guided Tour” option in the event registration form.
- The language of the events is Turkish.
Wednesday, January 15
I am Looking for My Relative
I am Looking for My Relative
Speakers: Jülide Aral, Pakrat Estukyan, Fethiye Çetin, Ayşe Gül Altınay Moderator: Ayfer Bartu Candan (Hrant Dink Vakfı)
15.00 - Guided Tour
17.00–18.30 Conversation
Ayşe Gül Altınay began her education at Diyarbakır Şair Sırrı Hanım Elementary School and continued at a village school in Çüngüş-Karakaya. In 2004, while reading Fethiye Çetin’s “My Grandmother”, she was deeply moved to discover that the places of her childhood were also the settings of Heranuş -Fethiye Çetin’s grandmother- and her tragic journey. Between 2005 and 2015, she conducted research on Islamized Armenians and the ways in which gender shapes the experience and memory of genocide. The book Grandchildren, which she co-edited with Fethiye Çetin, was published in Turkish, Armenian, French, and English. She was one of the co-organizers of the "Islamized Armenians" conference (2013, Hrant Dink Foundation) and the "Workshops in Memory of Hrant Dink" (2008–2015, Sabancı University). Ayşe Gül served on the Founding Board of Directors of the Hrant Dink Foundation, its Advisory Board, and the Advisory Board of the 23.5 Hrant Dink Memory Site. After a 23.5-year journey at Sabancı University, she continues her work at the YerGök Solidarity Association, which focuses on ecology, feminist+ solidarity, transformative activism, and collective healing.
She graduated from Istanbul University's Department of Psychology. She worked for many years as a group therapist at AMATEM and retired from Bakırköy Psychiatric Hospital. Known for her work in the field of trauma, Aral focused on the traumas experienced by individuals who were subjected to torture during detention and imprisonment following the coup of September 12, 1980. In the 1990s, she worked on violence against women in the East and Southeast of Turkey under the umbrella of KAMER (Women’s Research Center).
Born in 1953 in Rumelihisar, the second generation of a family that survived the 1915 Armenian Genocide and migrated to Istanbul, he was educated in the city's Armenian schools and worked as a biochemistry technician for many years. He is a columnist and editor of the Armenian pages of Agos Newspaper, and one of the founders of Sayat Nova Choir. His stories about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people, “Hay Hikâyeler” was published by Everest Publishing (2011) and the Armenian original “Bantukht Yerker” (Gurbet Türküleri, 2012) was published by Aras Publishing. He prepares weekly radio programs on 'Ayp FM' in Paris and 'Açık Radyo' in Istanbul.
Born in the Maden district of Elazığ, she completed her primary and secondary education in Mahmudiye, Maden, and Elazığ. She graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Law. She served as a member of the executive board of the Istanbul Bar Association Human Rights Center and as the spokesperson for its minority rights working group. Çetin is the author of My Grandmother (Anneannem, Metis, 2004) and I Am Ashamed! The Trial of the Hrant Dink Murder (Utanç Duyuyorum! Hrant Dink Cinayetinin Yargısı, Metis, 2013). Together with Ayşe Gül Altınay, she co-authored The Grandchildren (Torunlar, Metis, 2009). As the lawyer of Hrant Dink and Agos Newspaper, Çetin continued to represent the family following Dink's assassination and remains the legal representative of the Hrant Dink Foundation.
