The 23.5 Memory Walks series invite everyone to bear witness to the past and to trace the multilayered memory of Istanbul. Carrying the mission of the 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory –to speak to the future while remembering the past, and to promote empathy and mutual understanding– out into the streets and into the city itself, these walks seek to open a dialogue with a silenced past.

The first installment of the series consists of the “April 24, 1915: The Exile of the Armenian Intellectuals” tours. Focusing on the stories of the Armenian intellectuals who were arrested in Istanbul on 24 April 1915 and sent into exile, the majority of whom were killed, these tours offer participants the opportunity to pause in front of the homes where these intellectuals lived or the places where they worked, and to remember their lives, their works, and their place in the memory of the city. Across four routes covering neighborhoods of Kurtuluş-Feriköy, Nişantaşı-Şişli, Pangaltı, and Taksim-Feridiye, the tours bring together the stories of 57 intellectuals.

These tours were first held in 2024 under the direction of Nesim Ovadya İzrail, drawing on his book 24 Nisan 1915: İstanbul, Çankırı, Ayaş, Ankara (İletişim, 2013). Inspired by İzrail’s work, the Foundation is now turning these events into a permanent program. In preparing the program, the Foundation drew not only on this study but also on an Ottoman Archives document, newly translated from Ottoman Turkish, prepared by the Directorate of Public Security (Emniyet-i Umumiye Müdürlüğü), listing the intellectuals to be arrested in Istanbul (BOA, DH. EUM. 2. Şb. 67/31, 14 September 1920).

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23.5 Memory Walks - Pangaltı.pdf