Armenian, Turkish Students Make Friends In First-Ever Joint Course
24, August 2005
Armenialiberty.org
By Lusine Grigorian
[...]
The ten-day school {which brought together 24 students from Armenia and Turkey in the southeastern Turkish city of Antakya from August 8-19} was organized by the Turkish chapter of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, an international human rights organization, and financed by the Council of Europe. It combined academic coursework with debates on Turkish-Armenian relations and joint cultural activities.
“We expected young people from the two countries to lay the groundwork for further bilateral discussions and I think we succeeded in achieving that,” Emel Kurma of the Turkish Helsinki Civic Assembly told RFE/RL. “How can we look to the future without forgetting the past? I think this was the main thrust of the discussions. We did not aim to make scholarly discoveries. The idea was to let young people got to know each other.”
[...]
Gayane [...] had never socialized with any Turks before and her perceptions of the neighboring nation were shaped by its government’s continuing denial of the Armenian genocide.
“I was worried that the discussions will be tense and mutually hostile,” explains the 20-year-old political science student at Yerevan State University.
But those fears proved misplaced as soon as she and ten other young Armenians met fellow students from Turkey. [...].
[...]
[...] The principal source of her Armenian-related knowledge was professor Murat Belge of Istanbul’s Bilgi University, one of the few Turkish academics who openly challenge official Ankara’s view on the 1915-1918 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. [...]. “I was never taught any lessons on the Armenia problem in school,” Melih {an attending Turkish student} said. “[...]. I will now also try to find and read some books.”
Most of the other Turkish participants shared her critical take on their government’s strong denial of the genocide. One of them, Mehmet Ali, surprised the Armenians even more when he sang an Armenian folk song. “‘Kanchum em, ari, ari’ means ‘I’m calling you, come, come,” he said, translating the opening words of the love song.
[...]
The organizers hope that such events will become regular and will help to break the ice in Turkish-Armenian relations. Their most immediate objective is to hold the next summer school in Armenia.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Armenialiberty.org
By Lusine Grigorian
[...]
The ten-day school {which brought together 24 students from Armenia and Turkey in the southeastern Turkish city of Antakya from August 8-19} was organized by the Turkish chapter of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, an international human rights organization, and financed by the Council of Europe. It combined academic coursework with debates on Turkish-Armenian relations and joint cultural activities.
“We expected young people from the two countries to lay the groundwork for further bilateral discussions and I think we succeeded in achieving that,” Emel Kurma of the Turkish Helsinki Civic Assembly told RFE/RL. “How can we look to the future without forgetting the past? I think this was the main thrust of the discussions. We did not aim to make scholarly discoveries. The idea was to let young people got to know each other.”
[...]
Gayane [...] had never socialized with any Turks before and her perceptions of the neighboring nation were shaped by its government’s continuing denial of the Armenian genocide.
“I was worried that the discussions will be tense and mutually hostile,” explains the 20-year-old political science student at Yerevan State University.
But those fears proved misplaced as soon as she and ten other young Armenians met fellow students from Turkey. [...].
[...]
[...] The principal source of her Armenian-related knowledge was professor Murat Belge of Istanbul’s Bilgi University, one of the few Turkish academics who openly challenge official Ankara’s view on the 1915-1918 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. [...]. “I was never taught any lessons on the Armenia problem in school,” Melih {an attending Turkish student} said. “[...]. I will now also try to find and read some books.”
Most of the other Turkish participants shared her critical take on their government’s strong denial of the genocide. One of them, Mehmet Ali, surprised the Armenians even more when he sang an Armenian folk song. “‘Kanchum em, ari, ari’ means ‘I’m calling you, come, come,” he said, translating the opening words of the love song.
[...]
The organizers hope that such events will become regular and will help to break the ice in Turkish-Armenian relations. Their most immediate objective is to hold the next summer school in Armenia.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 7:39 AM
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