Artsrun Pivazyan, who did his obligatory military service at the Azerbaijan border of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, has begun to think about what is on the other side of the border in those days, where is seen as ‘enemy’ inside his own society. After the completion of his service, Artsrun started to focus on conflict resolution and peace-building and he placed the idea of coming together with young people from the conflicted areas, where the perception of ‘enemy’ towards the other is strong, into the centre of his research.

Ms. Arpine Aleksanyan and Ms. Sona Baloyan from Yerevan, from “Matenadaran” Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, were supported with the travel grant to visit Istanbul, Turkey for meetings with the Armenian Patriarchate, Armenian high schools, foundations and publishing houses to discuss possibilities of further collaboration on preserving the Armenian culture.

Ms. Arpine Aleksanyan and Ms. Sona Baloyan from Yerevan, from “Matenadaran” Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, were supported with the travel grant to visit Istanbul, Turkey for meetings with the Armenian Patriarchate, Armenian high schools, foundations and publishing houses to discuss possibilities of further collaboration on preserving the Armenian culture.

Duygu Bostancı, currently based at Institute of Contemporary Art - Yerevan (ICA) and conducting a research on folk dances in Armenia and Turkey, and Anna Kamay, the Artists in Residency Programme Coordinator at ICA, shared their experiences about the Turkey-Armenia Fellowship Scheme as well as suggestions for the future fellows and host organisations.

Ms. Anzhela Sargsyan, Ms. Katarine Galstyan, Mr. Zareh Galstyan, Mr. Hayk Karapetyan, Mr. Stepan Ter-Ghevondyan, Ms. Madlena Galstyan from Yerevan, members of the music band United Harmonies, were supported with the travel grant to visit Istanbul, for performing in joint concert with the members of the United Harmonies from Turkey.

Ms. Anzhela Sargsyan, Ms. Katarine Galstyan, Mr. Zareh Galstyan, Mr. Hayk Karapetyan, Mr. Stepan Ter-Ghevondyan, Ms. Madlena Galstyan from Yerevan, members of the music band United Harmonies, were supported with the travel grant to visit Istanbul, for performing in joint concert with the members of the United Harmonies from Turkey.

Ayşegül Özadak and Tuğçe Özdemir from Istanbul, storytellers at Curious Steps: Gender and Memory Tours organised by Sabanci University Gender Forum, were supported with the travel grant to visit Yerevan, for researching on common songs of both societies and conducting interviews with some volunteers from local CSOs to reveal the meaning of these songs.

Batuhan Kava, Fatma Murat, Furkan Demirbaş, Hale Kaşka, Melike Bilgin, Özge Kaya, Rabia Kutlu and Selen Duruşkan from Istanbul, Boğaziçi University, were supported with the travel grant to visit Yerevan, for making research on Syrian Armenians and doing interviews about their stories of migration.

Batuhan Kava, Fatma Murat, Furkan Demirbaş, Hale Kaşka, Melike Bilgin, Özge Kaya, Rabia Kutlu and Selen Duruşkan from Istanbul, Boğaziçi University, were supported with the travel grant to visit Yerevan, for making research on Syrian Armenians and doing interviews about their stories of migration.

Sevda Baysal from Antalya, was supported with the travel grant to visit Gyumri and Yerevan, to meet civil society organisations working on girls’ empowerment and youth, to exchange know-how, and to discuss the development of joint empowerment programmes.

Anahit Ghazaryan, who came to Istanbul with the Fellowship Scheme, has been teaching Eastern Armenian at Kadir Has University Lifelong Education Center. While teaching Armenian under the programme “Neighbouring Languages Academy”, Anahit also gives first-hand information to her students about the culture in Armenia, which also helps to eliminate bias. 

‘Multi-culturalism’ as one of the most important terms for those who work on the relations between different societies, indeed, points out to a ‘form of coexistence’ after living together or side-by-side for a long time despite the diversities within and between each other.