Life

In an excavation work in Harput province of Elazığ, a 165-years-old Armenian inscription is found. It is thought to be a tombstone and deciphering works continue.

Croatian Goran Blažević began a journey for drawing attention to the problems of the refugees. In this 5-month journey from Jordan to his homeland, Blažević follows the route that refugees use for going to Europe. Blažević is in Turkey in these days.

Vazken Davidian made a presentation at “Van and the Region” conference organized by Hrant Dink Foundation and tried to provide an insight to the relationship between Ottoman Empire and Ottoman Armenians in a time of complicated ideological transformations. Here is a broad summary of the presentation by Davidian, who says that “The Figure of the Beggar from Van personified the economic wretchedness and misery of Ottoman Armenia on the streets and the hans [slums] of the imperial capital.”

Ali Yamaş and Bülent Erdem are engaged in caving. They have a cave research group called “Obruk” (sink-hole). We wanted to talk to two experienced cavers about the works in this field. However, we found ourselves talking about the underground cities in Turkey. They say that there are many underground cities that were built by Christian peoples especially between 6th and 11th centuries.

3000 kilometers along the Caucasus mountains, three countries and a long way passing through them... Transcaucasian Trail Association (TCTA), a Washington-based initiative, embarked to build one of the longest hiking routes in the world. The association is working with local partners for this hiking route, which is planned to pass through Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. They want to improve ecotourism, create an exciting route for the hikers and provide a different perspective to Caucasus countries which seem like they will never come to terms because of the border conflicts. We talked to Vahagn Vardumyan, a member of Armenia team, about the project.

This time, Berge Arabian fills our hearts with his dearest mother Markrit Arabian. This is the story of love, compassion and affection between a mother and a son.

There is only one Syrian Armenian in Istanbul that I know. Though I know him for one and a half year, I couldn't have managed to learn about his story. And once I learned about it, I thought that his story should be shared.

Around the corner from the Chora church sits a wooden building, a cultural hub for the city’s burgeoning Syrian population. This month, Pages, one of Istanbul’s two Arabic book stores, tucked carefully between the back streets of Edirnekapi, is celebrating its first anniversary.

“Live Love Armenia” is not only a sharing a platform; it is also an archive consisting of visual material.

Ian Tattersall and Rob DeSalle from American Museum of Natural History, with their book “A Natural History of Wine”, re-write the history of wine. They start from the cave in Armenia and trace the thousands of years of history of the techniques that are used even today.

“Fade to Black” video of “Maajooneh” released online 2 weeks ago and shared over and over. We talked to Farah and Amer from “Maajooneh” about their lives under the pressure of Asad regime and ISIS, their journey to Istanbul and plans for future.

Rezoning in Historical Peninsula that made possible to build boutique hotels there is approved by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Council despite the objections of the experts. According to this decision, boutique hotels will be built within historical part of Eminönü.