NEWS

Pope Francis’s 3-day visit to Turkey (28-30 November) has had broad repercussions both in Turkey and the world. Beside the visit’s political aspects, it also had a historical significance in terms of efforts for dialogue and unification between the Catholic and Orthodox worlds.

Sevan Nişanyan’s prison sentence has been increased to 11 years and 8 months. According to Nişanyan’s lawyer Murat Akçı, if the Constitutional Court does not produce an expected ruling, Nişanyan might stay in prison for years. There is not a single other case in which a person is held in a closed prison for the crime Nişanyan is charged with.

We interviewed historian and politician Gerard J. Libaridian, who participated in the Sealed Gate Conference organized by the Hrant Dink Foundation, and as its 100th anniversary approaches, talked about the Genocide.

The world-famous rock band System of a Down has announced that it will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide with a series of concerts. The tour titled ‘Wake up the Souls’ begins on April 10 with a concert at Wembley Arena in London.

The Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office has called on the former Istanbul Chief of Police Celalettin Cerrah and former Intelligence Department Chief Ahmet İlhan Güler, who were in office at the time of the assassination, to provide statements. Public officials stationed at the Trabzon Police Department and Gendarme Commanderie are also expected to be invited to provide statements in the coming days.

Following the Ministry of Culture’s announcement of a tender for the construction of a madrasa in the courtyard of Hagia Sophia, The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) has declared that the Hagia Sophia’s status as “World Heritage Site” will be reassessed if the madrasa is built.

Artak Beglaryan, who during the Karabakh War, at the age of six, lost his sight when a landmine they played with in their back garden exploded and also lost his father at the same war, did not give up, and has today become the press secretary of the Prime Minister of Karabakh.

The third guest of The History Foundation’s Thursday Talks series titled ‘Deportation-Massacre-Genocide 1915-2015’ was Assistant Professor Nazan Maksudyan, Head of the Department of Social Sciences at Istanbul Kemerburgaz University. Maksudyan held a speech titled ‘Three Generations, Three Massacres: Armenian Children and Orphans from 1895 to 1915’ and we had the chance to talk to her about the perception of children during the Ottoman period, and the conditions and political roles of Armenian orphans.

Teachers that have come to Turkey from Greece, although their salaries are being paid, cannot attend class because the Istanbul Directorate of National Education has not issued the necessary permission. Istanbul Deputy Director of National Education Murat Altınöz, on the other hand, states that the procedure for the solution of the problem has been completed.

Lawyers of Emre Karaali, the Church of İzmit Pastor, called for the trying of Gendarme Lieutenant Levent Birsin stationed in Diyarbakır and Police Captain Hasan Erdoğan stationed at Silvan Police Directorate. The court ruled for the filing of criminal complaints against the two officials.