The tensions initially emerged over Azerbaijan's close relations with Israel. They intensified following objections from Turkey to Azerbaijan's ban on headscarf in schools. Subsequently, Azerbaijan declared 31 Turkish citizens persona non grata. This was followed by the resignation of Oktay Saral, a chief adviser to the Turkish president, after he voiced criticism of the headscarf ban.

Following these developments, Erdoğan and Aliyev spoke by telephone, during which Erdoğan invited Aliyev to the Organization of Turkic States Summit scheduled to take place in Ankara today. However, the diplomatic tensions that were expected to subside following the phone call did not ease as anticipated.

Azerbaijani news websites reported that Aliyev would not attend the 13th Summit of the Organization of Turkic States, which began in Ankara, citing his participation in previously scheduled events and a busy work agenda.

President Aliyev is expected to present awards to the finalists of the inaugural FIFA U-15 World Cup, being held in Baku on October 30. Azerbaijan is being represented at the summit by its foreign minister.

Analysis published by APA

Meanwhile, at approximately the same time Aliyev's absence was announced, the state news agency APA published an unsigned analysis titled: "Another wave of anti-Azerbaijan campaign in Türkiye: Absurd accusations against Baku over UN Secretary-General post”

The analysis begins by stating:

" The campaign against Azerbaijan in Turkish media and on social networks shows no signs of subsiding."

It criticizes the reaction in Turkey to Azerbaijan's decision to support UAE Minister of State Lana Zaki Nusseibeh for UN Secretary-General instead of Feridun Sinirlioğlu, who was nominated as a candidate for the position in Turkey several days earlier.

The analysis makes the following points:

" Another anti-Azerbaijan wave was launched yesterday.

Previous waves focused on Azerbaijan-Israel relations and the issue of the hijab. Like the previous two waves of attacks, the third wave, which began yesterday, is also based on manipulation.

The reason for the new campaign against our country is the response of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to the initiative to nominate Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, Minister of State of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN).

Responding to a media inquiry, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada noted that official Baku attaches particular importance to ensuring that the process of selecting the next Secretary-General is conducted in accordance with the UN Charter.

In response, accusations began circulating on Turkish social media alleging that Azerbaijan was supposedly supporting the UAE candidate rather than Türkiye's candidate for the post of UN Secretary-General, the current OSCE Secretary General, Feridun Sinirlioğlu.

As in previous waves, unfounded claims, slander, and insults against Azerbaijan are once again being spread in Turkish media and on social networks.

Türkiye has not yet officially nominated Feridun Sinirlioğlu for the post of UN Secretary-General, and there is neither an international registration of his candidacy nor an official request to Azerbaijan for support. Accusing Azerbaijan of failing to support a candidacy that does not exist is entirely unfounded from both legal and logical perspectives.

Unlike Türkiye, the UAE has officially registered its candidate and approached Azerbaijan through diplomatic channels. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's response is fully consistent with international diplomatic etiquette: a goodwill response was provided through diplomatic channels to the party that made the official request. If Türkiye officially nominates a candidate in the future, Azerbaijan will naturally express its corresponding diplomatic position.   

Sinirlioğlu and Armenia

However, other noteworthy issues arise here, specifically concerning Feridun Sinirlioğlu.

Feridun Sinirlioğlu belongs to the class of so-called "monşers" (those claiming aristocratic sophistication), who have been deeply entrenched in the Turkish Foreign Ministry for many years, regard themselves as superior to society, and are detached from the values of the people. Historically, this group has been distinguished by its condescending and arrogant attitude toward Azerbaijan and the Turkic world.

The most noteworthy point is that Feridun Sinirlioğlu is known for lobbying for unilateral rapprochement with Armenia. As early as 2018, when Azerbaijani territories were still under occupation, he was among the main advocates of the idea of unilaterally opening the borders with Armenia.

Even after the Second Karabakh War, together with his wife, who holds a position in the Foreign Ministry, he defended the position of "Why should the borders with Armenia remain closed because of Azerbaijan?" and sought to disregard official Baku's interests. On this issue, he shares the same position as Serdar Kılıç.

Feridun Sinirlioğlu has a political history of being prepared to sacrifice not only Azerbaijan's national and strategic interests but even those of Türkiye itself in his pursuit of the OSCE Secretary-General position or other international posts.

In any case, whom Türkiye nominates for which position is its own affair. However, engaging in manipulation around this issue before a candidate has even been officially nominated is a continuation of the policy of artificially targeting Azerbaijan.

First, a candidate should be nominated and an official request submitted to Azerbaijan. Only then can the issue be considered and a decision made.

Targeting Azerbaijan once again without following procedural rules in accordance with international norms, and making unfounded accusations against a country described as brotherly, is unacceptable by any standard. The developments leave no room for doubt that the anti-Azerbaijan campaign in Türkiye is systematic, coordinated, and deliberate.”

On Sunday, November 1, at 10:00 a.m., a church service will be held at the Holy Trinity Church, presided over by Sahak Maşalyan, the Armenian Patriarch of Turkey. Senior Archpriest Harutyun Damadyan will officiate at the service, with Senior Priest Kevork Çınaryan in attendance.

During the service, Marten Çulhacı and Tatyos Şant Karapekmez will be ordained to the rank of subdeacon (gisasargavak), while Sercan Gazeroğlu will be blessed and elevated to the rank of senior acolyte (uraragir tbir). The founders of the Melkonyan School, brothers Krikor and Garabed Melkonyan, will be commemorated with prayers for the rest of their souls.

The concert and church service are expected to bring together graduates of the Melkonyan School living in Turkey and various other countries.

About the Melkonyan School

The school was founded in 1926 in Nicosia, Cyprus, by the Melkonyan brothers. It served Armenian students from approximately 40 countries. The school’s first principal was Zaven Der Yeğyayan I, the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople.

The school undertook the difficult task of gathering and caring for more than 300 orphaned Armenian children, both boys and girls, among the thousands left without families across the plains of Eastern Anatolia and in neighboring countries as a result of the Armenian Genocide.

The school suffered extensive damage during the 1974 Cyprus military operation. It was closed in 2005.

The Academy’s first speaker was Prof. Dr. Turgut Tarhanlı, who is a prominent legal expert in the law of human rights.

Tarhanlı recalled that minority rights, in their modern sense, came to be considered within the framework of human rights in the 20th century, particularly following the establishment of the United Nations. He emphasized that human rights should be examined within a legal paradigm encompassing the obligations to recognize and protect rights and to fulfill them in accordance with established procedures.

Tarhanlı observed that patterns of rights violations in Turkey had changed and cited legally erroneous examples concerning the interpretation and implementation of the Treaty of Lausanne, the fundamental legal document governing the rights of non-Muslim minorities in particular.

Tarhanlı also recalled the obligations set out in the subsection of the Treaty of Lausanne entitled “Protection of Minorities.” Under this provision, the rights recognized in the treaty, particularly those in Articles 38–44, must be recognized as “fundamental laws.” No law, regulation, or official action may conflict with or contradict these provisions, and none of these legal instruments may take precedence over them.

The issue of “reciprocity”

Tarhanlı explained that Article 45 of the Treaty of Lausanne, which provides that Greece grants the Muslim minority within its territory the same rights as those granted to non-Muslim minorities under the treaty, has long been interpreted and applied almost as a “reciprocity” provision. However, he illustrated how, in the context of legal arrangements concerning the protection of human rights, interstate measures such as reciprocity or retaliation is a way of conduct contradictory to human rights law.

According to Tarhanlı, although this approach appears to be more moderate, it has not been abandoned entirely. Anyway, both Turkey and Greece are individually and separately responsible for fulfilling their obligations under the treaty; each country must do so independently, rather than basing its performance on that of the other.

The policy of entering “reservations”

Tarhanlı also noted that a fundamental human rights treaty specifically addressing minorities has still not been established at the United Nations level, although certain legal instruments in the form of declarations exist on the subject.

Quoting provisions from several international conventions that address minority rights, Tarhanlı stated that Turkey continues its policy of entering reservations to articles concerning minority rights in certain human rights treaties to which it is a party and by which it is bound.

According to Tarhanlı, the principal human rights treaties relevant to this issue include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its Optional Protocol; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols.

The legal formula used to express this policy is as follows:

“The Republic of Turkey reserves the right to implement Article … of the Convention in accordance with the relevant provisions and procedures of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey and the Treaty of Lausanne of July 24, 1923, and its Annexes.”

As Tarhanlı pointed out, another consequence of this approach is that Turkey refrains from assuming general international legal obligations concerning minority rights, instead limiting its recognition of these rights to non-Muslim minority communities.

According to Tarhanlı, this means that the scope of the rights of Lausanne minorities must be assessed in light of the framework of rights recognized under contemporary human rights law.

Minority rights in international law

During the sessions, academic Samim Akgönül met with participants for a section entitled “Current Debates on the Concept of Minorities.” Participants also attended a presentation by academic Olgun Akbulut entitled “International Law and Minority Rights.”

Beginning with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this session examined provisions in international conventions concerning the protection of minorities’ languages, cultures, religions, and identities.

Discussions focused on states’ obligations in these areas; the distinction between explicitly ensuring minority rights and taking measures to promote their protection; and how the right to education in one’s mother tongue is addressed under international law.

The scope of states’ obligations was also discussed with reference to European legal frameworks for the protection of regional and minority languages.

In addition to people interested in minority rights and advocacy who wished to work in these fields, the Academy brought together 20 participants, including civil society professionals who had worked on minority rights, academics, lawyers, media professionals, and members of minority groups.

The Gariwo Foundation is a civil society organization established in 2003 to honor people who take personal risks to stand against genocide, persecution, and human rights violations. Through a tree planted and a commemorative stone installed in the garden for each honoree, their stories are preserved and passed on to future generations.

They said Cemal was selected in recognition of his personal and intellectual stance. The Gariwo Foundation argues Hasan Cemal, as the grandson of Cemal Pasha, one of the key figures responsible for the Armenian Genocide, has chosen because he confronts his own family history and challenges official Turkish narratives. They say he, through his journalism, writings, and public engagement, has contributed to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and to dialogue between Turkish and Armenian communities.

Gariwo also highlights Cemal’s relationship with Hrant Dink, the founder of our newspaper, and his determination to carry forward Dink’s legacy following his assassination in 2007. Hasan Cemal embodies precisely the moral courage and sense of individual responsibility that Gariwo seeks to honor. Hrant Dink himself was recognized in the Garden of the Righteous in Milan in 2009. They say they believe that commemorating Hasan Cemal in the same garden creates a profoundly meaningful connection between their two stories.

Cemal and Dink

Hasan Cemal, the recipient of the 2026 Righteous Award, was profiled on the Gariwo Foundation’s website in an article which describes him as the grandson of Ahmed Cemal Pasha, a prominent member of the Young Turks, is a figure who has recognized the Armenian Genocide, taken a moral stand on the issue, and spoken out about the truth. He wrote a book, 1915: The Armenian Genocide, published in 2012 and dedicated to Hrant Dink, in which Hasan Cemal listens to the voices of the past while also listening to the voices of contemporary Turkey, which remains burdened by nationalism and denial surrounding the Armenian question.

The statement says:

“He fights the lie of rewriting history for political purposes, a lie constructed in 1915 that continues to obscure the truth to this day and hinders the emergence of a free, dialogical and democratic coexistence between Turks and Armenians, as well as among all the minorities that survived the destruction of the multicultural reality of the Ottoman Empire.

With courage, he has raised his voice and given prominence to many other voices within Turkish civil society, which is today in great ferment: journalists, writers and human rights activists who are fighting state denialism in Turkey and defending human rights, democracy and, above all, peace. He wrote a book that also seeks to continue the commitment undertaken by his friend Hrant Dink, an Armenian from Turkey who was assassinated in Istanbul in 2007 on the doorstep of his newspaper and honoured in 2009 at the Garden of the Righteous in Milan.

For Hasan Cemal, proclaiming the truth about the Armenian genocide was the outcome of a journey, a process of learning and a search for justice aimed at “returning” to the Armenian people what had been taken from them for a century: the right to memory and the possibility of healing their wounds. “I wonder whether Armenians would want to share their pain with the grandson of Cemal Pasha.” the author asks himself as he sets out to write this important book, which has achieved widespread circulation in Turkey."

Hasan Cemal, a journalist and author, served as editor-in-chief of the daily Cumhuriyet from 1981 to 1992 before writing columns for Milliyet and Sabah. He resigned from Milliyet in 2013 following pressure from then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after conducting an interview with PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Born in Istanbul in 1944 to a family of Turkish and Circassian origin, Cemal graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Ankara in 1965. In addition to his journalism, he became known in Turkey and internationally for acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, in which his grandfather, Cemal Pasha, played a role.

In his book, Hasan Cemal writes:

“I remembered that dawn of morning when the sun in Yerevan rose painting the sky crimson amidst the fog. As I laid three white carnations by the Armenian genocide memorial I had mumbled to myself: “Dear Hrant your sufferings brought me here; I am trying to feel your sufferings and those of your ancestors in my heart and I share them. Rest in peace my brother.”

The tensions, initially fueled by Azerbaijan’s close relations with Israel and subsequently intensified by strong criticism from Turkey following Azerbaijan’s recent ban on headscarf in schools, prompted a backlash from Azerbaijan’s ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) against Presidential Chief Adviser Oktay Saral over his social media posts. Saral announced that he had resigned.

In a post on his X account, Saral wrote:

“Today, I have submitted my resignation from my position as chief adviser to our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a role I have carried out with great honor, dignity and responsibility since 2016. Positions are transitory; titles change hands. What truly matters is not the position a person occupies, but the values they stand behind. For us, what matters is not positions of office, but the cause we have pursued in the same direction for years and the struggle we have waged shoulder to shoulder with our President.

This decision does not mean taking a single step back from the values I believe in or from my determination to serve our nation. As yesterday, today and tomorrow, I will continue walking alongside our President with the same faith and determination. May God make us among those who stand firm in the light of truth, rather than those who seek power in the shadow of office. May He make us among those who defend the values they believe in, whatever the cost.”

Azerbaijani media coverage

The Azerbaijani press devoted extensive coverage to Saral’s resignation. The pro-government APA news agency, in an English-language report published on October 25, examined his departure in the context of the dispute between the two countries. In an article headlined “Turkish president dismisses chief adviser,” the agency reported that Erdoğan had dismissed Saral in an effort to end the dispute that had arisen over the ban on headscarf in Azerbaijani schools.

Azerbaijan-based Globalinfo also reported Saral’s departure on October 25, under the headline “Oktay Saral, who threatened Azerbaijan, resigns.” The report characterized Saral’s statements as “threatening” and claimed that they had provoked a backlash among the Azerbaijani public.

Globalinfo also published a report linking Saral’s departure to the upcoming summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS). In an article titled “Former minister makes striking comment following Saral’s resignation,” the outlet quoted a social media post by Tofik Zulfikarov, Azerbaijan’s former foreign minister.

Following Saral’s departure, Zulfikarov wrote: “The October 29–30 summit of the Organization of Turkic States will be successful!” Globalinfo published the post shortly after Saral’s departure from office.

The report also recalled that Erdoğan had telephoned Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on October 21 to invite him to the OTS summit scheduled to take place in Ankara. Some Azerbaijani media outlets’ attempts to link Saral’s departure to efforts to ease diplomatic tensions came as contacts between the two countries continued.

How the tensions had escalated

Following Azerbaijan’s growing ties with Israel, which is committing genocide in Gaza, and its September ban on headscarf in schools, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized Azerbaijan without naming it during his address to the United Nations General Assembly. Erdoğan’s criticism was followed by vocal reactions from the Turkish public, and tensions between Baku and Ankara continued to rise.

On October 13, after Presidential Chief Adviser Oktay Saral criticized Azerbaijan over the headscarf issue in a social media post, Azerbaijan’s ruling New Azerbaijan Party issued a strongly worded statement accusing Turkey of interfering in its internal affairs and conducting a smear campaign.

AKP Deputy Chair Kürşat Zorlu subsequently said, “We resolve our problems within the family.” Nevertheless, tensions between Baku and Ankara persisted.

The day after that statement, on October 21, Azerbaijan declared 31 Turkish citizens persona non grata and banned them from entering the country. Later that night, Aliyev and Erdoğan spoke by telephone, but no detailed statement was released. It was reported that the president had invited Aliyev to the Organization of Turkic States summit scheduled to take place in Ankara at the end of the month.

On Saturday, Saral was asked whether he had been dismissed. He replied, “Yes. Our President had appointed me, and I left on his instructions. I have no hard feelings toward anyone.” Saral also said that his removal was related to the controversy surrounding Azerbaijan. On Monday, he issued a statement on his own social media account.

Azerbaijani President Aliyev is expected to visit Turkey later this month.

The book, prepared to mark the 20th anniversary of the assassination of our newspaper’s founder, Hrant Dink, who was murdered in front of the Agos offices on January 19, 2007, brings together 20 writers who have written new stories especially for his memory.

The book features stories by Karin Karakaşlı, Murathan Mungan, Rıdvan Hatun, Sema Kaygusuz, Sevim Çiçek, Ayfer Tunç, Irmak Zileli, Murat Gülsoy, Melisa Kesmez, Murat Uyurkulak, Selahattin Demirtaş, Behçet Çelik, Kerem Bakıcı, Polat Özlüoğlu, Kâmil Erdem, Fethiye Çetin, Şebnem İşigüzel, Figen Alkaç, Ayşegül Devecioğlu, and Eylem Ata.

The book will hit the shelves on Saturday, October 31.

“We are here, Ahparig”

In her introductory essay, titled “From Persistence to Hope, from Hope to Truth,” (“İnattan Umuda, Umuttan Hakikate”) Boralıoğlu observes that the collective grief that emerged after Hrant Dink’s assassination has evolved into personal stories. Noting that people who knew Hrant Dink and those who never met him alike have identified with his story, Boralıoğlu says this shared memory also holds the possibility of building a future in which differences can coexist.

Explaining that writers are addressing Hrant Dink through their stories, Boralıoğlu writes:

“Now, in this book, it is the writers who call out, ‘We are here, Ahparig.’ Inspired by his words, his voice, and his presence that could not be erased, they are rebuilding their own literary worlds. Through the stories they write, they expand Hrant’s words while also becoming part of that vast atlas of conscience.”

Following the white doves

In her introductory essay, Boralıoğlu also recalls an image that remains etched in the memory of Hrant Dink’s funeral, attended by tens of thousands of people: white doves appearing around the coffin carried by Armenian youths dressed in black mourning clothes.

Boralıoğlu recounts how the doves accompanied Hrant Dink throughout the funeral and connects this image to the stories in the book. She concludes her essay with these words:

“Today, those doves wander among these stories, carrying a greeting from us to Hrant’s spirit, that beautiful spirit.”

The granddaughter of a family that survived the 1915 Genocide, Arlene Voski Avakian first heard part of her maternal grandmother Elmas Tutuian’s account of what she experienced in 1915 in 1954, when Avakian was just 14 years ld. Her grandmother asked her to tell the world what had happened to her. For many years, however, Avakian tried to distance herself both from her grandmother’s story and from anything associated with her Armenian identity. Yet her family’s past continued to make its presence felt in her life.

In her talk, Avakian will explore the journey from avoiding knowledge of her family’s history to accepting that history and making it part of her identity. Her account will trace the path from the moment of awakening she experienced in 1954 to the point at which she was able to embrace Turkey as the homeland of her ancestors.

She was also in Istanbul last year

Avakian was in Istanbul last year on the occasion of her book “Lion Woman’s Legacy”, in which she weaves together a powerful story of resistance stretching from Kastamonu to America with a feminist memoir. She met with readers and reunited with the Saturday Mothers, whom she had met on a previous occasion.

The discussion series explores the connections between past and present, experiences of discovery and reunion, and questions of belonging through journeys to ancestral homelands. The foundation also invites Armenians living abroad who have traveled to their ancestral lands, or who are planning to do so, to share their own stories.

Avakian is one of the founders and former chairs of the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Lion Woman’s Legacy: An Armenian-American Memoir. Alongside her academic work, Avakian has also been involved in social movements and initiatives that support marginalized communities.

Students who have led protests in Serbia for the past two years have defeated Aleksandar Vučić, who has governed the country for 14 years, at the ballot box. According to unofficial results, the list backed by the students won a majority in parliament.

He concedes defeat

Vučić, who resigned from the presidency to become a candidate for prime minister, acknowledged that the “Student List” had won the election. Vučić, who has been at the center of Serbian politics for 14 years, also conceded defeat on election night. Addressing his supporters at his party's headquarters in Belgrade, he said:

“We do not yet have the final results. However, based on the data we have, it is clear that we have lost this election. The Student List has won. They will win between 135 and 140 seats, while we will win 105.”

For a description of the situation just before election click here: From the streets to the ballot box: Elections in Serbia after two years of protests

The student protests that began following the railway station disaster in Novi Sad have opened the door to a new era in the country's politics with the election results. According to Anadolu Agency (AA), Vučić, the prime ministerial candidate on the “Aleksandar Vučić–United Serbia” list led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), claimed that the election results were the product of a process backed by foreign forces. Despite conceding defeat, Vučić said they would continue their struggle in opposition.

Vučić became prime minister in 2014 and was elected president twice, in 2017 and 2022. By resigning from the presidency to run in the election as a candidate for prime minister, Vučić suffered a major defeat with significant implications for his political future after 12 years in power.

According to the BBC, Vučić called the early election following two years of protests that began in 2024, after a canopy at a railway station collapsed and killed 16 people. The incident had come to symbolize corruption and negligence in Serbia.

A victory for the students

Voter turnout reached a record level. Initial figures released by Serbia's election commission showed that 64.9% of eligible voters had cast their ballots by 6 p.m. local time, indicating record participation with two hours remaining before the polls closed.

According to unofficial results announced by Serbia's Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID), with 56% of the votes counted, the Student List had received 52% of the vote, while Vučić's list, led by the SNS, had received 39%. More than 6.4 million registered voters in the country went to the polls to elect the new members of Serbia's 250-seat National Assembly.

Serbia's State Election Commission (RIK) announced that voter turnout had reached 67.6% by 7 p.m. local time. Serbian media reported that turnout could reach record levels. Turnout in the 2023 election was recorded at 58%.

“We can finally breathe”

Celebrations began in Belgrade, Novi Sad, and many other cities following Vučić's announcement. Thousands of people gathered in public squares, cars honked their horns, and demonstrators embraced one another.

Chants of “Victory, victory!” also rang out at the Student List's election headquarters. Speaking on behalf of the students, Radomir Saičić, a professor at the University of Belgrade, addressed the crowd:

“Dear Serbia, tonight the people's voice is being heard. Tonight we celebrate victory; tomorrow we will build the future.”

Ilija Srđanović, one of the Student List's prominent candidates, said: “This will be a free country.”

Students have been in the streets for two years

The student protests, which began after 16 people were killed when a concrete canopy collapsed at the railway station in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024, and continued for nearly two years, increased pressure on Vučić and his government.

Following the Novi Sad accident, the student movement entered the early general election under the slogan “Student List—Students Are Winning” and declared victory in yesterday's election.

Academic Radomir Saičić, delivering the victory speech on behalf of the Student List, thanked everyone who had voted and said they would begin building the future.

Vučić's close ties with Israel also drew attention

Meanwhile, Vučić, who remained in power in Serbia for 12 years, was also one of the leaders noted for his close relations with Israel.

Vučić said his country would jointly manufacture combat drones with Israel. He also inaugurated a new assembly plant for Israeli-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), with the aim of strengthening Serbia's military capabilities.

Vučić also referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his “friend.”

(Sources: Medyascope, BBC, Anadolu Agency, bianet)

Just one glance from her and I was bewitched…enamored. I turned to see if she will look back, and believe it or not, she was walking with her head turned looking at me…as if longing for something she did not want to leave behind. The man she was with kept walking unaware of what had gone between us. I wanted to run after her and look at her sweet face again. But they had stopped at the entrance of a building not far from where I stood watching her. My heart was pounding because I knew once she went in, I would not be able to follow her. I was panicking, lost at what I could do to come face to face with her again. Then, as they were entering the building, she turned around and smiled at me tenderly as if saying she was sorry too that our encounter had been so short.

I had fallen in love, I was sure. I could not leave; I had to see her again. But how? There was still a long time before the movie started. I decided to wait there. I did not know if that was where she lived. It was a four-storey building with balconies. I was hoping that soon she will come out on one of them to check if I were still there…maybe she would wave at me or signal a silent message that she was sure I would decipher. I just stood there and waited. My eyes scanned the balconies floor by floor. From time to time, I would close my eyes for a few seconds and then open them hoping she would be there. I waited and waited, sometimes walking up and down the sidewalk. The wait was long and I began checking out the store windows on that street. They were very elegant and expensive stores. After all, it was Al Hamra, a neighborhood like Nişantaşi used to be a decade ago...affluent and exclusively for the rich.

One particular store sold jewelry made from precious stones and colorful beads...bracelets and necklaces. It must have been a store importing from Africa because there were also some framed drawings of African women’s profiles on the store walls. The items in the display window were amazingly beautiful. One of them had caught my eye when I first looked. You could tell that it was special. The design of the necklace with its colorful stones was so tasteful that I chose it to be my favorite. I kept checking the entrance of the building and the balconies meanwhile, but there was no trace of my young beauty. By this time the movie I had planned to see had already started and maybe finished. It did not matter. I was fantasizing about how beautiful the necklace would look around her neck. It would be my first gift to her. I was thrilled at the idea of how happy she would be on receiving my gift, my token of love to her.

She did not show up at the end. I was tired from standing all those hours on my feet. I was disappointed but of course I made up all kinds of explanations as to why she never showed up. Certainly, the man she was with, had sensed something and had forbidden her to come out on the balcony. Even though I could have waited till midnight, I began heading home because I had a curfew...I was young and my mother allowed me afternoon matinees only. But I was happy...reminiscing how tenderly she had looked at me. I was so sure I would find her that for the next three Sundays I kept skipping my matinees and instead I lingered on that same sidewalk throughout the afternoon, sure that somehow I would run into her. And every single time, I checked out the beautiful necklace in the store window and let myself flow in fantasies with my young beauty. At the end, I gave up and decided that it was not meant to be. By that time, I was so familiar with the necklace that I could draw and color it by heart.

I never saw her again. But what I lived through because of the way she had looked at me, because of that spark in her eyes, has always made me believe that falling in love should always be like that…mutual and at first glance. And one has to be patient and hopeful when it is a matter of love...even if nothing happens.

As for that glance that the beautiful fairy gave me that day, I have never forgotten it...it still tickles my soul when I remember it.

Fortunately, we are in a better position in academic domain than we are in popular discourse. Although there is still a long way to go and many questions that need to be explored, there are academic studies, or at least works that follow a certain methodology and discipline, that can help us in exploring and establishing the outlines of the subject. (I have also tried to make a contribution to the literature by an article, namely “White Man’s Burden” or Victim’s Hope(lessness): Armeno-Kurdish Relations and Mutual Perceptions before the Genocide, in the edited volume titled “Kurds and Yezidis in the Middle East: Shifting Identities, Borders, and the Experiences of Minority Communities”.) What we need is the infusion of academic knowledge to the masses and get more widespread. In this article, as a contribution toward that goal, I will try to outline some of the key aspects of this history. My comments apply generally to the post-Tanzimat period, meaning from mid-19th century to the end of the Ottoman Empire.

The first thing that needs to be underscored is this: Kurdish-Armenian relations are a phenomenon too complex, fluid, multi-actor, and variable across time and space to fit into a simple "friend-foe" dichotomy. Undoubtedly, this history is not a bed of roses; it involves conflict, massacres, and blood, but alongside these, it also contains solidarity, protection and mutual patronage, joint production, and cultural exchange.

Secondly, these relations do not actually fit into the categories of "Kurd" or "Armenian" either; they cannot be discussed or explained solely through these two categories, which are thought to be national. One must also consider the internal divisions, conflicts, and groupings within both societies. For example, tribal divisions among Kurds, the contradictions between the agha-bey (landlord/chief) class and Kurdish peasants or laborers; or when we look at the Armenian side, the oligarchic class known as the amira in the earlier 19th century, Armenian political parties from the second half of the 1880s onward, and the conflicts of the Armenian Church both with certain segments of society and within itself are elements that must be taken into consideration when discussing Armenian-Kurdish relations.

In this respect, different groups, classes, and social strata within Armenian and Kurdish communities established relationships with one another independently of the rest of their respective communities, without necessarily implicating or binding them. Consequently, Indeed, it was not unusual in this history for some Armenians to ally with some Kurds against other Armenians, or for some Kurds to join forces with some Armenians against other Kurds. To be more specific and refer to actual events, this is a history in which a cleric within the Armenian Church might collaborate with local Kurdish authorities to eliminate a rival within the church hierarchy, or Kurdish peasants suffering under the oppression of a Kurdish agha might seek support and solidarity from an Armenian political party.

This situation also serves as a reminder of how we should -or rather should not- approach this subject today. For instance, there is no historical, political, or moral basis for a Kurdish laborer today to embrace and defend the actions of a Kurdish agha from more than a century ago simply on the grounds of Kurdish identity. Nor is there any such basis for an ordinary Armenian today to adopt and defend, on the grounds of Armenian identity, the actions of the Armenian Church as an institution or of any Armenian political party from more than a century ago. What should determine our attitudes and guide our judgements about historical events and figures today is not our Armenian or Kurdish identity, but the contemporary values that prioritize human rights, dignity, freedom, and justice, even if those very priorities and values are now both domestically and internationally under threat.

I cannot even go beyond methodology and start talking about the content. Let’s continue handling this subject.  

During the march, participants are carrying placards reading “Journalism Is Not a Crime,” “Not Disinformation, but ‘Order-Formation’” and “Freedom for Imprisoned Journalists.” They are also chanting, “The press is free and cannot be silenced.”

Dink, Göktepe, Mumcu

During the march, journalists and members of the public who had come to support them also remembered their colleagues who were killed in Turkey. Hrant Dink, founder of Agos newspaper, Metin Göktepe, a correspondent for Evrensel, and Uğur Mumcu, a writer for Cumhuriyet, were each commemorated by name. After each name was read out, the crowd responded with the chant, “Present!”

The press statement delivered at İskele Square was read by Gökhan Durmuş, president of the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS). The statement declared: “In Turkey, journalism means standing with the people, not with those in power, politicians, or capital.”

“It Is Your Right That Is Being Silenced”

The statement said that journalists are being detained, imprisoned, or placed under house arrest for doing their jobs. It criticized the appointment of official trustees to media organizations, access restrictions imposed on news websites and social media accounts, and the working conditions of journalists.

It stated that journalists are being targeted for investigating how public funds are spent, reporting allegations of corruption, covering workers’ resistance, women’s struggles for their rights, the struggles of LGBTİ+ people, and the objections and dissent of young people.

Emphasizing that journalism is not about defending the interests of the political establishment or capital, but about uncovering what the public needs to know, the statement said:

“A journalist is responsible for bringing to light what the public needs to know, not for concealing what those in power do not want the public to know.”

The press statement noted that pressure on journalists targets not only media workers but also society’s right to access information. Declaring, “Without a free press, there can be no free society,” it continued:

“Censorship, self-censorship, shutdowns, and arrests are not just problems for journalists. They obstruct society’s most fundamental democratic rights and constitute a blow against the public’s right to access information.”

The statement noted that trustees had been appointed to Flash Haber TV, Ekotürk TV, the Habertürk group, TELE1, and Halk TV over the past two years. It also drew attention to access restrictions imposed on the news websites of JINNEWS, the Mesopotamia News Agency, and Kaos GL.

Restrictions targeting the social media accounts of news organizations including T24, Kısa Dalga, SolHaber, the Yeni Yaşam newspaper, and bianet were also raised.

The statement said that media outlets such as Gazete Duvar and TELE2, along with numerous local newspapers, websites, and television channels, had been forced to cease publishing or broadcasting. It called for public advertising and notices to be distributed fairly.

Release imprisoned journalists

Press and media professional organizations called on the public not to remain silent in the face of pressure on journalists and urged greater professional solidarity. The statement stressed that defending journalism means not only opposing pressure when one experiences it personally, but also defending the right of journalists with different viewpoints to do their jobs.

Stating that press freedom concerns every sector of society, the statement expresses the following demands:

• Release imprisoned journalists.
• End judicial pressure on news reporting.
• End the appointment of government-appointed trustees to media organizations.
• Lift unlawful access restrictions.
• Distribute public advertising and notices fairly and equally.
• Abandon practices that undermine press freedom.

Tülay Hatimoğulları, co-chair of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), and Özgür Çelik, chair of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) Istanbul provincial organization, also attended the demonstration in support.

Politicians Ayşegül Doğan, Sezai Temelli, Türkan Elçi, Tülay Hatimoğulları, and Özgür Çelik also joined the march.

This is nothing new, but in recent years journalists in Turkey have experienced it more frequently than ever. The aim is to create the impression that if a police raid takes place at the crack of dawn and a journalist is handcuffed with their hands behind their back, they must surely be guilty. In reality, there is no crime, nothing hidden or secret. A tweet you posted that evening, an article you wrote about LGBTİ+ people, or a piece of information you shared during a live broadcast is enough for those who want to conceal the truth. Because the information journalists uncover reveals who the “real criminals” are.

Journalism is not a crime. Yes, just like tailoring, computer engineering, or any other profession you can think of. Does a greengrocer get detained simply for selling fruit, for example? We know that sounds absurd, but detaining journalists is every bit as absurd.

I’ll be honest: I don’t like the slogan “Journalism is not a crime.” Not because it’s wrong, but because we have to keep repeating something so obvious. After every detention and every arrest, we explain that journalism is not a crime. As though we have to prove the legitimacy of practicing our profession all over again each time.

Moreover, the issue is not simply that journalists lose their jobs or face prosecution because they are detained, arrested, their outlets are shut down, or trustees are appointed to media organizations. The issue also concerns which stories can be reported, which sources can speak, and which information can reach the public. In Turkey, control over all of this has long been monopolized by those in power and those who have aligned themselves with them. Mathematics is simple. There is a direct relationship between a journalist having to worry about what will happen to them while reporting a story and a citizen being unable to find out what is going on.

I am writing this article to remind people why journalism is treated as though it were a crime and its cost for all of us in our lives. And, in part, to say, “Enough already. Let us do our jobs,” and “Let us talk about the other problems facing our profession.”  

In just the past few weeks…

According to a report announced on Sunday, October 11, by Utku Çakırözer, deputy leader of the New Party, 25 journalists have been detained in the past 70 days.

Ten journalists are currently in prison: Merdan Yanardağ, Selahattin Günday, Ali Tarakçı, Tuğba Tekerek, Fatih Ergin, Hasan Güraksu, İrem Delice, Şaban Sevinç, Mustafa Balcı, and Derya Okatan.

Since October 11, up to October 21, the date this issue of Agos went to press, two more journalists have been added to that number: Murat Ağırel and İsmail Arı.

In other words, journalists are being arrested simply for doing their jobs and informing the public about what is happening. While I am haunted by the worry that I may have missed someone, let me briefly summarize what we have been going through.

On the last day of September, access to the website and social media accounts of T24, one of Turkey’s most widely read news websites, was blocked. The access restriction was imposed as part of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office investigation known as “My Family Is Safe.” Before that decision, numerous LGBTİ+ activists, human rights defenders, and journalists had already been arrested in connection with the investigation, and access to individuals’ and media organizations’ digital accounts had been blocked. Meanwhile, particularly during September, access to approximately 1,300 X accounts in Turkey was blocked, including the accounts of Evrensel and Kısa Dalga.

On October 9, journalists Şaban Sevinç and Mustafa Balcı, who had been detained over their commentary and reporting in connection with the so-called “funding investigation,” were arrested on charges of “publicly disseminating misleading information.” İsmail Saymaz and Murat Ağırel, who were questioned on the same charge, were released subject to judicial supervision. Following an objection by the prosecutor’s office, Saymaz and Ağırel were placed under house arrest on October 10. But Ağırel’s story was not over yet.

On October 14, at 5:30 a.m., police raided Halk TV’s headquarters in Istanbul. A trustee was appointed to the channel, television broadcasts were suspended, and employees were denied entry to the building. Arrest warrants were issued for 17 people, including the channel’s owner, Cafer Mahiroğlu. Access to the channel’s social media accounts was also blocked.

As part of the funding investigation, journalist Bahadır Özgür was detained on October 15 over his reporting, on a charge of “violating the confidentiality of an investigation.” He was released subject to judicial supervision, including a travel ban and a requirement to report to the authorities.

Ağırel, who was already under house arrest, was taken into custody on October 19 and arrested on a charge of “aiding a criminal organization” as part of an investigation into the Sarıgül family concerning alleged “money laundering and the establishment and management of a criminal organization for profit.”

On October 20, BirGün reporter İsmail Arı was detained following a complaint by former Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) chair Ebubekir Şahin. The charges were “insulting a public official on account of their duties” and “disseminating misleading information to the public.” Arı had gone to the Ankara Police Department to give a statement, where he was formally notified that he was being detained. After spending the night in custody, he was transferred to the courthouse on the morning of October 21. Following his statement to the prosecutor, he was brought before a judge with a request for his arrest.

Unfortunately, as we were preparing this article for publication, we had to revise it at the last minute. İsmail Arı had been remanded in custody by the judge. In a statement sent to his newspaper, he said:

“The judge didn’t even listen. They interrupted the lawyers. They are sending me back to prison once again for an offense that doesn’t even carry a prison sentence.”

Arı’s words bring to mind an old saying: when the wolf has decided to eat the lamb, it no longer matters where the water flows from.

Arı had previously been arrested on March 21, 2026, on a charge of “publicly disseminating misleading information.” After spending 75 days in Sincan Prison, he was released at his first hearing on June 5, without being placed under judicial supervision.

Journalist Gözde Şeker, who left Halk TV some time ago, addressed viewers by quoting journalist Hilmi Hacaloğlu’s words. In her post, Şeker said: “Hilmi Hacaloğlu wrote, ‘Millions watch you in the evening, then morning comes and you are utterly alone.’ I am deeply, deeply saddened. Not only because a trustee has been appointed, but also because of this image. Where are you?”

“Where are you?”

Şeker’s question expresses a justified anger at the abandonment of journalists. But the issue is not just journalists’ loneliness or the pressure they face while practicing their profession. Appointing a trustee to a television channel, detaining and arresting journalists, and blocking access to news websites also constitute direct interference with the public’s right to access information.

As readers, we learn through journalists about the rights being taken away from us, deepening inequalities, struggles for justice, food safety, the climate crisis, developments in culture and the arts, earthquakes and other natural disasters, LGBTİ+ rights, political prisoners, the economy, and many other developments that affect our lives. Silencing journalists means covering up these issues, making what is happening invisible, and preventing society from accessing the truth. Every act of repression against journalism takes something away from all of us.

That is precisely why journalists who speak out against their colleagues being abandoned, news being censored, and the truth being obscured are also asking citizens for their support.

Journalists take to the streets

On Saturday, October 24, press organizations will organize nationwide protests against the repression of journalists, ranging from detentions and arrests to the appointment of trustees to media outlets and restrictions on access to news websites and social media accounts.

Organizations including the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS), the Journalists’ Association of Turkey, the Press Council, the Journalists’ Association, the Contemporary Journalists Association (ÇGD), the Izmir Journalists’ Association, the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association, DİSK Basın-İş, and professional associations specializing in different areas of journalism will protest the pressure on press freedom.

Under a joint call to action, journalists will take to public squares at 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 24, 2026, the anniversary of the appointment of a trustee to TELE 1. The message behind the protest is clear: to oppose repression against journalists, censorship, and the practice of appointing trustees—and to defend not only journalists, but also society’s right to access information.

Some time ago, I wrote for Agos about another journalist’s imprisonment, on the 100th day of journalist Furkan Karabay’s detention. I wrote:

“I liken practicing journalism in Turkey to swimming in an endless, turbulent sea whose bottom cannot be seen. A sea that sometimes frightens us, one that some of us say we ‘get used to the more we venture into it,’ while others are content to watch from the shore… The presence of Furkan and others like him makes those waters far more navigable. He says, ‘Come on, let’s cross the ropes too; the sea is ours.’ Because in this country, journalism is measured not only by the pursuit of truth but also by the determination to stand up for it. It requires not only writing, but also bearing the consequences of what you write.”

Let me return to that image, with the sadness of realizing that nothing has changed.

Today, the sea is even rougher, the water so murky that the bottom is nowhere to be seen. But no matter how fiercely the wind blows, we need journalists who keep swimming in these waters. We also need those who wave from the shore to say, “We’re here,” those who hear our voices, and readers who will throw us a lifebuoy when necessary.

Because when journalists are left alone, it is not only they who drown; society, too, loses its way to the truth.

They want to darken this sea and leave us all in the dark.

We have no lifebuoy other than solidarity and struggle.

The elections represent a major challenge to the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which has dominated the country's political landscape since 2012 under Aleksandar Vučić. Following his resignation as president in September 2026, Vučić is seeking to return to his former position of prime minister, while a student-backed electoral list seeks to transform widespread public dissatisfaction into institutional political change.

However, the elections are taking place in an environment marked by serious concerns over democratic standards, political intimidation, restrictions on fundamental freedoms and allegations of systematic abuse of state resources. The question is not simply who will win, but whether the elections can take place under conditions that allow citizens to express their political will freely.

A decade of protest and the emergence of the student movement

Although the Novi Sad tragedy in November 2024 marked the beginning of the current political crisis, Serbia's civic resistance did not emerge overnight. Since 2016, the country has experienced successive waves of public mobilization over corruption, urban development, environmental protection, electoral irregularities, political violence and democratic accountability.

These movements differed in their immediate demands and size, but increasingly reflected a common frustration with corruption, weak institutional accountability and the concentration of political power. Successive waves of mobilization demonstrated that public dissatisfaction was neither temporary nor confined to established opposition parties.

The collapse of the newly renovated railway station canopy in Novi Sad transformed this accumulated dissatisfaction into a nationwide movement. What began as demands for transparency, publication of reconstruction documents and accountability for those responsible soon developed into a broader challenge to the political system.

University students emerged as the movement's central organizing force. Through university blockades, public assemblies, marches and demonstrations across Serbia, they mobilized citizens far beyond the traditional opposition electorate. Their insistence on institutional accountability, rather than allegiance to established political parties, helped generate broad public support.

As the crisis continued and their original demands remained unresolved, students increasingly concluded that meaningful institutional change would require a change in political leadership. The movement consequently shifted towards demanding early parliamentary elections, eventually establishing the electoral platform Student List – Students Win.

This transition from civic mobilization to electoral participation is the most significant political development in Serbia in recent years.

An election that challenges the established political order

These elections are distinctive because the main challenge to the governing authorities does not originate primarily from Serbia's traditional political opposition.

A significant number of established opposition actors have decided not to contest the parliamentary elections independently, instead directing their political support, organizational resources and voter mobilization towards the student-backed list.

This withdrawal represents a strategic attempt to avoid fragmentation of the anti-government vote and consolidate support around a movement with broader public legitimacy.

Nevertheless, the electoral landscape remains complicated. Apart from genuine opposition parties, independent observers have raised concerns about electoral lists of questionable authenticity, including so-called proxy lists and nine minority lists (out of eighteen lists in total).

According to CRTA's assessment of the electoral process, there are grounds to question the authenticity of at least five candidate lists. The concerns relate to whether certain lists represent genuine political actors or have been established primarily for electoral purposes, potentially misleading voters, fragmenting political competition or facilitating influence over electoral administration.

Similar practices have been documented during previous elections. In its assessment of the March 2026 local elections, CRTA identified 19 electoral lists whose authenticity was questionable, representing 38% of all proclaimed lists in the municipalities observed.

These findings do not establish that every disputed electoral actor is controlled by the authorities. They nevertheless raise serious questions about political transparency and the integrity of democratic competition.

The stakes are particularly high for Vučić, whose political dominance has shaped Serbian governance for more than a decade. His resignation from the presidency and return to parliamentary politics demonstrate an effort to preserve his central role in the country's political system, even as the student movement challenges the legitimacy of that system.

Electoral competition under pressure

Serbia's elections will be held against a background of longstanding concerns regarding the separation of state and party, unequal media access, voter intimidation and misuse of public resources.

Independent election observers have repeatedly documented these problems during previous electoral cycles. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has deployed an observation mission for the upcoming elections, assessing compliance with international democratic standards and commitments.

The findings published so far suggest that the situation remains deeply concerning.

According to CRTA's first interim election observation report, published on 8 October, 49 incidents involving threats, intimidation or violence were recorded during the first three weeks of the campaign. The organization also documented suspicions of unlawful surveillance, pressure on voters, abuse of public resources and serious irregularities involving the collection and certification of signatures supporting electoral lists.

The report further warned that approximately 22.000 voters abroad could effectively be deprived of their right to vote because polling stations were not opened in all countries where sufficient numbers of Serbian citizens had registered. In addition to that, all of Serbia’s diaspora will have to vote in Serbia’s time zone – including people from the US, Australia and alike.

Media inequality is another major concern. CRTA's monitoring found that representatives of the governing majority received approximately three-quarters of political airtime on monitored television channels during one week of the campaign, while opposition actors received significantly less coverage and were frequently portrayed negatively.

These findings are particularly important in a political environment where the distinction between public institutions and the governing party has become increasingly blurred.

A disturbing illustration of alleged informal mechanisms of political pressure emerged in a BIRN investigation published on 14 October. The investigation presents testimony from a former ruling-party activist alleging that organized groups were recruited and paid to intimidate political opponents, confront protesters and participate in activities intended to protect the governing party's interests.

His account also raises allegations concerning the involvement of public companies, substantial cash payments and the organization of groups deployed during protests. These claims require independent investigation and must not be treated as judicially established facts. Nevertheless, they raise serious questions about potential connections between political structures, public resources and organized intimidation.

Such allegations are particularly alarming because they suggest that threats to electoral integrity may extend beyond conventional campaign irregularities to include informal structures of coercion operating alongside formal political institutions.

Human rights defenders and civil society under increasing pressure

The deterioration of Serbia's democratic environment has been accompanied by increasing pressure on those working to document abuses, defend fundamental rights and hold institutions accountable.

Human rights defenders, independent journalists, civil society organizations, student activists and election observers have faced smear campaigns, threats, physical attacks, arbitrary detention and surveillance.

In its World Report 2026, Human Rights Watch documented excessive police force against protesters, arbitrary arrests and restrictions on civil society. The report also highlighted attacks against journalists, including incidents in which police officers used force against clearly identified media workers.

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia recorded 84 physical attacks and 113 threats against journalists between January and September 2025, demonstrating the extent to which media freedom has come under pressure.

Digital surveillance presents an additional threat. In December 2024, Amnesty International published a report entitled as “A Digital Prison”, documenting the misuse of surveillance technologies against journalists and civil society activists in Serbia. Subsequent investigations in March 2025 revealed that two BIRN journalists had been targeted with Pegasus spyware.

These developments have a chilling effect extending beyond the individuals directly targeted. When journalists investigating corruption, lawyers providing legal assistance and organizations documenting human rights violations face intimidation, the capacity of society to scrutinize those in power becomes significantly weaker.

The European Commission's 2025 Serbia Report also highlighted concerns regarding pressure on civil society, the independence of institutions and the functioning of democratic checks and balances.

These pressures have continued into the electoral campaign itself. In an October statement, CRTA warned about increasing political violence and threats directed at independent election observers. The organization expressed particular concern about the safety of its monitoring teams, noting that previous attacks against observers had gone unpunished.

Civil society organizations nevertheless remain essential to Serbia's democratic resilience. Throughout the protest movement, they have provided legal assistance to detained activists, documented human rights violations, supported victims of institutional abuse, monitored elections and maintained access to independent information.

Their role becomes even more important during elections, when the credibility of the process depends not only on electoral institutions but also on the ability of independent actors to observe, investigate and publicly report irregularities without fear of retaliation.

What happens after 25 October?

Regardless of the election result, Serbia is unlikely to return immediately to political stability.

A victory for the governing SNS could preserve the existing political order and enable Vučić to return as prime minister. However, an electoral victory would not resolve the underlying grievances that have sustained nearly two years of student-led mobilization, particularly demands for accountability, institutional independence and an end to deeply rooted corruption.

A breakthrough by the student-backed list could open the possibility of substantial political change. Yet translating a decentralized civic movement into effective parliamentary governance would present considerable challenges, including the formation of a stable governing majority and the restoration of public trust in institutions, as well as rebuilding them.

A close or disputed result could produce the most unpredictable scenario. With public confidence in electoral institutions already weakened, allegations of irregularities, intimidation or manipulation could trigger renewed demonstrations and further political confrontation.

The conduct of the police, prosecutors, courts and electoral authorities would therefore be critical not only on election day but also during the counting of votes, adjudication of complaints and formation of a new government.

Serbia also faces an early presidential election following Vučić's resignation, potentially extending political uncertainty through the end of 2026. The early presidential elections must take place before 27 December 2026.

For the European Union, the elections will represent another important test of Serbia's democratic trajectory. Yet, reducing the country's political future to relations with Brussels, Moscow or Beijing would overlook the central issue driving the present crisis: the demand by Serbian citizens for accountable institutions and meaningful democratic representation.

The strength and endurance of Serbia's civic mobilization demonstrate that, despite significant pressure, the country's democratic aspirations remain alive.

Civil Rights Defenders will continue monitoring and reporting on developments throughout the pre-election period, on election day and in the period following the vote, with particular attention to threats against human rights defenders, journalists, civil society organizations, activists and election observers.

We call on the Serbian authorities to guarantee the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association; protect the right of every citizen to vote freely and without intimidation; ensure independent election observation and unhindered journalistic reporting; and prevent the misuse of public institutions and security forces for political purposes. All allegations of politically motivated violence, intimidation and electoral abuse must be promptly, independently and effectively investigated, with those responsible held accountable.

Above all, the electoral process and its aftermath must remain free from violence. State institutions have a responsibility to protect all citizens, regardless of their political affiliation, and to ensure that the freely expressed will of voters is respected.

Ultimately, the true test of Serbia's democracy will not simply be whether elections take place on 25 October, but whether citizens can freely determine the country's political future – and whether its institutions respect that decision.

The social life of Yerevan and the vibrancy of its streets were among the first things to catch the participants’ attention. Journalist and writer Tan Morgül, who focuses on gastronomy, meyhane (traditional/old school tavern in Turkey) culture, and street food, described encountering an unexpected level of activity in the city:

“I found it quite lively, both structurally and spatially, as well as in the way people use the streets. There is investment in many areas, from gastronomy to technology.”

Müjde Mısırlı Zoto, who has many years of experience in the tourism and communications sectors and is also part of the management of Armada Hotel, said that the city’s development and architecture impressed her, adding, “I didn’t expect such a vibrant city or such magnificent architecture.”

Sabiha Apaydın Gönenli, one of Turkey’s experienced wine consultants, said she saw Armenia as “on the threshold of change”: “There are restaurants, cafés, and a life lived outdoors. I saw that wine has made a huge leap forward.”

“A renaissance in wine”

Wine, which was at the heart of the program, left the strongest impression on the participants. Gönenli added that although the region has a very long history of winemaking, it had experienced major disruptions, and that Armenia is entering a period in wine that could be described as a “renaissance.” 

“During the Soviet era, Armenia produced only brandy. There has also been a major rupture in Turkey. The disappearance of Armenians from the country as a result of the genocide wiped out, overnight, all the knowledge, culture, and traditions there as well.”

Gözdem Gürbüzatik, a wine expert and educator and one of the founders of the Heritage Vines of Turkey (HVOT) project, also drew attention to this revival, saying, “It feels very encouraging to see people from the diaspora gradually pursuing their work with passion.” Speaking about vineyards at elevations of up to 1,800 meters and the Areni grape in particular, Gürbüzatik said, “It was an approach that allowed me to experience the vitality of the grape to a great extent and left a deep impression on me.”

“The language of the land brings people together”

Participants emphasized that wine and geography could establish a common language between the two societies. Gürbüzatik said, “I believe that the language of the land and the language of geography are highly conducive to reconciliation and bring people together. Wine is like that, too. We experienced a sense of speaking the same language here.”

Sharing the view that gastronomy provides an important foundation for dialogue, Tan Morgül said the border needed to open for similar efforts to involve more people: “Flying is nice, but crossing the border should be different. It needs to become something more than an experience visited by only certain groups; people should be able to come and go freely and easily.”

Recalling the title of Hrant Dink’s book ‘Two Close Peoples, Two Distant Neighbors’, Müjde Mısırlı Zoto said, “When I looked at Ararat, I realized that this distance could be bridged and the two sides brought much closer. All that is needed is for the borders to be lifted. Then crossing back and forth, all kinds of dialogue, and all kinds of relationships will become much easier.” Mısırlı Zoto noted that they formed new friendships even during a short visit of just five days, adding that an Armenian she met will be coming to Istanbul the following week to visit her.

“I would come back”

Sabiha Apaydın Gönenli said, “... I would also like to take a trip where I can become more immersed in everyday life and stay longer. I would definitely come back.” Gürbüzatik also said she wants to return to follow this process, while Mısırlı Zoto said she would like to bring her husband as well.

The Dialogue Program was carried out with the financial support of the European Union within the framework of the project entitled ‘Support to Armenia-Turkey Normalization: Enhancing Cross-border Linkages’.

What I have learned from my own experience of migration is that, above all, migration is a matter of labor, bound up with different experiences of time in both the country one leaves and the country one migrates to. The importance of time is measured, in particular, by whether migrants are able to return to the country where they grew up. In other words, if migrants can determine how long they will live as migrants, that is a significant privilege. In this sense, it would be unfair to place in the same category those fleeing catastrophe, who risk disappearing at sea after throwing themselves into a small boat, and those who took part in organized labor migration to the industrialized countries of the twentieth century.

Another aspect of migration is that it ultimately points to an open-ended period of time, the outcome of which is uncertain. What happens during this time depends on how conscious a person is of their own agency, how much they would be able to choose themselves, and how fully they can actually bear the risks they have taken on.

For Armenians, migration is first and foremost the enactment of a historical memory directly associated with catastrophe. Those who survived and left, those who were able to leave, are people who, consciously or unconsciously, put into practice the will to create distance between themselves and a catastrophe in the most radical way possible. Yet physically leaving a place does not necessarily mean leaving it behind in time. On the contrary, the time of catastrophe often takes precedence over all places and continues to be lived out in the countries to which people migrate.

Even when migrants have physically left the countries they came from, they remain connected to those countries’ affairs through constant communication and by following the news on television channels that are effectively open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is as though they plug themselves into the fissures created by migration through an electrical socket, establishing a powerful connection. Their physical surroundings have changed, but the shift in time has not taken place; migrants remain suspended in the air, like a cloud.

Families in particular often say that they migrate for the sake of their children’s future. Yet the lives of every member of a migrating family change. Migration is, in fact, one of the greatest tests a family can face, because spatial and temporal adaptation does not unfold in the same way for every family member. Temporal ruptures within the family, the older generations remaining suspended in the air, and younger generations adapting to the country they have arrived in all disrupt the temporal dynamics within the family, directly affecting the bonds between generations. In this sense, when migration cannot be experienced as a voluntary decision in which all the risks have been consciously accepted, and when there are no older family members able to shoulder the consequences of the decision, it becomes a breaking point that creates temporal ruptures that lasts across generations, with effects that are multilayered and difficult to recognize.

On the one hand, migrants work tirelessly to secure a place in the everyday life of the country they have moved to, often as cheap labor. On the other, they become the tireless workers of the most invisible form of labor: maintaining communication with the relatives, friends and fellow townspeople they have left behind; continuing to function as a family; keeping relatives who have moved away from the family’s immediate circle within the web of family ties; and establishing and sustaining their connections with younger generations. It would not be an exaggeration to say that, for at least five generations, Armenians have made tremendous emotional and financial investments and devoted enormous amounts of time to overcoming the impossibilities created by geography, wars and time differences, so that they can share births, deaths, weddings, happiness and sorrow.

One of the invisible aspects of migration is that, even when people have moved under what could be considered reasonably favorable conditions, they effectively start their lives from zero, both socially and professionally. Whether they leave out of necessity or for education, work or marriage, they must learn all the social codes of the country they arrive in. It takes years to build up an entirely new body of knowledge about where and how to behave. The years spent at this complete social and institutional starting point—where familiar people, friendships built over many years and established ways of solving problems no longer work, and where the knowledge and experience accumulated up to that point seem to have no value—are a kind of test of migration itself. They test whether one has chosen oneself through migration, or whether the risks attached to a supposedly voluntary decision were ever truly understood and accepted.

The qualities and all the social and professional experience that a person brings with them to the country they migrate to can begin to acquire meaning only when they can be situated within the context of that country—that is, only after a certain amount of time has passed. In other words, for the education and skills we bring with us to become visible in another country, we must first establish our own presence within that country’s time and space and make ourselves visible. Here, too, time is a constitutive element of migration. Sometimes this process can take generations.

In his masterful work Unspoken as Heritage (2019), which examines the history of his own family and is soon to be published in Turkish by Aras Publishing, Harry Harootunian beautifully describes the process through which his parents, who had survived, migrated to the United States, as well as his own experience as a child of living within his family’s multiple temporalities. Harootunian calls this time the present-past.

As a collective, in our forthcoming pieces, we too will share our own experiences, as well as those of our families, of migrating and being unable to migrate. In doing so, we will reflect together on what the temporal and spatial ruptures that have emerged in our lives mean to us.

According to Azerbaijan’s official news agency, Azertac, it was also stated that appropriate measures would continue to be taken in response to calls targeting the Republic of Azerbaijan and activities that fuel hostility.

The list of undesirable persons announced by the Baku administration includes well-known figures from politics, the media, academia, and religious circles.

Opposition politicians also on the list

According to reports in the Azerbaijani press, those banned from entering the country include Fatih Erbakan, leader of the New Welfare Party; Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, a member of parliament from the DEM Party; and Yahya Uğraş, deputy leader of HÜDA PAR.

The list also includes Mehmet Boynukalın, former imam of Hagia Sophia and faculty member at Marmara University’s Faculty of Theology; journalist and writer Yusuf Kaplan; İsmail Kılıçarslan; and Ahmet Çakar, a former football referee and sports commentator.

“Persona non grata”

The statement announced that the individuals in question had been declared persona non grata under Azerbaijani law and prohibited from entering the country.

Azerbaijani authorities explained the reasons for the decision in terms of threats to the country’s sovereignty and constitutional order.

The official statement alleged that the individuals concerned had made statements through various social media platforms and websites targeting Azerbaijan’s sovereignty, national security, constitutional order, people, and leadership.

The statement also said that calls for the forcible change of the government, along with the promotion of violence, religious hatred, and hostility on the basis of religious radicalism, were among the reasons for the decision.

However, the statement did not provide specific examples of the particular statements or activities that led to each individual being included on the list.

Signal of further sanctions

At the end of its statement, the Azerbaijani government said that measures targeting calls against the country’s sovereignty and activities that incite hostility will continue.

This wording suggests that the Baku administration could impose entry bans on additional individuals on similar grounds.

As diplomatic contacts between Turkey and Azerbaijan have continued in recent times, the foreign ministers of the two countries emphasized their strategic partnership and cooperation within the Turkic world at a joint press conference on September 15.

What had happened?

President Erdoğan’s criticism, without naming Azerbaijan, at the United Nations General Assembly regarding Turkey’s position on Azerbaijan’s close relations with Israel, along with strong reactions from Turkey to the headscarves ban in Azerbaijani schools, had heightened tensions between Baku and Ankara.

In response to high-level criticism from Turkey, Azerbaijan’s ruling New Azerbaijan Party issued a strongly worded statement accusing Turkey of interfering in its internal affairs and conducting a smear campaign.

Although Kürşat Zorlu, deputy chair of Turkey’s ruling AKP, subsequently stated that “we resolve our problems within the family,” tensions between Baku and Ankara have continued. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is expected to visit Turkey at the end of this month.

Arzruni was born in Istanbul in 1943. His aunt, composer Sirvart Kalpakyan Karamanuk, encouraged him to play the piano when he was four years old, and he began performing in public at the age of five. He completed his primary and secondary education at Esayan School and attended Getronagan High School. He graduated from the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory (now known as the Istanbul University State Conservatory), where he studied piano with Ferdi Ştatzer and harmony with Raşit Abed.

In 1964, at just 21 years old, he moved to New York City on a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to study at the Juilliard School, which offers undergraduate and graduate-level education in music, drama, and dance. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1967 and his master’s degree in 1968.

Honorary professor

Arzruni conducted research into the musical roots of Armenian heritage. He studied traditional Armenian music and recorded a three-CD anthology of Armenian piano music. In 2008, he was awarded the title of Honorary Professor by the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan in Armenia.

In 2016, he was awarded Armenia’s highest cultural honor, the Presidential Movses Khorenatsi Medal, by President Serzh Sargsyan.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Şahan Arzruni curated a series of online mini-concerts titled Together for Armenia to raise financial assistance for Armenia.

Reading aloud the condolence message that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had sent to the Armenian Patriarchate on the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Yılmaz said: “The prosecutor cannot bring a case because of this condolence message. I am a journalist, and this year, too, I will report on the condolence message the president sends.”

Yılmaz also addressed the complaint submitted through CİMER, Türkiye’s Presidential Communication Center, saying: “I am being prosecuted on the basis of a CİMER message that may have been sent by someone who is not mentally sound.”

Stating that she would continue working as a journalist, Yılmaz said: “Like President Erdoğan, I advocate peace between the Armenian and Turkish peoples.” Yılmaz paid tribute to Hrant Dink, the founder of our newspaper, who was also prosecuted under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, and requested her acquittal.

Lawyer Yazgan: The deadline for filing the case has passed

Deniz Yazgan, Yılmaz’s lawyer, stated that the case had been filed two years after the complaint against her was submitted to CİMER and that the identity of the person who made the complaint had still not been established.

Drawing attention to deficiencies in the case file, Yazgan cited European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings concerning Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code and said that the deadline for initiating proceedings, as stipulated in Article 26 of the Press Law, had expired, and accordingly the case should be dismissed.

Paying tribute to Hrant Dink, Yazgan stressed the need to confront “the darkness that turns a child into a murderer,” the phrase used by Dink’s wife, Rakel Dink, following his death.

The prosecutor reiterated the final opinion on the merits, requesting that Yılmaz be sentenced. When asked to make her final statement, Yılmaz said: “I want to have faith in the law. I hope that the decision you make in the Turkey–Armenia normalization process will help bring about positive outcomes.”

The court determined that the case had not been filed within the four month statutory period prescribed by the Press Law and ruled that it be dismissed.

What had happened?

On June 3, 2025, journalist Tuğçe Yılmaz was stopped during an identity check conducted by the General Information Collection (GBT) system at Kadıköy Pier, in Istanbul, in connection with an investigation launched over an interview she had conducted on April 24, 2024, with two young Armenians about the Armenian Genocide and what it means to be Armenian in Turkey.

Yılmaz was told that an arrest warrant had been issued against her. She was taken to the Kadıköy Pier Police Station and spent the night in custody. She was released the following day after giving a statement to the prosecutor.

An investigation under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code had been launched against Yılmaz following a complaint submitted to Presidential Communication Center, CİMER, after the interview was published on April 24, 2024. The complaint alleged that using the term “genocide” in reference to the events of 1915 incited the public to hatred and hostility.

In her statement, Yılmaz maintained that her report had nothing to do with Article 301, explaining that she had merely reported the statements of the people she interviewed and was carrying out her journalistic duties.

(Source: MLSA — Media and Law Studies Association)

The worldwide shift toward the far right is one of the indispensable steps in putting this scheme into operation. Israel’s Zionist-fascist government is using every means at its disposal to support the far right, which it has declared its ally in every corner of the world, despite its structurally antisemitic nature. In Europe, the United States, and South America, it can be considered to have achieved its aims. This perverse alliance has now become the “new normal” and the political arm of total annihilation and extinction. Artificial intelligence, endless arms buildup, neoliberal delusion, and the manipulation and control of the masses are the other arms.

Returning to Palestine, the Jewish State’s campaign of annihilation has entered a new phase. It appears that two parallel schemes are underway. Thanks to the indifference and/or complicity of almost everyone, particularly in the West, a horrific campaign of siege and harassment continues in Gaza, with the aim of ending life there and forcing Gazans to abandon their land.

In the West Bank, meanwhile, thanks to the same indifference and complicity, 800,000 settlers, armed colonists, the overwhelming majority of whom originate from the West, have launched an offensive, with the direct support of Tsahal, the world’s most immoral army, to make life unbearable for four million Palestinians. Their aim is to seize the land and Judaize it by forcing Arabs to flee.

On February 16, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that ethnic cleansing could be taking place in the occupied Palestinian territories. Since October 7, 2023, more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis in the West Bank; approximately 41,000 Palestinians have also been forcibly displaced. The architect of this scheme is Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a Ukrainian-born Jew and war criminal.

The latest report by another UN specialized agency, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), warns that Palestinian territories are experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis due to the total destruction in Gaza and increasing restrictions in the West Bank. According to the report, national income is projected to remain 20% below its 2022 level.

The forced settlement of colonists in the occupied territories has torn the West Bank apart, making uninterrupted travel no longer possible. As access to land and natural resources rapidly diminishes, forced displacement continues to increase. Since 2023, 38 Palestinian villages have been completely emptied of their inhabitants. The growing number of checkpoints is seriously disrupting trade and employment. Due to financial difficulties, schools have been forced to limit in-person education to three days a week.

As the Jewish State does not transfer the billions of dollars in customs and tax revenues it collects to the Palestinian Authority, it constrains public expenditure to a corresponding degree.

While the West Bank faces institutional gridlock, the fact that 92% of businesses in Gaza have been damaged or completely destroyed amounts to total economic collapse.

After shrinking by 83% in 2024, Gaza’s national income grew by 34.2% in 2025. However, this increase reflects a statistical recovery from an economic base that had shrunk to an extreme degree. Indeed, Gaza’s per capita national income stands at $212, equivalent to approximately $0.58 per person for a day. Since October 7, 2023, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs, and total labor income has suffered losses of approximately $2.8 billion. The unemployment rate has reached 78%. Gaza’s share of the Palestinian economy fell from 17.4% before October 2023 to less than 4% in 2025. Output has declined by 94% in agriculture and industry and by 100% in construction. At least $71.5 billion will be needed to recover and rebuild Gaza.

At the same time as the UNCTAD report, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published a list of 214 companies operating unlawfully in the occupied Palestinian territories. Although the list consists predominantly of Israeli companies, Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, Motorola, and TripAdvisor are also making money from the West Bank. Keep that in mind…

It is possible to foresee that the Israeli elections on the 27th will produce no beneficial outcome and that, consequently, the pilot project in mass annihilation will continue.

We continue to publish news reports and commentaries about Kurds that appeared in the Azadamard newspaper.

In the provinces of the Ottoman Empire where Armenian and Kurdish populations lived together, the land question was one of the most deep-rooted and dangerous issues. This was because land was the Armenian peasant's greatest asset. Consequently, Kurdish beys and aghas began to systematically displace the Armenian population in the provinces, seize their forests and fields, and plunder their religious, educational, and commercial institutions. In addition to the loss of property, this policy also caused serious loss of life among Armenians. It would not be an exaggeration to say that dozens of reports were prepared examining the consequences of these policies and that hundreds, even thousands, of news reports were published in newspaper pages.

The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople officially submitted to the Palace a report prepared through a commission it had established. The report entitled “The Land Question in the Provinces Inhabited by Armenians,” prepared in 1910 by Kegham Der Garabedyan, the Ottoman Parliament's deputy for Mush, was serialized in the Azadamard newspaper.

The efforts and proposals of Armenian intellectuals and their political parties to advance and develop education among the Kurds were never lacking. The editorial entitled “Kurdish Children in an Armenian School,” published in issue No. 397 of Azadamard in 1910, remains inspiring and educational even today and offers guidance on finding solutions to problems.

In 2026, Armenian people still seek ways to address their own educational problems, and children arriving from Armenia for a safe haven, free from bureaucratic anxieties.

For years, the call “Let us speak through life, not through blood” has been heard countless times in the pages of Agos. How remarkable that the idea of “disarming the Kurds,” which came to the fore a century ago, evolved into a “peace process” a hundred years later. As readers may recall, we previously published an account of developments during that period. With this brief reminder, let us continue to look at the news dispatches from the region. One final note: with this installment, we are taking a short break from our series. We will continue.

Selections from the Azadamard newspaper

1910, No. 324

A report entitled “Mir Miher's New Acts of Greed.” It concerns the actions of the Kurdish tribal chief Mir Miher in the village of Khırapar (Urfa), in the Norduz sanjak (an administrative district of Van).

1910, No. 326

The report entitled “Kurdish Bands Against the Government” addresses tensions between Kurdish gangs and Turkish government forces.

1910, No. 333

The report entitled “Kurdish Raiders Against the Government” discusses clashes between the Kurds of Bitlis and government forces.

1910, No. 334

The report entitled “Armenian and Kurdish Peasants Fight Together Against Their Dictators” concerns protests by Armenian and Kurdish residents of the village of Balaban Khıntsorag against the centuries-old oppression of the Balaban Gulabi-Zatens.

1910, No. 402

A proposal aimed at studying the history of the Kurdish people and strengthening friendly relations between Kurds and Armenians is presented. The issue of “Educating the Entire Kurdish People” is discussed.

1910, No. 444–455–456

Kegham Der Garabedyan's study of the land question and the socioeconomic conditions of Kurds in Turkey is published over three issues. The study closely examines land relations between Kurds and Armenians.

1910, No. 461

The report entitled “For Armenians Who Speak Kurdish and Arabic” calls for the expansion of educational opportunities for Kurdish-speaking Armenians in 150 Armenian villages in Siirt.

1910, No. 472

A protest by 31 Armenian and 17 Kurdish peasants in the village of Hıntsoreg, Erzincan (today the village of Pınarlıkaya in the Üzümlü district of Erzincan province; Z.M.), against the notorious Gulabi aghas is reported.

1911, No. 503

The report entitled “Tribal Uprisings” discusses the Barzani movement in Mosul and its gains against Turkish forces.

1911, No. 520

In his article entitled “Kurdish-Speaking Armenians and the Kurdish Language,” K. Muratyan discusses Armenian-Kurdish cultural relations, several distinctive features of Kurdish, and Armenian dengbêjs/singers.

1911, No. 530

The article entitled “The Needs of Kurdish Speakers in Primary Schools” addresses the expansion of educational activities in Kurdistan and the problem of keeping schools open.

1911, No. 634

The article entitled “Kurds, Too, Shed the Same Bitter Tears” examines the socioeconomic conditions of Kurds in Turkey and discusses the abuses committed against Kurdish peasants by Kurdish Kör Hüseyin Pasha and his collaborators.

1911, No. 641

The article entitled “On Kurdish-Speaking Armenians” discusses schools opened by the United Armenian Associations for Kurdish-speaking Armenians in Silvan, Zırkani, Pişerik, and Parahamk. It also mentions the activities of the newly organized “Red Cross” association.

1911, No. 646

In his article “Tribal Customs,” H. Haçigyan examines the socioeconomic conditions of the Kurds, Kurdish tribes, and their forms of administration and governance.

1911, No. 667

The report entitled “Kurdish Revolts on the Turkish-Iranian Border” examines the activities of Abdül-Razagi and Kurdish-Russian relations.

1911, No. 753

H. Şahbazyan's book entitled “Kurdish-Armenian History”, published in Constantinople in 1911, is introduced.

1912, No. 806–810

The report entitled “Kurds and Turks Also Bring Charges Against Musa Beg” states that “Musa Beg continues his activities in Mush with the participation of the Turkish government.” (We recall the name Musa Beg from the book Gulizar’ın Kara Düğünü:Bir Kürt beyi tarafından kaçırılan Ermeni kızın gerçek hikâyesi [Gulizar's Black Wedding: The True Story of an Armenian Girl Abducted by a Kurdish Bey], written by Arménouhie Kévonian and published by Aras Publishing. Z.M.)

1912, No. 818

The report entitled “A State Within a State” discusses the social, economic, and political situation of Kurds in Mush and reports on the domineering activities of Musa and Kasım Bey.

1912, No. 839

A report states that “Musa and Kasım Bey, who have been prosecuted for their misdeeds, will receive an imperial pardon.”

1912, No. 848

A.Menag's article entitled “Within the Framework of Kurdish Movements.” It discusses Kurdish movements in Van province under the leadership of Sheikh Abdül Ğazi and his struggle against his cousin, Sheikh Fahar.

1912, No. 858

A letter sent by Bishop Nerses Harhanyan, the spiritual leader of Mush, to the patriarchs concerning the socioeconomic conditions of the Kurds.

1912, No. 955

The article entitled “New Kurdish Literature” refers to Armenian and Kurdish quatrains concerning the historical past and contemporary history of the Kurds.

1912, No. 982

“Information About Several Kurdish Tribes”: The activities of the Kurdish Gravatsi, Mahmuransi, Diniasi, and Vozmisi tribes are discussed.

1912, No. 982

The report entitled “The Arrest of Mir Mihe and Sait Bey” concerns complaints lodged by Armenians and Kurds with local authorities about Mir Mihe and Sait Bey.

1912, No. 990

The report entitled “Kurdish Students” discusses the activities of the Kurdish Students' Association in Constantinople.

1914, No. 1505

The report entitled “Kurdish Union” states that “the Kurds are preparing for new movements” and discusses the union's activities.

1914, No. 1534

In his article “A Forgotten Province,” Şah Armen discusses the socioeconomic conditions of the Kurds of Hınıs, their traditions, and their conduct and behavior.

“It’s all Özcan Yurdalan’s fault; after we finished our meal as guests of the Diyarbakır Municipality, he was the one who suddenly started singing a Turkish love song. Inspired by his song, Lokman Rahmi enthusiastically began reciting an old Kurdish poem. Lokman is an Iranian Kurdish photographer. Anush and Nazik from Armenia followed with a duet of ‘Gançum em.’ Then it was Shahidul’s turn. Shahidul Alam sang a song about the rivers of Bangladesh in his baritone voice; we took on the task of accompanying him in the choruses. There were about 20 of us. We were all as joyful as children playing in the park. Shahidul is a master photographer from Bangladesh. He comes from a place thousands of kilometers away from Diyarbakır. After a whole day spent talking about photography as part of the Diyarbakır International Photography Days, he was with us on the second night. This was my second invitation to this small, annual festival dedicated to photography. This time, for the first time, I spoke at a panel on visual storytelling. There's something else to say about this event in Diyarbakır: it wasn't just about art and education; it also possessed a spiritual and human warmth. Throughout the festival, Diyarbakır shone with its endless smile. The passion for photography in the city was so great that, as a guest photographer, I could still feel that warmth days after returning home.”

Recently I participated in the 14th annual Bursa Photo Festival where I was invited to exhibit my work as well as give a talk on my photography. If I were to write my impressions about the Bursa festival, I assure you that I could easily take this writing above from ten years ago, insert Bursa in place of Diyarbakır and it would express what I lived through those three days recently at the festival. Well, of course the part about the singing would be out and the names of the photographers would change. Incidentally, Ozcan Yurdalan would be mentioned again because he was one of the two curators of this festival. The other was Gülbin Özdamar Akarçay...a great curatorial team, the two of them together.

Bursa was a big surprise for me this time (I participated in 2011 in its first year). For years I had cherished the beautiful memories from the Diyarbakır festival, and I had never expected anything similar. But life is full of unexpected turns and Bursa turned out to be as memorable. I met old and new friends. I got embraced by people I have always loved, and I had not seen for years. But as beautiful was to meet all these new Turkish photographers I have been waiting to meet in person...my heroes. I have followed their work with admiration, and I wanted to meet them. Bursa brought me face to face with them and I am grateful for the humbleness I saw in their eyes. There were also others whom I met. Courageous photographers I have seen on the street for many years, working side by side with me. But it had always been ‘hi...bye’, because of the intensity of our street work situations as well as my own shyness. It was great to meet them, break bread with them, listen to their stories and find out that they were as shy as myself. Sweet, sweet people I am waiting to meet again.

I did not spare myself anything. I just let myself flow and participate in almost everything that happened. I saw the exhibitions, listened to the talks and shared many cigarettes and chitchats with people as full of curiosity as myself. Never mind big international names at the festival. Yes, some famous ones were there. But let me tell you that the real fun happens when our own local boys and girls get together. Don’t think please that I am trying to demean anyone if I say that a photo fest is like the class system: the famous foreigners as the upper class and the local talents as the masses...a working class that keeps working hard with integrity. And when they get together, they know how to share a moment that testifies to a common destiny and perseverance. They know each other’s pains and aspirations. A moment that makes me feel I am one of them. 

“Independent media and social media outlets not aligned with the government have already been shut down, and municipalities are being taken over one by one. It seems that the closure of Parliament is not far off either.”

I based this assessment not only on current developments but also on MHP leader Bahçeli’s explanation of his party’s political formula for the next five-year period in the following words: “Erdoğan in the executive, the Nationalist Movement Party in the legislature, the People’s Alliance in Turkey, and the Turkish Party in the world.”

We woke up on the morning of Wednesday, October 14, to the news that a government-appointed trustee had been assigned to Halk TV, one of the few news channels that can be watched nationwide in Turkey and that is not pro-government.

Halk TV is a widely watched news channel that extensively covers the pressures exerted by the government, particularly on the CHP (and subsequently the New Party), and gives the opposition a platform to make its voice heard.

The appointment of a trustee to this channel on the grounds of an investigation targeting its owner, and the subsequent transfer of the company to the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF), is undoubtedly another blackout imposed on press freedom.

And at precisely what moment? Just as the fund scandal has begun to overwhelm the AKP, just as New Party leader Özgür Özel has said that other figures close to the AKP are also implicated in the scandal, just as Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been held in prison for more than a year, has begun presenting his defense, and just as the T24 website has been shut down and numerous social media accounts have been blocked. (Let us recall that in recent days, Amnesty International issued a joint statement with 20 human rights and press freedom organizations, calling on social media platforms, including X and Meta, to resist Turkish court orders blocking access to hundreds of accounts belonging to journalists and activists. It also called on the Turkish authorities to stop issuing such blocking orders that violate freedom of expression.)

Returning to the issue of appointment of a trustee to Halk TV, can we really say that this move has nothing to do with all these developments? Clearly, it does. However, more broadly, it is also connected to the government’s further intensification of pressure on society.

The government has declared 2028 an election year. Formulas that could allow Erdoğan to run for office again are being considered. I discussed these in last week’s article.

Nevertheless, even if Erdoğan is able to run, a “victory” in the election is by no means guaranteed.

Even before the fund scandal emerged, the economy was in a very bad state. It still is. The scandal that has now been added to the picture appears to have caused unease even among AKP voters. How could it not? While people are struggling to make ends meet, it is becoming clear that a “system” in which millions change hands has been operating in plain sight.

On the other hand, the government can hardly be said to be in a strong position when it comes to persuading society about the “peace process” it is conducting with İmralı. Apart from nationalist and ultra-nationalist circles that would oppose such a process in any case, it is difficult to say that even AKP and MHP voters understand what is going on.

Consequently, the AKP and MHP will head into the election under quite difficult circumstances. One might argue that there is still a long way to go before 2028 and that even a week is a long time in politics. Yes, many balances could shift over the course of this year, but it seems unlikely that the current circumstances will change in the government’s favor.

In this context, it is probably not difficult—and sadly so—to foresee the following: Pressure on independent and opposition media is likely to intensify further.

Personally, we are even struggling to protect our own social media accounts. Dozens of accounts are blocked every day, and appeals yield no results.

Let us end this article with a message of solidarity with T24, Halk TV, and all media workers whom the authorities seek to silence. As Halk TV employees put it: “This is a day recorded in the history of journalism. A day that has been recorded in our personal histories, too. Together with our colleagues here, we did everything we could. We do not know what will happen next or on which platform. But history will record all of this.”

Although many guests were delayed due to traffic, Nairi Petrosyan, Armenia’s Representative to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization in Istanbul, welcomed all guests at the door. The anniversary of the Republic of Armenia’s independence day was to be celebrated at an official level for the first time in 9 years. This meant there would also be state-level participation. Indeed, Deputy Foreign Minister Berris Ekinci and other Foreign Ministry diplomats made it to the reception, albeit with difficulty due to weather and road conditions.

High attendance

There was high attendance at the reception. Heads of foreign missions, Turkey's Special Envoy for the Turkey-Armenia Normalization Process Serdar Kılıç, foundation managers from the Turkish Armenian community, and Rakel Dink, President of the Board of Directors of the Hrant Dink Foundation, had already taken their places at the reception. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Armenian Patriarch of Turkey Sahak Maşalyan, and Spiritual Leader of the Armenian Protestant Community Kirkor Ağabaloğlu also arrived one after another. Just before the reception began, host Nairi Petrosyan made a brief statement to Agos on the significance of the day and said the following:

“This reception is a symbolic step regarding current normalization efforts. No reception had been held in Istanbul for nearly nine years. This is also the success of high-level Turkish officials who serve alongside us in the normalization process. And these are small steps proving that the process continues positively.”

“Neighbors first”

After all guests arrived, attention turned to the speech Petrosyan and Ekinci were to give at the podium. Petrosyan took the floor first, thanked all attending guests, and spoke about Turkey-Armenia relations.

Saying, “Our hope is for peace and cooperation to prevail in this region,” Petrosyan used the following expressions: “Armenia has adopted a 'neighbors first' policy that prioritizes relations with its neighbors at the highest level. The Republic of Armenia sees its contribution to the region’s stability as a fundamental duty in strengthening international peace, stability, and development.”

Petrosyan continued: “In recent years, steady progress has been observed in the bilateral dialogue between Armenia and Turkey. Our intention is to build upon this progress; to encourage and develop cooperation between the two countries in every possible field.

Our leaders, Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Erdoğan, meet regularly, as they did recently in New York. Foreign Ministers Mirzoyan and Fidan are also in regular contact, including their phone conversation just a few days ago. All this proves that Armenia and Turkey share many common interests. Furthermore, both sides possess the necessary political will to address these interests and develop mutually beneficial solutions accordingly. This celebration organized by my representation on behalf of the Armenian government is a perhaps small but important step taken in the right direction that both Armenia and Turkey are mutually pursuing. Our dialogue is expanding in literally every field, from transport links to education, from information and communication technologies to energy. The project undertaken by our two governments to rebuild the historic Silk Road Bridge extending to the city of Ani on our border is a comprehensive and perfect symbol that fully reflects our cooperation. Armenia aims to restore railway and digital connections between the Persian Gulf, the Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea. This will be a project of global importance that promises great benefits to all relevant countries.” Petrosyan ended his words in Armenian by saying, “Long live Armenia.”

“An important reflection of the normalization process”

Next, Deputy Foreign Minister Berris Ekinci took the floor. Saying, “This reception constitutes an important reflection of our normalization process,” Ekinci continued her words as follows:

“We are conducting this normalization process at the bilateral level with the utmost sincerity and determination, towards the ultimate goal of achieving full normalization. In this context, we are pleased to see that the recent increase in high level visits between our countries has made significant contributions to strengthening our bilateral dialogue and enhancing mutual understanding.

In addition, we have taken many concrete steps in the fields of transportation, energy, culture, and towards the resumption of direct trade. All these steps taken offer us strong reasons to look to the future of our region with great hope and optimism. Turkey has always supported peace, stability, and normalization dynamics in the South Caucasus.

I would like to emphasize tonight in particular that we will continue to offer our sincere and unwavering support to these processes in the upcoming period.”

Participation at the highest level

Ekinci ended her speech by congratulating Armenia. Thus, the highest-level participation by Turkey to date in Armenian Independence Day receptions was realized.

Before and after the speeches, everyone had the same question in mind: Will the border open soon? For Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan had said at a forum he attended in Warsaw, "Tomorrow morning we might see the headline ‘Armenia-Turkey border has opened’ in the news." Turkish Foreign Ministry officials, while emphasizing that the process was progressing, were cautious regarding "tomorrow morning." In fact, Mirzoyan had used this sentence as a metaphor anyway.

One of the most important moments of the night was the playing of first the Armenian and then the Turkish national anthem while Petrosyan and Ekinci were at the podium after the speeches concluded. During this time, the flags of Armenia and Turkey were projected in turn onto the screen behind.

Everyone who attended the reception and knew the history of Turkey-Armenia relations was aware that they were witnessing an important moment. I was as well.

Questions in mind

Everyone left the reception hopeful. As guests prepared to join the flood-stricken Istanbul traffic, some of us had another question in mind: Yes, Armenia-Turkey relations seem on track, but why hasn't even the step agreed upon four years ago, namely opening the land border to third-country citizens and diplomats in the first phase, been taken yet? Yes, there is concrete progress, but considering the process started in 2020, shouldn't we be at a more advanced stage? Did Azerbaijan have a slowing effect on the process?

For my part, I already mention the Azerbaijan effect in my commentaries, and this is not a secret matter anyway; Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had previously drawn attention to the importance of signing a final peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan for the process to move forward. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, continues to delay the final signature and put conditions on the table.

We certainly had one more question in mind: Could the next reception be held at an Armenian Embassy to be established in Istanbul?

Wouldn't that be one of the most important steps of “normalization”?

The court did not implement the ECtHR Grand Chamber’s ruling that Kavala’s rights had been violated.

According to a report by Alican Uludağ of DW Turkish, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, in its opinion submitted at the court’s request, argued that the Constitutional Court had not yet issued its ruling concerning Kavala and that domestic legal remedies had not been exhausted. It therefore called for the application to be rejected.

“Interference in the judicial authority of a sovereign state”

The court’s ruling emphasized that domestic legal remedies must be exhausted before an application is made to the ECtHR. The reasoning stated that, according to generally accepted principles of international law, applicants must first apply to national judicial authorities and make use of the available legal remedies. The ruling stated: “Accepting the contrary would exceed the authority of an international court and constitute interference in a sovereign state’s independent exercise of its judicial authority.”

The ruling also noted that, as the ECtHR has emphasized in numerous judgments, it is not a court of appeal. It stated: “It is clear that the admissibility of evidence and how evidence is assessed fall within the jurisdiction of domestic law and national courts. Were the contrary to be accepted, the Court would be acting as a court of first instance or an appellate court and disregarding the limits placed on its role.”

What happened?

Osman Kavala has been detained at Silivri Prison since November 1, 2017. Two grounds were cited for his detention: “attempting to overthrow the government” in connection with the Gezi protests and “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order” in connection with the July 15 coup attempt.

Human rights defender and civil society representative Osman Kavala has been deprived of his liberty unjustly for nine years, since November 2017.

ECtHR rulings not being implemented

On August 25, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Osman Kavala’s continued detention was unlawful and that his rights to a fair trial, freedom of expression, and freedom of association had been violated.

The Court also ruled that the aggravated life sentence imposed on Kavala constituted inhuman and degrading treatment, and that Turkish authorities had acted in bad faith by keeping him in prison unlawfully. The Court ordered that Osman Kavala be released as soon as possible.

This is the third decision of violation that the ECtHR has issued pertaining to Kavala’s case since 2019.

As relations between Armenia and Turkey continue to advance, the “Armenia–Turkey Media Bus Tour” aims to ensure that the people of both countries receive accurate information through journalists. It also seeks to explore opportunities for cooperation between 14 journalists from the two countries and enable them to get to know each other’s societies firsthand. By conveying their experiences in a balanced, fact-based, and multidimensional manner, the participants aim to support the development of dialogue.

As Dink hoped

One of the first stops on the 12-day trip, which began in Istanbul on October 12 and will conclude in Yerevan on October 23, was 23.5 Hrant Dink Memory Site. After visiting the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, the journalists were welcomed at 23.5, where they learned about Hrant Dink’s legacy through a guided tour.

The journalists then met with Nairi Petrosyan, Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation organization. Responding to their questions, Petrosyan said that the Armenia–Turkey normalization process is progressing positively. In response to further questions, Petrosyan stressed “the great importance of maintaining communication under all circumstances,” explaining that Armenia completed all preparations for the opening of the border and that Turkey continues its work as well.

When journalists asked whether the border might remain closed because of Turkey’s close ties with Azerbaijan, Petrosyan said that Yerevan views Baku not as an obstacle but as a part of the solution. Referring to past and present relations between Turkey and Greece, Petrosyan posed the question: “Why shouldn’t Turkey do with Armenia what it has done with Greece?” Despite persistent questions, Petrosyan did not provide a date for the opening of Turkish–Armenian border.

From Istanbul to Kars, from Kars to Yerevan

During the “Bus Tour,” the journalists will visit İzmir, Diyarbakır, Van, and Kars on the Turkish side, where they will meet with local officials, businesspeople, factories, and civil society organizations. The “media bus” will then cross into Armenia, traveling to Gyumri, Dilijan, and subsequently Yerevan. The group of 14 journalists will also visit the currently closed Alican/Margara border crossing on both sides of the border.

During the tour, the journalists will meet with representatives of business communities, tourism professionals, researchers, and local communities, in addition to visiting economic centers, local businesses, educational institutions, and civil society organizations.

As journalists and media specialists from Armenia and Turkey travel together along a route stretching hundreds of kilometers from Istanbul to Yerevan, they will also follow the historic Silk Road firsthand. Their planned visits include Ephesus in Izmir, Surp Giragos Armenian Church in Diyarbakır, Akhtamar Church in Van, and the Ani Bridge in Kars.

On the Armenian side, after visiting historical and tourist sites such as Lake Sevan, the Temple of Garni, and Geghard Monastery, they will tour technology-focused ventures such as TUMO Center, Eleveight AI, and Picsart. The tour will conclude at the COP17 UN Climate Change Conference Expo platform.

The program’s first phase takes place in Turkey and its second in Armenia. The Eurasia Partnership Foundation and the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen of Armenia are implementing the Armenian leg, while the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) and the Hrant Dink Foundation are responsible for the Turkish leg.

How did it begin?

On July 7, 2026, an amendment signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev added “secularism” (worldliness) to the educational principles set out in Azerbaijan’s General Education Law. On September 21, 2026, a Cabinet of Ministers decision, No. 309, signed by Prime Minister Ali Asadov, amended regulations governing student clothing in public schools. Although the decision did not explicitly mention the words “headscarf” or “hijab,” it stated that additional clothing items that disrupted the uniformity of school uniforms and did not comply with the principle of secularism in general education would not be permitted. In practice, the regulation was implemented as a headscarf ban. On October 6, 2026, new restrictions and rules were introduced, extending dress-code and secularism enforcement to include teachers as well. Protests over headscarves began in schools after students wearing headscarves were denied entry.

Reactions from Turkey

Criticism of the decision also mounted in Turkey, particularly among conservative circles. Oktay Saral, a chief adviser to the Turkish president, joined those voicing opposition. In a social media post, Saral described the refusal to allow students wearing headscarves to attend classes in Azerbaijan as unacceptable, writing:

“Is leaving a student who covers her head for religious reasons standing at the school gate compatible with any conscience, any sense of justice? The headscarf is not an obstacle; it is a requirement of faith! The right to education must not be sacrificed to any ideological imposition!”

“We expect Azerbaijan to reverse this mistake as soon as possible. We must open up opportunities for young people, not place obstacles in their way. Such an approach must never be allowed in this day and age!”

“A smear campaign”

Following Saral’s message, Azerbaijan’s ruling party, YAP, issued a statement on its official website, responding in strong terms to Saral and other figures from the AKP. YAP accused certain Turkish media outlets, including sources close to the government, as well as social media platforms, of spreading false and biased information about Azerbaijan.

In its statement, YAP described the developments as “a smear campaign against Azerbaijan.” The party said it had been compelled to issue a statement after Saral, who holds the position of chief adviser to Erdoğan, and several AKP lawmakers became “involved in such a campaign.” It emphasized that “this information campaign against Azerbaijan has recently become more aggressive, systematic, and explicitly defamatory.”

Relations between Israel and Azerbaijan

In its statement, YAP also responded to criticism of its relations with Israel, in addition to the criticism from Turkey over the school dress-code ban.

Rejecting criticism of Azerbaijan-Israel relations, the statement emphasized that Baku supports a Palestinian state within the framework of a two-state solution, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and provides financial and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians.

It further stated that Azerbaijan’s relations with the Islamic world “are based not on any political conjuncture, but on the principles of mutual respect, equality, and solidarity.”

YAP said, “Our country’s contributions to strengthening Islamic solidarity are appreciated by Muslim states.”

Erdoğan’s remarks

Some commentators have suggested that these statements were an indirect response to Erdoğan’s speech at the UN General Assembly in September. In his speech, Erdoğan criticized restrictions on headscarves in schools, describing them as “an attack on women’s most fundamental rights,” and linked the issue to “Islamophobia.” Although Erdoğan did not explicitly name Azerbaijan, many interpreted his remarks as being directed at Baku.

Returning to Saral’s statements, YAP accused the presidential chief adviser and Turkish lawmakers of “making populist and irresponsible statements without considering the essence of the issue.”

The party said, “Such statements run counter to the spirit of brotherly relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey and may serve to create artificial tensions in public opinion.” It maintained that the state treats all religions equally.

YAP defended the implementation of the headscarf ban by arguing that it stemmed from Azerbaijan’s secularism policy and noting that this principle “is also guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey.”

The statement concluded with the following words: “The New Azerbaijan Party believes that representatives of the Justice and Development Party, particularly those holding senior positions in the state, should demonstrate political responsibility in their statements and respect the sovereignty, constitutional order, and internal affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan.”

Again after 16 years

Azerbaijan also saw a debate over new school dress code regulations in 2010. Protests were held between 2010 and 2012 against the regulations the government sought to introduce at the time.

The issue has returned to the agenda 16 years later following the Cabinet of Ministers’ latest decisions.

Azerbaijani local media have reported that some students and teachers wearing Islamic dress have been denied entry to schools. Protests began following these developments. According to Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, 37 people have been detained.

Turkey and Iran were the two countries that voiced opposition to the ban. In Turkey, criticism came particularly from conservative and Islamist circles.

On October 3, a group gathered outside the Azerbaijani Consulate in Istanbul following a call by the Association for Freedom of Thought and Educational Rights (Özgür-Der) and held a press statement.

In addition to Saral, AKP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Leyla Şahin Usta quoted a video about the issue posted on the Yeni Şafak newspaper’s account on X, writing: “We hope Azerbaijan reverses this mistake as soon as possible. These distressing images are unworthy of today’s world.”

AKP Bursa MP Müfit Aydın also issued a statement on social media, saying, “Azerbaijan must do what brotherhood requires and immediately put an end to this practice!”

Gaziantep Mayor Fatma Şahin called on Azerbaijan in her statement: “Come on, my brother, reverse this mistake.”

In his remarks, Foreign Minister Mirzoyan said relations between Armenia and its neighbor Turkey matured considerably and that the border could open soon. “We are trying to normalize our relations with Turkey. The border is still closed, but I think the process has now matured considerably. So much so that it is entirely possible that we could wake up tomorrow morning and see the headline ‘Armenia-Turkey border has opened’ in the news,” he said.

Mirzoyan also discussed Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and the EU at the forum. The main points of his remarks are outlined below.

Turkey and other neighbors

Regardless of our approach toward the EU, we will continue to develop our relations under all circumstances, and we are now very close to achieving our goal.

There is another factor that is extremely important to us: Armenia’s neighbors.

Let us go through them. Azerbaijan: We have established a new peace and begun bilateral trade. We are opening our territories to one another for transportation and transit and removing obstacles to regional connectivity. However, a number of sensitive issues still remain to be resolved.

To our west lies Turkey. We are engaged in an intensive dialogue with Turkey. We are trying to normalize our relations, but the border remains closed.

To our south is Iran, with its complex regional circumstances, dynamics, and challenges. To our north are Georgia and Russia.

As for Russia, you can imagine what its potential reaction might be, given the particular nature of our relations with that country. Historically, we have had very close relations, and we continue to maintain strong ties today. However, any potential reaction from Russia needs to be managed appropriately. Nobody wants to acquire new enemies. Nor do we intend to harm any third party.

We have peace with Azerbaijan, but a few more steps remain to be taken.

We are trying to normalize our relations with Turkey. The border is still closed, but I think the process has now matured considerably. So much so that it is entirely possible that we could wake up tomorrow morning and see the headline “Armenia-Turkey border has opened” in the news.

European Union

Our relations with the European Union are deeper and closer than ever before. They encompass an unprecedentedly broad range of areas and directions. We are engaged in a dialogue on visa liberalization. The EU Mission in Armenia, which monitors the situation along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, continues to operate in our country. More recently, we also welcomed a second mission, temporary in nature but with a permanent presence, which supports our efforts to counter hybrid threats.

Although we are not a candidate country for EU membership, we have obtained the opportunity to benefit from autonomous trade measures. The latest development is that the EU has adopted autonomous trade measures to help Armenia diversify its export markets. We have also signed an agreement with the European Union that will allow us to participate in EU missions operating in different parts of the world.

Again, despite not being a candidate for membership, we have received support under the Resilience and Growth Plan. We have also benefited from EU assistance through the European Peace Facility.

Thus, this relationship is not limited to political dialogue or support in the economic and trade spheres. Security, foreign policy, and other areas are also part of it.

Your question concerns the ultimate destination of this process. I am afraid I may disappoint you, but I think nobody knows the answer—not Armenia, not the European Union, and not its member states.

Allow me to explain the situation as it stands. In Armenia, to be completely honest, serious discussions about EU membership have only recently begun. Although we adopted a law in the spring of 2025 on launching the process of Armenia’s accession to the European Union, we have not yet held a comprehensive public debate on the issue. That is the Armenian side’s perspective.

United States

What I can say is this: in my country, and probably across the South Caucasus more broadly, the interests of the EU and the United States are not in conflict. On the contrary, they are cooperating very effectively.

As you know, the United States is playing a significant role in the South Caucasus, particularly in the process of opening transportation links between Armenia and Azerbaijan and removing obstacles to regional connectivity. This will become an important transportation and transit link between, for example, Portugal and China, and between the West and the East.

I believe the European Union and its member states will also benefit from this process. Therefore, when it comes to opening transportation links in the South Caucasus, the interests of numerous countries and centers of power are aligned.

The main agenda item was the progress made on the Armenian language course and Religious Culture and Ethics curricula, which are being developed under the Ministry of National Education’s “Century of Turkish Education Model” (Türkiye Yüzyılı Maarif Modeli).

According to a statement the Education Commission released to the press following the meeting, the Religious Studies curriculum has been submitted to the Ministry of National Education’s Board of Education and Discipline. The curriculum is awaiting the Board’s approval.

The working group for the Armenian language course curriculum also provided an update on its progress. At the meeting, it was decided that the ERVAB Education Commission would prepare an additional budget for curriculum development and submit it to ERVAB, so that the foundations could contribute in accordance with their financial circumstances.

Speaking to Agos, ERVAB Education Commission Chair Mari Yancı said that preparations for educational materials would begin once the Religious Studies curriculum had been approved. Yancı added that revisions to the Armenian language course curriculum are still underway and that they expect it to be approved during the 2026–2027 academic year.

Curriculum development process

Century of Turkish Education Model was introduced in the 2024–2025 academic year. As part of the model, Armenian schools were asked to develop a new curriculum for Armenian-language instruction. The Armenian Language Curriculum Working Group, established under the ERVAB Education Commission, began its work on August 20, 2025.

Seventeen teachers are working on developing curricula for primary, middle, and high school levels. Professor Mustafa Öztürk has been appointed technical project manager. The work focuses on two main objectives.

The first is to ensure that Armenian language classes taught in schools follow the same standards, eliminate differences in proficiency levels between schools, and provide systematic, grade-specific lesson content for both currently employed teachers and those entering the profession.

The second objective is to find a solution to the problem that prevents Armenian language courses from being graded in the Ministry of National Education’s e-School system. If the curriculum is approved, the existing problem that prevents report-card grades from being issued for the first and second grade pupils in primary schools will be resolved. Schools will also be able to follow a single, unified resource.

Under the Model, the Ministry bases its curricula for Turkish and other language courses on the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). Rather than relying on rote memorization, this framework aims to enable communication through language. Accordingly, the curricula for language courses incorporate four skills: reading, listening, speaking, and writing.

Of course, there are reasons as to why people look down on the homeless and make such an effort pretending they don’t see them. Like everything else, they generalize about people who live on the street. It is always their fault...like refugees, sex workers, getting raped, beaten up or cheated on by your spouse, etc, etc... stereotyping out of ignorance. With the homeless, there are other factors too. People presume them as dirty, unpredictable, insane and possibly violent. Looks are always more important than the character hidden under the worn out, unwashed and smelly clothes.

Sometimes all those myths are proven to be true in certain homeless individuals and people turn it into a generalization. I remember in my youth in Toronto, there was a homeless woman who whenever she spotted me on the street, would come and surprise me screaming violently in my face. She would come straight to me, stand in front of me in a military fashion, her face only a few centimeters away from mine and would scream her head off looking into my eyes. She smelled awful with unwashed clothes and greasy hair. She would shout incomprehensible things full of swear words and try to corner me ...I always managed to dodge her and escape. Why was I targeted, I don’t know, but to tell you the truth, she used to scare the hell out of me. To the point that, whenever I was in that area (it was where I used to do my darkroom printing), I would be on the lookout to make sure to hide if I spotted her. I really detested her and I am not ashamed to admit it. But that’s about it. The misery she made me feel, did not turn me into a missionary against the homeless. On the contrary, I had already started making visual stories on the homeless around those days, and I kept at it for long, long years.

Why is it that people prefer to look at the marginalized by stereotyping rather than looking at them individually? I am, by the way, not writing all this to portray myself as a faultless character. I am sometimes guilty of the same shortcoming, but I have worked very hard all my life to eliminate this mediocrity in myself. Life has to be with some kind of responsibility...responsibility to expand your mind and thinking. To respect others and be compassionate to their downs and outs. Most people are lazy to think this matter over and make an effort to understand. That’s how we end up with this kind of world where bias and discrimination become the norm...judging and hating are easier than embracing others the way they are.

That area around Bathurst and Queen in Toronto where I used to do my dark room work for almost two decades, is like a chest of memories related to the homeless. My own precious chest. It is there that I saw the other face of what they called Toronto the fast growing rich cosmopolitan city. It was the face of poverty and marginalization, full of the homeless...Canadian aboriginals who had become foreigners in their native land, poor immigrants with broken dreams and penniless teenagers running away from abusive and alcoholic parents. It was there, watching and photographing them, that I became a photographer. A photographer who learned the importance of telling stories about simple people, their struggles and aspirations, their victories and losses, their humility and humanity.  I learned a bit more about the importance of human compassion. And I also learned that human integrity and respect accompany a person despite their poverty. It was there that I met sweet Julie, my aboriginal friend. May she rest in peace. There I met Ivan the Apparition, the elegant Count with broken immigrant dreams. There also I met Sebastien, Joey, Dorian and the gang. May they find the peace they were looking for, in Heaven.   

We continue with news reports, letters, and commentaries concerning the Kurds published in Azadamard. A significant portion of these publications is devoted to information about Kurdish tribal chiefs, aghas, and beys. Their relationships with one another, their conflicts, their dealings with the government, and, in particular, their fluctuating policies toward Armenians provide noteworthy information.

The news reports also contain numerous accounts of the presence of Kurds across the territories of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, as well as their social, political, and economic lives. We can see that the roots of dozens of Kurdish organizations in the Middle East today extend back to those very years.

The press reflects the view that, behind all this, were armed Kurds who engaged in unrestricted, unauthorized, and unjust practices thanks to their power, caused harm to themselves as well, and therefore needed to be disbanded and disarmed.

As I mentioned before, the term “peace process” in Turkey with Kurdish armed organization, PKK, was the inspiration for this series of articles. A big question had been on my mind. Had a similar process ever taken place in history? Had the laying down of arms and the disarmament of the Kurds ever come onto the agenda? In the 1910 newspaper Azadamard, we read that the government had taken the issue seriously under the headline “The Security of Anatolia, the Disarmament of the Kurds.”

Selections from the newspaper Azadamard

1910, No. 198

A report entitled “Kurdish Tribal Chiefs on the Border.” Other reports address the social and political situation of the Kurds in Turkey, several Kurdish tribal chiefs crossing the Turkish-Iranian border, and clashes between Kurdish and Iranian armed detachments.

1910, No. 208

An article entitled “The Kurdish Danger.” The content concerns the arming of Kurdish tribal chiefs.

1910, No. 215

A report entitled “The Misdeeds of Kurdish Despots.” The content concerns the occupation of Armenian lands in Muş and several villages by Kurdish aghas and beys.

1910, No. 216

A report entitled “Kurdish Movements.” It discusses the spread of preliminary preparations for a Kurdish movement in the provinces of Bitlis and Van under the leadership of Abdullah Kağri, son of Sheikh Ubeydullah.

1910, No. 226

A report entitled “The Activities of Tribal Chiefs” discusses how Kurdish tribal chiefs Haydar Bey, Seyit Ali, Seyit Musa, and others were making preliminary preparations to launch new Kurdish operations.

1910, No. 228

“The Meeting of Kurdish Tribal Chiefs”: The report concerns a meeting of Kurdish tribal chiefs in Varto and its villages aimed at launching new movements against the Turkish government.

1910, No. 230

“Tribal Conspiracies, Traps.” (The phrase “from our special correspondent” has been noted down.) The report discusses meetings held by Kurdish tribes in Bitlis to launch a new Kurdish movement.

1910, No. 232

A report entitled “The Armenian and Kurdish Peoples Cry Out Over the Land Question” discusses a telegram sent to the governorship of Bitlis by 120 Kurds and Armenians in Malazgirt concerning the occupation of their lands.

1910, No. 243

A report entitled “Tribal Terror” concerns the activities of Haydar Beg of Dersim from Kiğı to Kermağ/Kermah (Kemah), as well as the Turkish government's concerns about these activities.

1910, No. 262

A report entitled “Kurdish Movements on the Turkish-Iranian Border” contains details about a Kurdish meeting held on the Turkish-Iranian border under the leadership of Sheikh Abdullah. There is also a separate report entitled “The Question of a New Revolt Beginning.”

1910, No. 262

A report entitled “The Kurdish Laborer Also Protests Against His Own Bey” discusses the social and economic conditions of the Kurds. There is also a report entitled “The Chaos Created by the Kurdish Aghas Hüseyin and Hasan in Sasun.”

1910, No. 266

An article entitled “The Need for Kurdish Literature” discusses Kurdish-Armenian friendship and efforts to create a Kurdish primer using Armenian scripts.

1910, No. 296

A report entitled “The Yazidis Appeal to the Armenian Church” states that 3,000 Yazidis in Diyarbakır had applied to the Armenian Church to convert to Christianity.

1910, No. 317

A report entitled “The Kurdish Laborer Against His Own Aghas” features a letter sent to Azadamard by Kurdish peasants from the village of Şerefkan in Diyarbakır province, describing how they were subjected to oppression by the local administration and Kurdish aghas.

1910, No. 321

Under the headline “Kurds, Turks, and Armenians Protest,” a letter sent to Azadamard by 124 Armenian, Kurdish, and Turkish peasants from the Bayburt region was published, addressing the looting and plundering in the area. Other reports covered the activities of Hacı Süleyman Agha, Kurdish protests against Süleyman Satikh, and protests by residents of Zanpeg village in Eleşkirt against the local administration.

Security of Anatolia : disarmament of the Kurds

(We present an extensive summary of an unsigned analysis published in issue No. 275 of the newspaper Azadamard in 1910.)

The government intends to address the disarmament of the Kurds in Anatolia in a fundamental manner. Resolving this issue had been a necessity for the state more than thirty years earlier; after the new order of July [it refers to the revolution of July 1908], it became an absolute imperative. This necessity was felt not only to protect the lives and livelihoods of peaceful people but also to reform and civilize this unruly element. The interests of the Kurdish people themselves also require that the remaining weapons finally be collected, for unless this measure is taken, they are doomed to remain a calamity for their own people.

It is possible to assume that the right to existence of menacing people, of destructive and demolishing elements automatically vanishes. It is therefore believed that all educated Kurdish individuals, whether employed in the civil service or serving in the army, in Istanbul or in the provinces, are obliged, in the name of the highest national interests of their own people, to support this government initiative and open a new era of life and constructive work for the Kurdish population of Anatolia. The medieval age, when gangs armed to the teeth, looting, destruction, and wars were everyday occurrences, has long ended for all nations, whether in Europe, Asia, or even the depths of Africa. Today, a people with a purpose in life can rely not on destruction but on the tools of labor; yet a significant portion of the Kurdish population neither possesses these tools nor is accustomed to them.

“A source of calamity for Kurdish peasants, too”

The greater misfortune is that these Kurdish hit-and-run tribes, nomadic and conducive to idleness, are just as much a source of calamity for the Kurdish peasant population working in the plains as they are for the Armenian working population.

The Kurdish peasant is a complete slave to the aghas and the wretched feudal order created by these aghas. The sword of their own national aghas weighs just as heavily on the necks and shoulders of Kurdish peasants. The unarmed peasant has no guarantee of either the fruits of his labor or his dignity. The most powerful tyrant agha has paralyzed the arms of both Armenian and Kurdish laborers; by sucking the blood of others, he has turned these provinces, which could flourish again tomorrow and become a paradise, into hell. Yet all that is needed is to compel the Kurd to return his sword to its scabbard.

Raison d'etre of the state

The general disarmament program may be regarded as the smartest reform for Anatolia to be implemented by the constitutional regime; the only regret is that it has been delayed for so long. Only through this decisive measure will the executive be able to put an end to the feudal order and eliminate this unlawful and tyrannical system known as a “state within a state.” In this way, it will both guarantee the right of peaceful people to life, security, and development and direct Kurdish plunderers toward society and honest, gainful labor.

We hope that from the day the government pursues this objective with a firm will and prohibits the use of weapons and the movement of Kurdish bandits, whether alone or in groups, through the harshest measures and penalties, a fatal blow will be given to the influence of the many notorious criminals operating under one name or another.

A disarmament program can achieve its desired results only under one condition: that its implementation be pursued resolutely and accompanied by impartial cooperation.

In this respect, the case of Azerbaijani soldier Nasimi Musayev carries a political significance that goes far beyond the scale of the incident itself. Musayev crossed the border illegally, made his way to the village of Shaki in the Sisian area of Syunik province, and on October 1 entered a house and shot a woman living in the house in front of her children. Baku said the soldier had left his unit in the Lachin direction without permission on September 26, while the Armenian side said Azerbaijani security services had informed it on September 29 of a possible border crossing. Even so, the soldier managed to reach Shaki. It is still unclear exactly when he crossed the border, just as the question of why the people of Sisian were not warned during the two days between the notification and the attack remains unanswered.

Azerbaijani soldier who crossed the border

The issue here is not whether Musayev was sent by Baku. The available information does not suggest so; indeed, the Azerbaijani side has itself opened an investigation, treating the case as desertion. The real problem is how the incident is perceived in Armenia. For a year now, the government’s core message has rested on the claim that “peace is now a reality.” Only a week earlier, at the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had said that for two and a half years there had been no casualties or injuries from cross-border fire, and that this was “the greatest value” created in recent years.

The Shaki incident, however, demonstrated the fragility of this discourse. At this point, the fact that an Azerbaijani soldier could cross the border and reach a village house raises a simple question about the claim “there is peace”: Then how was the border crossed?

This question is extremely useful for the opposition, because it feeds an already existing narrative against the government’s new constitution project: “You are fulfilling Baku’s demand.” Pashinyan himself acknowledges that Azerbaijan has instrumentalized the debate over a new constitution, but he says the issue has been on Armenia’s domestic agenda since 2020.

Baku, however, tells the same story differently. According to Ilham Aliyev, the obstacle to the peace agreement is Armenia’s Constitution. Once it is amended, the agreement could be signed the next day. Aliyev’s special representative, Elchin Amirbayov, said in Bern on October 3 that for peace to be “irreversible,” the inconsistency between the constitution and the agreement must be removed.

Opposition's “swap” demand

This creates a strong political connection, even if not a direct legal one, between the security failure in Shaki and the constitutional referendum. Asking citizens to approve constitutional change “for peace” while an armed soldier manages to cross the border strengthens the opposition’s question: “What have we received in return?” The Strong Armenia Alliance answers it with “Concessions are taking us further away from peace.” Its parliamentary group leader, Narek Karapetyan, took the incident to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) the next day and recalled the Ramil Safarov case. The Armenia Alliance and the Dashnaktsutyun (ARF) camp, for their part, demanded that the soldier not be returned as a “gesture of goodwill” but instead be exchanged for Armenian prisoners held in Baku.

Clearly, the more the referendum looks like Baku’s demand, the harder it becomes to get it approved. Moreover, even getting to a referendum is not straightforward. It requires 70 votes in parliament, and Civil Contract holds 64 seats; in other words, at least six votes must come from the very opposition that took Shaki to PACE. The government would also need to persuade at least one quarter of all registered voters—around 627,000 people—to vote “yes.” That is equivalent to roughly 86 percent of the votes it received on June 7.

Steps that could be taken

And this is where the rest of the chain begins.

If the new Constitution fails at the referendum or the process is prolonged, then under Baku’s current position the signing of the peace agreement may also be delayed. On the Turkish side, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in June that normalization with Armenia was being pursued in “close coordination” with Azerbaijan. This makes even items that could move ahead on technical grounds, such as the Gyumri–Kars railway, dependent on politics. A direct-trade arrangement was even put in place in May; yet goods still pass through a third country, and only their paperwork can mention Turkey or Armenia. As Benyamin Poghosyan pointed out at the APRI forum, even the understanding reached in July 2022 on border crossings by third-country nationals has gone unimplemented for four years. Holding back a decision that requires neither rails nor a tender show that the problem is not technical. Infrastructure is being brought right up to the gate on both sides, but the political switch has yet to be turned on.

After Shaki, the problem is no longer just whether the process is linear or cyclical, as was debated at the APRI forum. Every new security incident further weakens the first link in the chain, namely society’s trust in peace. The weaker that trust, the harder the referendum; the harder the referendum, the longer the peace agreement is delayed; and the longer the agreement is delayed, the longer the border with Turkey stays closed.

The paradox is that keeping the border closed also makes it harder to show Armenian society what peace can actually change in everyday life.

Perhaps for this reason, the issue facing the three countries is not which step to take first. At some point, this chain needs to be broken somewhere by taking political risks. Otherwise, a single soldier, a single border violation, or a new crisis will continue to make a peace that is becoming increasingly institutionalized on paper appear questionable once again in the eyes of society.

The first link is in Yerevan's hands; it can establish an early warning system covering border villages without waiting for Baku. Such a system might not prevent border violations, but it would make the government's "there is peace" discourse testable on the ground. It would also provide an institutional response to the question of why residents were not warned in cases like Shaki, helping to restore public confidence in border security.

For Baku, the "sign now, ratify after the constitutional amendment" formula proposed by the International Crisis Group a year ago stands as an option. From Baku's perspective, signing the agreement and postponing ratification until the referendum could be more advantageous than maintaining the status quo. Such a signature would make Baku’s commitment to peace visible without requiring it to abandon its constitutional condition.

Ankara could also break one of these links. Instead of leaving the entire file to Baku’s timetable, it could separate out the step agreed upon four years ago. This would neither ignore Azerbaijan’s concerns nor bring the final decision forward. But it would show Armenian voters that normalization is a reality. And at the referendum ballot box, that could become the strongest argument in favor of peace.

The talks focused on efforts to reestablish the cross-border connection. Khudatyan emphasized the importance of interconnecting the two countries’ electricity systems for bilateral and regional cooperation.

The Turkish delegation also met with officials from the Electric Energy System Operator of Armenia and the High-Voltage Electric Networks. No timeline was given for the activation of the line.

The talks revive an initiative pursued during the previous Armenia-Turkey diplomatic rapprochement of 2008-2009. Armenia’s public transmission company had signed an agreement with the Belgium-based UNIT Group, which was involved in electricity distribution and generation in Turkey, to supply electricity from Armenia to the Turkish market. Deliveries were expected to begin in 2009, initially at approximately 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours per year. However, those supplies never began. Then Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan attributed the delay to political obstacles in Turkey. The project stalled along with broader normalization efforts: protocols signed in Zurich in October 2009 to establish diplomatic relations and open the border never entered into force.

At the hearing, defense attorneys Jiyan Tosun and Jiyan Kaya stated that their client has been continuing her academic work abroad and requested her acquittal and the lifting of the arrest warrant. The attorneys argued that her dissertation is academic work and that bringing a case under TCK 301 violates freedom of expression and academic freedom. The court ruled to maintain the arrest warrant against Yarkın, who is currently working as a visiting researcher at the University of Hamburg, to reconsider the decision if her address in Germany is provided, and to adjourn the hearing until January 14, 2027.

The indictment, prepared as a result of the investigation launched by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office after denouncement by the Presidency of the Interuniversity Council, also includes Yarkın’s academic analyses of the Armenian Genocide and its denial among the statements cited as grounds for the charges.

The reference to the Armenian Genocide was also cited as grounds

In 2018, Yarkın applied to the Interuniversity Council (ÜAK) for the equivalency of her doctoral dissertation, completed at Binghamton University in the United States in 2017. Yarkın says that she received no response to her application for two years and that her petitions submitted during this period in her own name also went unanswered. She says she learned that her application had been rejected through a petition submitted by her lawyer.

The application for equivalency was rejected in 2020 on the grounds that the dissertation contained terrorist organization propaganda and included expressions such as “Dersim Genocide,” “Armenian genocide,” “massacres against non-Muslims,” and “the AKP Government’s colonial policies in the region.”

The Interuniversity Council called it “terrorist propaganda”; prosecutor’s office issued a non-prosecution decision

In its decision, the Interuniversity Council argued that statements concerning the PKK in the dissertation and listed individually could constitute an offense under TCK 301 and amounted to propaganda for a terrorist organization. The Interuniversity Council referred Yarkın’s dissertation to the prosecutor’s office.

Following the investigation, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office prepared an indictment against Yarkın under TCK 301 on August 17, 2026. The prosecutor’s office, however, issued a non-prosecution decision with regard to the allegation of terrorist propaganda.

29 passages cited

In the six-page indictment prepared by the Press Crimes Investigation Bureau of the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, 29 passages from Yarkın’s dissertation cited as the basis for the allegations were directly quoted and listed individually. Four of these passages are related to the Armenian Genocide and historical violence against Armenians. Statements from the dissertation, which was written in English, were translated into Turkish and included in the indictment.

Some of the statements in Yarkın’s doctoral dissertation cited in the indictment as grounds for the charges argue that the war between 1914 and 1918 and the extraordinary circumstances it created gave the Committee of Union and Progress the opportunity to implement policies of ethnic cleansing and genocide against Armenians, and the Committee of Union and Progress ordered state forces to massacre and deport all Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire, and in accordance with these orders, more than one million Armenians living in Ottoman territories were subjected to genocide. She also states that Turkish state denies the colonization of Northern Kurdistan, the existence of the Kurds, Kurdistan, the Kurdish language, and the Armenian Genocide. She adds that although non-Muslim groups in the country got citizenship and minority rights, they were subjected to racism, dispossession, or assimilation during the early years of the Republic.

“The state wants to control the process of knowledge production”

Speaking to Agos, Yarkın said that her dissertation is primarily a sociological study of a neighborhood, explaining that she investigated how racism against Kurds manifested itself in everyday life in a working-class district of Istanbul and how Kurds dealt with it. Yarkın said that her dissertation also has a historical section and that she traces the subject back to the Ottoman period in order to conduct a historical analysis of racism against Kurds. Yarkın said that she treats the Armenian Genocide as genocide in her dissertation, and stated, “Another academic might say, ‘You cannot define this as genocide.’ Someone else might say, ‘It didn’t happen,’ and can say that academically. The issue here is this: the state is intervening.”

Yarkın said that the state wants to control the process of knowledge production and wants knowledge to be produced within the framework of the official ideology it prefers, adding, “Because it wants the process of knowledge production to develop under state control, it subjects it to a process of prosecution and punishment.” She also said that they do not want the knowledge produced at universities about Armenians, Kurds, and crimes committed by the state to be discussed in academic circles.

Yarkın said, “It shows that they absolutely do not want the issue of the Armenian Genocide to be discussed within Turkey’s university system, or to be discussed as genocide. In other words, this issue is not only about the Kurdish question; it is also very important in terms of Armenian studies.” She also said that what has happened is a serious problem in terms of academic freedoms, stating, “From the standpoint of academic freedom, this is a scandal. What we have here is a university institution reporting a dissertation that was written on the grounds of terrorist propaganda; the prosecutor’s office investigates it but ultimately decides that there was no terrorist propaganda and issues a non-prosecution decision. Despite this, this process is still taking place. That is the real issue.”

She had previously been acquitted under 301

Yarkın had previously also been prosecuted under TCK 301. A case was brought against the Human Rights Association (İHD) Co-Chair Attorney Eren Keskin and Güllistan Yarkın, a member of the İHD Commission Against Racism and Discrimination, on the grounds that they used the term genocide at an Armenian Genocide commemoration organized by the Human Rights Association (İHD) in 2021 on April 24. The case ended with the acquittal of Yarkın and Keskin.

The festival aims to revive a tradition of book gatherings that was held for many years in the past under the umbrella of Pangaltı High School Alumni Association and that left a lasting mark on the community’s collective memory. Revived years later through the collaboration of various institutions, the gathering will welcome readers over the course of three days.

A century-old publishing practice, the antiquarian book tradition, and young voices

One of the starting points for the festival is a sentence written by Hrant Dink in the pages of Agos in 1996: “Salutes to those who carried the books on their backs and to those who protected the pages and carried them into the present.” The legacy of those who, over the centuries, carried letters and pages from monasteries to printing presses, along paths of exile and up narrow slopes, will be brought together once again at Naregyan Hall.

Gırgin Kirki Paradon aims to be more than a nostalgic commemoration. It seeks to reestablish, through contemporary creative work, the bridge built between languages, generations, and cultures.

From October 8–10, book stalls at Naregyan Hall will feature Jamanak, Nor Marmara, Agos, Paros, and Luys TV. The Hrant Dink Foundation Publications, Patriarchate Publications, and the T.E.A.O. Teachers’ Mutual Aid Foundation will also participate in the festival with their publications.

Nork and Turkuaz as antique booksellers (sahaf) will display selections of old Armenian publications, periodicals, and rare ephemera. Paplig, with its children’s literature publications, as well as various independent publishers, will also take part in the festival.

Panels and open workshops

A number of panels will be held at Naregyan Hall as part of the festival. In the session titled “Will You Tell Us About Your Kitchen?”, newspaper editors-in-chief and editors will discuss the lesser known aspects of editorial work and the backstage processes of producing a newspaper.

At the gathering titled “Meeting with Translators on Translators’ Day,” literary translators will discuss the challenges they encounter, expressions considered “untranslatable,” and the future of translation in the age of artificial intelligence. Events aimed at high school students will also be held as part of the festival.

Open to all book lovers, researchers, and literature enthusiasts, the festival can be visited free of charge from October 8–10 at the Naregyan Hall of the Beyoğlu Üç Horan Church Foundation.

He was a silent sort, and I shied away from asking too many questions. But on that second meeting he told me that he was from Iran and had been in Toronto many years. He would not tell me what had gone wrong or why he had ended up living on the street, and I did not persist on finding out his story. The only thing he told me was that he wanted to be back where he had come from. He had impressed me when on both occasions he had refused the money I had offered him. He had accepted my cigarettes but not my charity. I liked that. He was the first homeless person I had ever met and talked to. I really did not know how to go about it or what I could do for him. So, for my next visit, I went to a Greek supermarket to buy a container of thick cream and some honey. Then from a bakery I got some Italian bread and went to Riza. He was still sleeping when I got there, so I waited around until he woke up. I had gone too early in the morning, a bit excited imagining the joy I would see in his eyes on finding out what he would have for breakfast.

He woke up eventually, but he was in a very silent mood as if in another realm. I approached him with my shopping bag and took out what I had bought for him and placed them in front of him. I said to him, ‘Cream, honey and freshly baked bread! These will not be as delicious as the ones back home but maybe you will be happy’. He took one of the containers in his hand, examined it closely and then with his broken English, he said, ‘please my friend, don’t do things like this. I get used to it and then I will want it again. You are here now, but maybe you will not be another day. Not good for me’!

In a way, I was disappointed. Not because Riza had not shown the excitement that I had imagined. It was more a disappointment at myself for not knowing any better. Years ago, a friend told me that feeding the birds in the backyard would be wrong if you cannot do it consistently. The birds become dependent on you and lose their ability to fetch food for themselves. If you miss feeding them, they starve to death eventually. I had been impressed by her logic, but I had always thought human creatures were better at survival. But what about compassion gestures while one can show just for that day when someone is in need? Today is today and tomorrow is another day…someone else will help if I cannot. Not so, as Riza had just shown me. A first lesson in a series of many…lessons I learned in the many encounters I had with homeless people throughout my life.

I visited Riza maybe five times in all and then one day, he disappeared. Nobody around the supermarket knew where he had gone to. I always imagined that some miracle happened and he went back to Iran. I thought of him many times as the years passed. Then around 2004 or so, I remember it was a cold winter, I read in the newspaper a short piece of news about two or three deaths of some homeless people that had happened on the extremely cold night the day before. The city workers who usually helped the homeless with the food delivery program at night during cold weather, had found the bodies. There were no pictures with the news but one of the names was Riza, an Iranian, and they indicated his age and the fact that he had lived on the streets for over twenty years. Everything fits the Riza I had met. You can of course imagine how sad I must have felt on reading the news. But I assure you that I have never stopped imagining that a miracle had really happened and that the Riza in the news was another homeless…a big coincidence!

Founded in 1898, the school was one of the region’s most important educational institutions, with 12 classrooms, four languages echoing through its halls, and nearly a thousand students each year. Nothing remains today of the magnificent façade visible in an old photograph taken before 1915, with its monumental triangular pediment and grand colonnade supporting the portico. Yet between two small ornamental columns above the blue iron gate, a marble Armenian inscription, carved with a rose motif beneath it, continues to withstand the passage of time:

ՇԻՆԵՑԱՒ ՏԵՂՒՈՅՍ ԵՒ ԱՄԵՐԻԿԱՅԻ ՄԷԶԻՐԷՑԻ ԱԶԳԱՅՆՈՑ ՆԻՒԹԱԿԱՆ ՈՒ ԲԱՐՈՅԱԿԱՆ ԱՋԱԿՑՈՒԹԵԱՄԲ։

“Built with the material and moral support of the Mezire compatriots here and in America.”

Today the building is private property and its door is kept locked, making entry impossible. According to the official inventory report, the two-story structure, oriented north-south and rectangular in plan, is constructed of a mixture of cut stone and adobe. Its interiors have largely lost their original character because of concrete columns and additions installed later. The northern wall of the upper floor, which has 12 half-domed windows, has also been bricked up at a later date.

Over the broad courtyard where children once ran about joyfully, a green plastic canopy is now stretched. Marble slabs and a broken chair lie on the ground. This is no longer a schoolyard: its lower floor is used for washing wool, while the courtyard has become a cold marble workshop.

The sadness deepens when you look at a recent photograph of the building. The plaster has completely fallen away, the windows have been blinded with bricks, and deep cracks slice through the walls like knives. Ordinary words have been scrawled in spray paint on the wall beside the blue iron gate, while a makeshift wooden counter and plastic water containers have been placed directly in front of it. The monumental school that once looked proudly out over the city is now hemmed in by neighboring apartment buildings, reduced to an invisible rear façade.

The building, once enlivened by the footsteps of hundreds of children, may not have disappeared completely, but with every passing day it has grown a little smaller. In the official cultural inventory, its name is “mansion”; in collective memory, “church”; and on the inscription carved in stone, sacrifice is still written there. Today, among the ruins of this school at the end of that narrow dead end street, a small a blue evil eye amulet (nazar boncuğu) fastened directly above the historic arched doorway, and a flag planted atop the building stand like solitary sentinels guarding a vast history against time. All around them there is only profound silence and marble dust that catches in the throat.

After the opening, the first session was a conversation in Armenian with Sargis Khandanyan, chair of the Armenian National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Relations. Khandanyan recalled that it is taught at Armenian schools that “Armenia is a wedge between different worlds,” but said that today the country’s geography should be seen as an opportunity. In his view, the way to protect sovereignty is to avoid becoming “the point where others’ interests collide” and not to build “exclusive” relations with a single center of power.

Khandanyan: The process is not at a dead end

Khandanyan said he did not share the notion of an “Azerbaijan–Turkey–Armenia vicious circle,” which the moderator, APRI Vice President Anahide Pilibossian, had mentioned in her opening remarks, and that the normalization process with Turkey is not at a dead end. As concrete steps, he listed Turkey allowing Armenia to use the Akhalkalaki–Kars railway, the reconstruction of the historic Ani bridge, the working group set up for the Kars–Gyumri railway, and the business forum that has now been held twice. “But this is not enough,” Khandanyan said. “Turkey should have opened its border with Armenia and established diplomatic relations long ago.” Asked whether he believes in the process, he replied: “I do, because if I didn’t, it would be difficult to work in this direction.”

Khandanyan also spoke candidly about relations with Russia. Recent events, he said, have proven that “Russia is not and cannot be Armenia’s security guarantor,” but this does not mean a break in relations. He added that the TRIPP route (Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity), which will run through southern Armenia to connect Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan, is a major opportunity for Armenia to break out of the blockade, but that problems will arise if it remains “the only functioning project.”

The US–Armenia session that followed focused on the economic side of the relationship. Luiza Ayvazyan, who heads the Armenia office of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), said that political agreements alone are not enough and that investors want to see predictable rules. Noting that the most serious gap the private sector sees lies not in the laws but in their implementation, she said: “What we need to learn is how to implement these very nicely written laws in reality.”

“Interest may decline after the US midterms”

According to Armen Sahakyan, Armenia Country Director of the Armenian Assembly of America, who moderated the conversation, Armenia–US relations are in many respects living through their “golden age,” but one has to be prepared for Washington’s interest to decline after the midterm elections in November. Sahakyan noted that many of TRIPP’s details are still unknown, while the two countries’ strategic partnership charter explicitly mentions the Gyumri–Kars railway.

Iran’s conditions on TRIPP

The day’s other sessions were very important in terms of showing the stance of the powers around the Armenia–Azerbaijan–Turkey triangle. Iran’s Ambassador to Armenia, Khalil Shirgholami, said that Tehran does not oppose TRIPP on two conditions: that Armenia’s territorial integrity is not harmed and that there is no US military presence in the region. Andrey Kortunov, former director general of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), offered his interpretation of Putin’s phrase “civilized divorce.” As Armenia turns toward the European Union, Kortunov said, it is ceasing to be a “family member” for Moscow and becoming “rather a neighbor — not even a next-door neighbor as Russia does not have a border with Armenia.”

The “vicious circle” debate

The most heated session of the day was the Armenia–Azerbaijan–Turkey panel, where the concept of the “vicious circle” was directly scrutinized. Pilibossian defined the concept as follows: Azerbaijan makes the signing of the peace treaty conditional on a change to Armenia’s constitution, while Ankara ties normalization to the signing of that treaty.

According to APRI’s Benyamin Poghosyan, who introduced the concept, there has been no breakthrough. It is September 2026, and there is still no peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Even the understanding reached between Ankara and Yerevan in July 2022 on partially opening the border to third-country nationals and diplomatic passport holders has gone unimplemented for four years. In Poghosyan’s view, “the Armenian government has done even more than it probably should have to satisfy Azerbaijani demands and the Turkish vision.”

AVİM: The real problem is not Turkish inaction

Hazel Çağan Elbir of the Ankara based Center for Eurasian Studies (AVİM), who joined the meeting via Zoom, disputed this picture: “The record does not support that, really. Turkey has continued to advance the file,” she said. Elbir cited the special representatives, scheduled flights to Yerevan and the railway working group as examples. Ankara, she said, “did not await perfect confidence before opening channels, it generated confidence by acting.” She argued that the real problem is not inertia on the Turkish side but the unfinished legal closure between Yerevan and Baku.

Elbir said Turkey has “no eagerness to be the leader or the one country trying to strengthen its power in the region,” and highlighted one detail: Turkey is keeping its special representative in place, whereas Armenia currently has no active representative. It is worth recalling that Armenia’s representative, Ruben Rubinyan, was elected speaker of parliament in early August, and no successor has been announced yet.

Huseynov: We are taking it step by step

Vasif Huseynov of the AIR Center in Baku also argued that the “vicious circle” label discourages the public: “It is not a circle, it is a linear process, and we are taking it step by step,” he said. Huseynov also added that he thinks the change to Armenia’s constitution could take place within the next few months.

Poghosyan: All borders must open

Benyamin Poghosyan’s main concern, however, was sequencing. Once the Kars–Nakhchivan railway, whose construction Turkey has begun, and TRIPP come into operation, a circular line will emerge, running from Baku to Tbilisi, Kars and Nakhchivan, and back to Baku via Armenia. “Why would Azerbaijan be interested in, for example, opening the Armenia–Azerbaijan border somewhere in Tavush, or the Armenia–Nakhchivan border … if they have this circular railroad?” Poghosyan asked. He stressed that Armenia’s strategic interest lies not in “a hundred meters of the Armenia–Azerbaijan border” but in the opening of all borders, including the one with Turkey.

Huseynov’s own words left this question open. He noted that the launch of TRIPP would mean the opening of at least part of the border in the south, but as to whether all the borders would open, he said: “I cannot say.”

Sharp exchanges over the “Zangezur” name

The debate sharpened when it came to naming the project and the region. Huseynov and Elbir said openly that they use “Zangezur corridor” and TRIPP interchangeably. Elbir drew the distinction as follows: what Baku and Ankara call “Zangezur” is a function, namely unimpeded access to Nakhchivan, whereas TRIPP is the name of “the agreed operating system: Armenian territory, Armenian law, reciprocal use, and a United States development role.”

“Trump’s name works as a deterrent”

Elbir also put a question to the Armenian side: “Is it better for you to name it with the name of Trump, who is not from the region?” Poghosyan first restated the Armenian position: “We are not fully confident what TRIPP is, but we are confident that TRIPP is not an extraterritorial corridor.” He then explained that, as it is perceived in Armenia, bringing in the Americans and putting Trump’s name on the route serves as “a sort of deterrent” against the possibility of Azerbaijan opening the road by force — at least as long as Trump is in the White House.

Alex Petriashvili of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS), who came from Tbilisi, repeated the phrase of the day in the last session before the lunch break: “Please come out of this vicious circle, break this vicious circle. We are more than happy to facilitate.”

Imagining a border without fences

The day’s second-to-last speaker was curator Nairi Khatchadourian, founder of the Yerevan-based AHA collective. She described growing up in Paris, where a border was little more than a highway sign, and said that in Armenia, where she has been living for more than eleven years, borders shape every aspect of life. “Whether it is closed off with barbed wire or opened to trucks, the result is the same: people remain apart,” she said. For someone who has spent decades staring at a fence on the banks of the Araks, Khatchadourian said, the other side stops being a place where human beings live. “For generations across the South Caucasus, borders have dictated whom we are allowed to imagine,” she said. She also told the story of a resident of Armenia in a border village, from where the Araks and Iran on the opposite bank can be seen without a wire fence, planted fruit trees such as pomegranates and figs on a rocky slope and opened the garden to everyone, and that those who sit under the trees and eat fruit see the cars going along the highway on the opposite bank and the farmers at work. In Khatchadourian’s telling, at that moment the neighbor on the other side stops being an invisible threat and becomes someone living under the same sun, in the same valley, breathing the same air.

Khatchadourian proposes connecting this garden, by a bridge over the Araks, to the orchards on the Iranian side: a bridge that people could walk across without hurrying. Returning to the forum’s theme at the end of her talk, she said: “Before any architecture of change can be poured in concrete or welded in steel, we must design it in our collective imagination.”

Most of the talk at the forum was about roads: railways, corridors, which step should come before which, what name a road should bear. All of this matters for the region’s future. But in these debates, the people living on either side of the border were mostly left on the margins. Even the 2022 agreement that Poghosyan recalled covers only third-country nationals and diplomatic passport holders; ordinary citizens of Turkey and Armenia are excluded even from that small step, which has been awaiting implementation for four years. As the Ani bridge over the Arpaçay (Akhurian) is being rebuilt, the question I believe we should be asking is whether people, too, will one day be able to walk across it. If border gates open only to trucks, then even if the vicious circle is broken, people will, as Khatchadourian put it, stay apart.

Censorship expands

The wave of oppression and censorship has quickly expanded beyond LGBTI+ circles as a second, much larger wave took place between September 21-30. This second wave was mostly, but not exclusively, related to a financial fraud scandal in which some names from the ruling party, Justice and Development Party-AKP, are involved. Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD - İfade Özgürlüğü Derneği) states that the number of social media accounts that were blocked in this second wave has exceeded 500. They included economists, academics, financial analysts, traders, investors and lawyers as well as political activists and journalists.

As a result, at least 1,270 X accounts in total were subjected to blocking decisions during September 2026, and actually X made almost 90% of these accounts invisible in Turkey. Lastly, as an irony, they have blocked Freedom of Expression Association’s X account, Engelli Web, which follows and regularly announces the number of accounts blocked on social media!

Mainstream media also targeted

On the last days of September another important step that should be noted took place. On 29 September, Istanbul's 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace (Sulh Ceza Hakimliği) ordered the blocking of both T24's entire website and its social-media accounts, which is one of the mainstream media outlets followed by millions. T24 says it had not been formally notified of the decision and planned to appeal. The stated justification was that T24 had published 118 pieces of content during the preceding year that authorities classified as LGBTI+ “propaganda.” The significance of this ruling is that it is not simply removal of a particular article. The intervention encompasses the entire news organization’s web presence. As another example of ban on mainstream media, social media accounts of Kısa Dalga news were also blocked at the end of September on the grounds of "national securtiy and preserving public order". 

International reaction

This wave of censorship has brought about a broad international reaction. On 18 September, the EU's External Action Service expressed concern about the arrests, prosecutions and blocking of websites and social media accounts, calling on Turkey to respect freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and media freedom. The EU also specifically warned that targeting international donors and civil society organizations could threaten pluralism and civic space. Furthermore, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe treated the matter as an urgent issue. Its September 29 report described the developments since 12 September as an “immediate, coordinated and escalating campaign” and called for the blocking of websites and social-media accounts belonging to human-rights defenders to be lifted. Amnesty International characterized the operation as a major attack on LGBTI+ rights and said the blocking of hundreds of accounts and websites was part of the same broader crackdown. Lastly, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists have focused particularly on the treatment of journalists.

Legality of rulings

Although these decisions were made by judges, their legality is in question. The official name of these judgeships is Criminal Judgeship of Peace (Sulh Ceza Hakimliği) consisted of a single judge without a prosecutor and defense. So, they are not proper courts. Moreover, these decisions about blocking social media accounts and websites are made on the case file without any prior notification given to the related parties. Therefore, account holders and media outlets do not have the chance to defend themselves in the face of claims. In other words, they are actually punished without any opportunity of defense. They are only able to submit their initial defense when they appeal the decision, but by then, the block is already in effect, and the damage has already occurred.

Compliance by X

High level of compliance on the side of X administration with this wave of censorship should be also underscored. Under Turkey's internet regulations, tech platforms operating in the country are required to appoint local legal representatives and respond to court removal orders. If a platform refuses to comply with court directives, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) holds the legal power to throttle the platform's bandwidth by up to 90%, rendering the website and app unusable in the country. Additionally, Turkish authorities may impose an advertising ban on X which they have done before. However, this cannot be presented as a simple case of X’s helplessness as if it is a weak or vulnerable entity. Considering its power and potential leverage, and the position of Elon Musk as its owner, high compliance with censorship instead of joining the fight for freedom of speech seems as a willing choice rather than an obligation.

Update

After this article was published, more than 100 additional accounts were blocked between October 3-5. These blocked accounts belong to a variety of public figures including journalists, academics, columnsits, economists, financial advisors. The X account of Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford has been also blocked as part of an “obscenity” investigation. She seems to be the first foreign journalist put under restirciton in this wave of censorship. 

At the event, hosted by Armaveni Çakaroğlu, deputy principal of Yeşilköy School, Father Natan Arabyan, the clergy member serving at Surp Stepanos Church, and Yeşilköy School Principal Dilara Şabciyan provided information about the histories of the church and school.

Students Melani Demirci, Sevan Nergis, and Kayl Eseoğlu recited poems. Duduk player Gagik Gasparyan, who lives in Argentina, also traveled to Istanbul for the anniversary celebrations of Yeşilköy Church and School. Gasparyan, together with mezzo-soprano Lerna Baloğlu Akbulut and Deacon Edvin Galipyan, gave a musical performance. The artists performed works by Surp Nerses Şnorhali, Franz Schubert, and Komitas.

Following the musical performance, Patriarch Maşalyan gave a speech in which he said he was happy to come together to mark the anniversaries of the two institutions.

After the concert, the guests went into the church garden for the unveiling of the khachkar commissioned to mark the anniversary. The khachkar, specially created in Armenia by Artak Hambartsumyan, was brought to Istanbul and installed in the garden of Surp Stepanos Church. A khachkar is a monumental stone characteristic of Armenian culture and art, decorated with cross motifs.

The covering over the khachkar was removed jointly by Patriarch Maşalyan, Father Arabyan, Erol Ara Çınar, president of the Yeşilköy Surp Stepanos Church Foundation, Vice President Kevork Özkaragöz, school principal Dilara Şapçıyan, and former foundation president Habip Özfuruncu.

The celebrations continued with a communal meal held in the school hall. Musical performances and dance shows prepared by the students accompanied the evening. A presentation using projected images highlighted the history of Yeşilköy Armenian School and commemorated the people who had contributed to the school over the years.

Deacon Krikor Samuelyan spoke during the meal, saying that he came from a Yeşilköy family that had lived there for three generations and sharing his happiness at the occasion.

Duduk player Gagik Gasparyan and Antonio Simeon Sarafian, president of the Armenian Charitable Association of Argentina, also gave speeches. Gasparyan and Sarafian emphasized that the Armenian communities of Argentina and Istanbul should get to know one another better and stressed the importance of making the existence of Istanbul's Armenian community better known throughout the diaspora.

Ara Çınar, president of the church foundation, said they hoped the khachkar installed in the church garden would represent the unity and solidarity of the community.

“We are very happy. We have boundless respect for our ancestors who established these institutions and had the church built under difficult circumstances in the past. We are trying to live up to their legacy,” Çınar said.

Cardiovascular surgeon Prof. Dr. Murat Uğurlucan then gave a presentation on heart health and answered questions from the audience.

Through the “The Values Among Us” project, the Malatya Association aims to bring members of the Malatya community who have distinguished themselves through their achievements and experience in different fields together with the wider community.

The project is planned to continue in the coming period with guests from the fields of music, sports, academia, business, the arts, and various professions.

Şirinoğlu: There are too many schools, they should be merged

According to Şirinoğlu’s statement, Governor Davut Gül opened the meeting by saying, “Welcome to your home. Today we will listen to the problems of the Armenian community and seek solutions,” and gave the floor first to Bedros Şirinoğlu.

In his brief remarks on the condition of Armenian schools, Şirinoğlu said that the schools are facing financial difficulties and budget deficits. He stated that there are 2,500 students but 15 schools currently operating, meaning there are too many schools and that they should be merged. He also said that some schools are at risk in terms of earthquake safety.

According to the statement, Governor Davut Gül then asked all the school principals, one by one, to introduce themselves by stating the names of their schools. According to Şirinoğlu’s statement, the principals who spoke said that “there are generally no problems” and provided information about the terms of service of the Turkish school principals (deputy head principals) and student enrollment figures.

Governor Gül then gave the floor to the foundation presidents, asking them to introduce themselves and mention any problem they have. The foundation presidents said that there are generally no problems but noted that the Monuments Board was too slow to respond to applications concerning school buildings that are historical.

The system of deputy head principal: request to return to the 2015 system

According to information obtained by Agos beyond the official statement, school principals requested at the meeting that the terms of service for Turkish language teachers and deputy head principals be regulated according to the rules in effect in 2015.

On July 4, 2015, the Ministry of National Education had given minority schools the right to choose their Turkish language teachers who had been directly appointed by the ministry along with a bunch of other courses called Turkish Culture Courses without any say by the schools. By that regulation schools that wished to continue employ their current Turkish or Turkish Culture teacher who had completed five years of service, or wished to work with another teacher, would submit a petition to the governor’s office for approval. In addition to the school administration, the relevant teacher would also submit a petition.

However, a new regulation concerning minority and foreign schools was introduced in the Regulation Amending the Regulation on Private Educational Institutions of the Ministry of National Education, published in the Official Gazette on January 3, 2025. This new regulation stated that Turkish and Turkish Culture teachers would be “appointed by the governor’s office for a maximum period of five years in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Teachers of Turkish and Turkish Culture. One of them shall be appointed by the governor’s office as deputy head principal.”

Thus, the ministry decided to return to the system that had been in place before 2015. The change came as a surprise to minority schools. The issue was raised at the meeting, but it is not yet known what the outcome was.

According to information obtained by Agos, foundation administrations also stated at the meeting that the property taxes imposed on foundations were very high.

Directorate General of Foundations: “Rental rates are below current market values”

Şirinoğlu’s written statement also included remarks by Yavuz Güner, director of the Foundations’ 1st Regional Directorate. According to the statement, Güner discussed the rental rates of properties under the control of the Armenian foundations.

He said that inspections detected that the rental rates for some properties are below current market values, and stated that rents should be reassessed according to current market rates. In this context, he recommended obtaining a new appraisal report from any one of three appraisal firms designated by the Regional Directorate of Foundations and revising the rents in line with current values.

At the meeting, Kevork Özkaragöz, head of the ERVAB Earthquake Commission, also gave a detailed presentation, accompanied by projected visuals, on the earthquake safety of Armenian schools.

Governor recommends merging schools for earthquake safety

According to Şirinoğlu’s statement, the meeting concluded as follows:

“Our esteemed Governor Davut Gül had the final word. Mr. Gül recommended that schools with small numbers of students, and the students attending schools that face earthquake risks, be merged with schools that have larger student populations and are earthquake-resistant, stating that this is important both economically and in terms of safety. He said that the Governor’s Office would assist with matters related to earthquake risk and that projects prepared by the foundations would receive not only assistance during the preparation and permitting stages but also financial support. He told the Armenian community to share the problems and difficulties of their foundations with the Directorate of Foundations and said that the state would provide assistance. The meeting took place in a very positive and constructive atmosphere.”

The workshops will run for 10 weeks, every Wednesday from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. via Zoom. Each week will focus on a different theme, with conversation practice based on vocabulary and expressions related to that theme.

The workshops are open to participants who have a basic knowledge of Western Armenian and want to develop their speaking skills. The registration deadline is October 12, 2026. For more information, you can visit the foundation website.

Instructor: Hrag Avedanian

The workshops will be led by Hrag Avedanian, who has been an instructor in the Hrant Dink Foundation’s Western Armenian Conversation Workshops since 2020.

Avedanian lives in Beirut. He completed a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in international relations at the Lebanese American University. He works in the humanitarian field, particularly on issues involving refugees and education, and is also involved in various arts and cultural initiatives in Lebanon.

Avedanian’s writings on the Armenian community have been published in various media outlets. He speaks Western Armenian, English, and Arabic fluently.

Comparative Readings

The seminar will be held online on Wednesdays from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. (Istanbul time) between October 14 and December 23, 2026. The instruction language of the seminar will be Turkish. Using texts from Istanbul, Anatolia, and different regions of the Ottoman Empire, the sessions will explore local uses of Turkish, regional dialects, and words and expressions not encountered in the modern standard written language. Official documents, personal correspondence, periodicals, and manuscripts from different archives and collections will be read comparatively.

The seminar is limited to 20 participants and costs 7,500 Turkish lira. Knowledge of Armenian is not a prerequisite. The program is open to anyone interested in Ottoman and Armenian history, social and cultural history, the history of language, and historical sources.

Five places have been reserved for students at a 50% discount.

To register for the seminar, you may visit the History Foundation's registration page.

The study, 190 pages long, was published in Yerevan in 1980 under the collective editorship of H. Parseghyan, A. Khachaduryan, and Y. Ghazarosyan. Its title is Hay Barperagan Mamuli Krderi Masin (Kurds in Armenian Periodical Publications, Bibliography 1850-1920). Its preface was written by Garlen Chachani, who served for many years as head of the Kurdish Writers’ Section of the Writers’ Union of Armenia. After briefly discussing the history of periodicals in Armenian language, Chachani compiled writings concerning the social, economic, political, and cultural situation of Kurds in different provinces of Anatolia, the activities of Kurdish aghas and sheikhs, internal conflicts, the land question, the Yazidis, Kurdish-Armenian relations, and many other subjects.

Those periodicals clearly feature Armenian-Kurdish cultural ties, the socio-economic condition of the Kurds, their culture, folklore, and many other subjects. One can say that no people having a tradition of rich literature and printed press wrote about the Kurds as extensively as the Armenian press did. These publications contain many subjects, including the creation of the Kurdish alphabet, the printing of Kurdish primer in Armenian scripts, and joint education in Armenian schools for the education of Kurdish children.

Armenian, Turkish, and Kurdish workers lived together under harsh socio-economic conditions. This undoubtedly left its mark on various aspects of the political destiny and spiritual life of these peoples. Chachani’s compilation contains a considerable number of reports and commentaries indicating that as the oppression and exploitation by Turkish pashas and Kurdish aghas and beys increased, the friendship between Armenian and Kurdish workers grew stronger and they began to act together.

The bibliography contains 1,302 different titles concerning Kurds in the periodicals Azadamard (Struggle for Freedom—Istanbul), Artsakank (Echo), Troshag (Flag—Geneva, Paris), Hınchag (Bell—London), Arshaluys Araradyan (Dawn of Ararat—Izmir), Puzantion (Byzantium—Istanbul), Hantes Amsorya (Monthly Journal—Austria), Horizon, Masis (Mount Ararat—Istanbul), Meghu Hayasdani (Bee of Armenia—Tiflis), Mshag (Cultivator—Tiflis), Nor Tar (New Age—Tiflis), and Daraz (Style/Form—Tiflis), published between 1850 and 1920.

Translating all the information contained under these headings and including its entire content is beyond the scope of this study. Therefore, we have prepared a selection from the titles appearing in these publications. By locating and reading the publications relating to each title, and specifying the date and issue number, we have tried to provide a brief summary of their contents, even if only two lines, and to devote more space to one or two reports and commentaries. We begin this selection, which we will publish as a series, with the newspaper Azadamard.

Selections from the Azadamard newspaper

Published in Istanbul between 1909-1914 and 1918-1921, it was a daily newspaper consisting of four pages and measuring 65x48 cm. Its editors were Rupen Zartaryan and Hagop Cololyan (Siruni). Many intellectuals contributed to the newspaper. At different times it was published under the names Arachamard (Pioneering Struggle), Pakin (Altar), Putania (Bithynia), Aztag (Factor/Influence), Meghu (Bee), Shant (Lightning), Cagadamard (Battle), Artaramard (Just Struggle), and Ariamard (Brave Struggle).

Azadamard was the official organ of the Dashnaktsutyun Party. This party had branches or representatives in many provinces, sanjaks, districts, and even villages where Kurds and Armenians lived in large numbers. For this reason, exactly 162 reports, articles, and commentaries concerning Kurds were published in various issues of Azadamard between 1909 and 1914. The reports and their brief contents are as follows:

1909, No:4-5
Rupen Zartaryan’s article entitled “Bahanch” (Demand/Need).
Also a review of a novel in Kurdish. In addition, a report on the struggle of the Kurds of Dersim against Turkish harassment.

1909, No:6
Reports concerning the social and political situation of the Kurds in Harput Province, Armenian-Kurdish relations, and the Turkish government’s policies in this regard.

1909, No:18-19
A historical study of the Yazidis’ origin, lands, population, way of life, and beliefs/worship. A report on Armenian-Kurdish friendship relations.

1909, No:18
A report on Armenian-Kurdish relations in the Hınıs region.

1909, No:20
A letter from Harput concerning Kurdish-Armenian relations in the region. Also reports on Kurdish movements in Dersim.

1909, No:21
Reports on the lineage relations of the Kurds in Kighi and the internal disputes of Agha Haydar, Agha Mehmet, and Agha Halil.

1909, No:21
An article about the Yazidis signed by A. Terziyan. Information about the region inhabited by the Yazidis, their population, way of life, lineage, and friendly relations with Armenians.

1909, No:26
A letter from Van signed by A. Misag. Information about Kurdish-Armenian relations in Van Province and the Turkish government’s policies on this matter.

1909, No:28
A verification article on the population of the Yazidis, signed by H. Shahbazyan. Information about the Yazidis and the places where they lived.

1909, No:40
An article entitled “The Confessions of a Kurd, About a Conspiracy Plot.” Ahmed Fazi provides information to the Armenians of Silvan about a conspiracy by several Kurdish tribal leaders preparing to attack Armenian villages.

1909, No:51
An article on writing and literature among the Kurds, signed S. H. Also reports on Armenian-Kurdish bonds of friendship and the preparation, under the leadership of the Dashnak Party, of the first Kurdish primer in Kurmanji written using Armenian scripts.

1909, No:58
News: The famous Kurdish chief Genco-Papari continues his raids. The Kurdish chief’s activities in Sasun and the conflict among Kurdish lineages/tribes.

1909, No:77
Reports on Kurdish-Armenian relations in Bitlis Province and conflicts among Kurdish tribes.

1909, No:77
A letter from Iran signed Aziz: information about Kurdish conflicts on the Iranian border and Kurdish-Russian relations.

1909, No:88
Brief news from Van signed by A. Menag: Kurdish-Armenian relations and the activities of Kurdish tribal leaders in Van.

1909, No:101
A letter from Van: friendly Kurdish-Armenian relations in Van and the Turkish government’s efforts to disturb these relations.

1909, No:112
A letter from Bulanık: Armenian-Kurdish relations and the activities of the Kurdish aghas Fati and Tizakh in Bitlis.

1910, No:182
An unsigned article entitled “Behind the Mountains”: Kurdish-Armenian friendship relations and a call by one of the Armenian political parties to Kurdish workers to struggle together.
Also reports entitled “Kurds Are Arming,” “Meeting of the Kurdish Chiefs of Sasun,” and “Arming of the Kurds and a Call for Struggle Against Turkish Plunder.”

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Kurdish Schools: Istanbul or the Provinces?
(Azadamard, 1910, No:190, an extensive summary of an unsigned analysis published in Armenian)

Some Kurdish intellectuals opened a school in Istanbul for Kurdish children under the name Constitutional School (Meşrutiyet Mektebi).

The idea is good and promising. Until now, it had been the government, the Hamidian administration, that was concerned with educating Kurdish children; now, however, Kurdish individuals and an association established for educational purposes are taking the lead in this endeavor.

Rather than the idea itself, the character of those undertaking this initiative attracts attention and emerges as a noteworthy phenomenon in Kurdish life.

Kurdish tribes that have occupied all the lands of the eastern provinces inhabited by Armenians have lagged behind civilization because of their nomadic, constantly mobile way of life and their warrior traditions, continually giving themselves over to raids. Thus, they not only morally and culturally harm themselves, but also pose a danger to the other elements with whom they live together, to peaceful aspirations and peaceful development of their neighbors.

The light of the mind has remained unknown to the Kurdish people, while the nest of education has become an object of contempt.

This situation became a weapon in the hands of the Hamidian dictatorship. That administration spared no effort to win the favor of tribal leaders; it opened schools for their children, but not in order to educate and elevate the Kurdish element. Rather, it opened them to keep influential Kurds forever loyal to its throne and obedient to its instructions and criminal plans.

Now, several Kurdish patriots, with their own strength and resources, are raising the banner against ignorance, the Kurdish people’s sole enemy.

Undoubtedly, this struggle is difficult; for the more intense and resistant the anti-development prejudices dominating the Kurdish world are, the fewer are those who intellectually participate in this struggle in an admirable manner. The practical means and all the conditions necessary to bring this proposed movement to success are likewise lacking.

However great the difficulties may be... Kurdish leaders must not lose heart or take a step backward; because the existence and future of their people depend on a conscious and determined struggle waged against these same difficulties and obstacles.

Let Istanbul give the first signal, let the “Constitutional School” open on Hocapaşa Street; but the anchor of the Kurdish intellectual movement is not, and cannot be, the capital. That anchor is Kurdistan itself, the Kurdish population being in its own place and in its own region. The activities of Kurdish intellectuals and men of the people should be concentrated there, so that, at least for the time being, a foundation can be laid among the settled Kurdish peasantry, a path can be opened, and gradually an inclination and desire can be created.

“Kurdish Awakening Is Giving Its First Signs”

Kurdish society itself needs to be governed and guided; yet Istanbul is very far from the provinces, and work begun here cannot find an echo in the form of an effective movement upon social thought, which is already inert, devoid of initiative, and petrified.

“Beginning is half of the work,” says the proverb. The Kurdish awakening is also giving its first signs. Now all that is needed is to broaden, without weariness and with perseverance, the path that has been opened.

The work begun by the small number of Kurdish intellectuals of today might be one of the unforgettable pages of Kurdish history in the future.

I have already mentioned my good luck with the jobs I found incidentally, without much effort. Considering that finding a job is a big challenge in general when you are a teenager, I feel that I had an easy life. Yes, like everyone, I have also lived through the stressful anticipation of where to apply and what sort of career to choose. But whether it was the long years of waitering, teaching English or photography, those minimal efforts on my part turned out to be fruitful.

At the end of my first year of university, I needed a job for the summer. I had already worked as a dry cleaning delivery boy as well as a waiter at Big Boy’s restaurant. In those days my friends and I used to spend a lot of time in a cafe in a posh neighborhood called Yorkville. One day the bartender Robert overheard me telling my friends about my search for a job. He came over and told me that a new restaurant was looking for staff. Apparently, the skating rink down the block was being converted to a restaurant for the summer. I applied in person the following day, hoping that my fast-food waitering experience would at least make them consider me for a busboy position…after all, the new restaurant and the managers looked very high class and I was just someone from the suburbs with fast-food service qualifications! I crossed my fingers. I needed the money.

Well, they called me a week later and told me I was hired and that the restaurant would open that same Saturday. I was thrilled because not only I had a job but also it was close to our cafe where I could meet my friends after work. I showed up a couple of hours before opening time and it was very exciting…the restaurant looked gorgeous. There were so many people as staff, all waiting for instructions on the menu and tables. They separated us into two groups by calling our names: waiters and busboys. Even though I had no high expectations, I was still disappointed that I was assigned to a busboy position. Waiters made much more money in tips than busboys. They kept calling up the rest of the names and then all of a sudden there was a problem. One of the people, supposedly a waiter, had not shown up. They kept calling his name and nothing! The managers looked upset and then one of them shouted out to all of us, ‘who has waitering experience?’. I do not know why but I raised my hand instantly and I uttered, ‘I do’; the two magic words. They did not bother to look around at the other people, and they gave me an apron saying that I would be a waiter only for that night. One night? So what? Be it! What a great feeling to be a waiter in such an elegant restaurant, even for one night.

The two Maitre De’s Roberto and Daniel explained the menu and ordering system while the customers waited impatiently by the entrance. We were assigned our four tables each as waiters, as well as the busboys who were to help us. The doors opened and the impatient crowd were shown to their tables by the two elegant hostesses, Rachel and June. Despite all the detailed organization by the managers, I can say it was a hectic night full of confusion and unfamiliarity with the kitchen, the bar and the overbooking. We served nonstop until maybe midnight. I worked as if I had been injected with gallons of adrenalin. I served my best and happily but I was exhausted from running around. It was so busy that the couple at one of my tables, sneaked out without paying…they just disappeared. I was stuck with a big bill and was very disheartened. But Daniel told me not to worry, that it was not my fault. Very kind of him!

Finally, the night came to an end. The last of the customers left and I was relieved. I passed a difficult test. The managers and hostesses were all content. They gathered us around them and thanked us for a successful opening night. I was proud of myself. And the tips I went home with? They were as much as a whole week tip at Big Boy’s. But the best part came next day…when I got to work, no one remembered that originally I had been hired as a busboy. Intentionally or unintentionally, I have no clue. But that day was the beginning of years of my life as a waiter in many restaurants.

The enormous concrete structure hosted its final professional football match on August 2, 2015, when Ararat Yerevan faced Ulisses Yerevan. Now far removed from its former glory days, it breaks its silence only occasionally with large outdoor concerts and limited cultural events. Although a new glimmer of hope has appeared for the stadium’s future—with plans for a major infrastructure and renovation project as part of the Francophonie Games scheduled for 2027—Qrchi Bazaar continues to come alive every Sunday in the shadow of its current abandoned and neglected state.

From the green field to the red carpet: “Football diplomacy”

In addition to witnessing the triumphs of Soviet football, the stadium also played host to one of the most significant diplomatic initiatives in modern Turkish-Armenian history. Following an extensive renovation between 2005 and 2008, it hosted the Armenia–Turkey World Cup qualifying match on September 6, 2008. Watched side by side by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Turkish President Abdullah Gül, the match entered the political lexicon as “Football Diplomacy.” Among the 30,000 enthusiastic spectators filling the stadium were Armenians from Istanbul and Turkish citizens who had traveled from Turkey to witness the historic moment.

Yet nearly 20 years later, the anticipated peace never came; the promises remained suspended amid Turkey’s silence over Armenia’s preparations to open its border crossings. The stadium, which that day had overflowed with hopes for peace, now finds itself far removed from those diplomatic winds, living through the silence of a geopolitical impasse and profound resignation.

The survival legacy of the dark years

The contrast between the stadium’s gray concrete columns and the disorderly, colorful piles of clothing spread beneath them reflects the very reason the market exists. Although it has no official record, the flea market’s roots lie in the “Dark and Cold Years” of 1993–1994, when Armenia was engulfed by war, isolation, and an energy crisis following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

During that severe period of crisis, the people of Yerevan, desperately trying to obtain basic food and survive, began laying out and selling their household possessions, dowries, and memories on the streets. Even after the crisis eased, this sorrowful commerce evolved into a kind of social refuge, eventually settling in the shadow of Hrazdan Stadium.

Among the crowds spilling outside the stadium is also a group of opportunistic vendors trying to capitalize on the market’s appeal by selling cheap, mass-produced Chinese textiles, plastic toys, and low-quality cosmetics. Yet these soulless consumer goods offered by the modern world find almost no customers in Hrazdan’s mystical atmosphere and seem almost to be rejected by the fabric of the market itself. For the true purpose of Qrchi Bazaar is not modern shopping, but the exchange of lived experiences, broken dreams, and belongings.

As you proceed deeper into the market, beneath the concrete shadows, plastic gives way to an absurd inventory in which real human lives are put on display. On one side are the red Communist Party membership cards of former party members, emblazoned with the hammer and sickle; immediately beside them are sparkling Czechoslovakian crystal pieces that once adorned household display cabinets, along with heavy glassware from the Soviet era, when the factories that produced them were still standing.

The melancholy contrasts of the stalls do not end there. Imposing fur hats that look as though they have just been taken from storage chests sit cheek by jowl with spare parts for old radios and televisions. From the most intimate personal mementos to a rusty nut and bolt, and from these to enormous industrial compressors, this jumble of objects reveals not only the contents of people’s homes but also the remains of a collapsed industrial system, laid bare in the dust beneath our feet.

A Parajanov collage

At the very heart of this nostalgic chaos, immediately to the right of the stadium’s enormous entrance gate, lies the market’s most unexpected and absurd layer. The sounds rising from wire cages, from delicate canaries to chickens and roosters with their feet tied, along the walls create the uproar of a village square and disperse the cold silence of the concrete. The cigarette smoke of the bird sellers, heated bargaining, and chicken feathers drifting through the air amid rusty Soviet scrap transform the market’s chaotic spirit into a living art installation.

At precisely this point, if you raise your head and look toward the steep slope on the opposite bank of the Hrazdan River, you can see the House-Museum of the brilliant and unconventional director Sergei Parajanov, who died in Yerevan in 1990.

Throughout his life, Parajanov created surreal collages by bringing together discarded objects, furs, and antiques, while using birds as recurring imagery in his films. This market would have been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for him. Every Sunday, Qrchi Bazaar recreates its own living, absurd, cinematic Parajanov collage beneath the cold concrete, offering a salute to the great artist whose spirit lingers on the opposite bank of the river.

Behind this chaotic scene of flying chicken feathers emerge the hardworking women and men who carry the true spirit of the market. Their clothing seems to have frozen in the fashions and textures of the era before Armenia’s independence in September 1991. In their faded wool jackets and old Soviet-style overcoats, they are inhabitants of a time capsule in which the calendar stopped more than 30 years ago.

Yet these white-haired old trees of Yerevan carry within them an ancient gentleness that economic hardship has failed to extinguish. Haggling with these people, who carefully guard a crystal glass brought from their home display cabinet or a watch inherited from their father, is really an excuse to exchange a few words about the past.

In this market, the ruthless rules of capitalism simply do not work. One of the market’s most moving moments comes when you admire an object on a stall but tell the seller that you cannot afford it. One of the elderly vendors may then defy his advanced age, run after you across the concrete floor, and insist on placing the object in your hands. Refusing money and placing hospitality above profit, this naïve gesture of the old Soviet-Armenian generation transforms Qrchi Bazaar from a commercial marketplace into the final rite of a disappearing human civilization.

Focusing on Istanbul’s past and future, the public memory of Western Armenian, and the Turkish Armenian community’s cultural history of 100 years, the project is supported by the Hrant Dink Foundation’s Civil Society Strengthening Grant Program, funded by the European Union. The project traces the history of Armenian cultural life in Istanbul from the founding of the Republic in 1923 through 2023. It covers a range of activities, from concerts and theater performances to dance shows and exhibitions.

Armenian culture from 1923 to 2023

The newspapers Nor Or and Baykar, along with the magazine Kulis, as well as the collections of Payline-Yervart Tomasyan, Nurhan Baharyan, and Arshag Yeğigyan, constitute the project’s primary sources. The project will also be enriched by oral-history interviews with participants of certain events and witnesses of the period in question. As a result of searches through periodicals and archives, at least 200 events will be entered into the digital database.

In this way, a significant part of a community’s cultural life of a century will be brought to light.

First talk on October 1

As part of the project, three experts in their respective fields, all coming from abroad, will visit Istanbul to give talks and conduct workshops on archives. The first of these talks will be given on Thursday, October 1, by Leontien Talboom, who works as a technical analyst at Cambridge University Libraries.

The central question of the talk is how we preserve not only the material itself, but also the information that gives it meaning. Leontien Talboom will explore this question with participants.

The talk will be hosted at Havak Hall in the Anarad Hığutyun Building and will begin at 5:00 p.m. Registration for the event is available through kayit.yesayan.org.