This year’s International Hrant Dink Award recipients are environmental and life advocate Süheyla Doğan from Turkey and Palestinian lawyer and human rights advocate Raji Sourani.
Süheyla Doğan received the award for her persistent and courageous defending of the Kazdağları (Mount Ida) region and all its natural and cultural heritage; for fighting for women’s human rights; for persistently speaking out against state-backed ecocide projects; and for continuing to defend the right to live in harmony with nature.
The award citation for Raji Sourani recognizes his continued work from Palestine even under conditions in which documenting human rights violations in Gaza has become virtually impossible; his defense of truth in the face of powerholders without yielding to threats or isolation; his commitment to the rule of law, justice, and the dignity of everyone affected by war as guiding principles of his professional life and moral stance; and his demonstration that law can still be a viable path in the fight against impunity.
Light emerges, darkness disperses
At the ceremony, hosted by Şebnem Hassanisoughi and attended by hundreds of people at the Muhsin Ertuğrul Stage, Hrant Dink Foundation Chair Rakel Dink delivered a welcome message to the audience on behalf of the Foundation.
Rakel Dink welcomed the audience with these words:
"No matter how hopeless, exhausting or disheartening it may sometimes feel, we will
continue to say: peace, peace, peace. We want peace. Every effort, every endeavour made in the pursuit of peace and justice is precious. It is also a dignified undertaking for those who commit themselves to it. True peace, of course, requires courage—the courage to face the truth and to confront what lies deep
beneath the surface. ‘Justice is the foundation of the state’ is a word of God. Justice strengthens the
foundations; it mends and heals grieving, wounded and broken hearts; it restores strength to battered bodies and renews them; it revives hopes that have faded and gives us reason to hope again.
Light breaks through, and darkness recedes."
Click here for Rakel Dink’s speech.
Healing lies in speaking through touch
At the invitation of the International Hrant Dink Award Committee, Tûba Çandar, author of Hrant Dink’s biography, gave a speech at the ceremony. She said:
"Because the journalist Hrant Dink was also a healer…He worked with his hands. When he spoke to people, he could not help but reach out and touch them. And everyone he touched would undergo a change, a transformation. Because he carried within him enough love and warmth for everyone, and he shared this gift bestowed upon him with an utterly spontaneous, almost unrestrained naturalness. Like every healer, as he healed us, he too was healed. Because we, Turks and Armenians, had fallen ill some hundred years ago…Because of all that was inflicted and all that was endured on these lands…The path to healing would be through reaching out and touching one another. Through speaking while reaching out to one another…Through conversation, we would understand each other, accept each other, and face our past."
Click here for Tûba Çandar’s speech.
The award belongs to survivors and victims
In her acceptance speech, award recipient Süheyla Doğan said:
"We keep growing our hope…We know that we have no other choice but to hope, and we know that better days will ultimately come…And just as I have done until now, from this day forward, I will continue my struggle for a life that is more egalitarian, just, secular, and ecological with all that I am, with my faith, my love, and my hope."
Click here for the full text of Süheyla Doğan’s speech.
In his speech, award recipient Raji Sourani said:
“The award belongs to the victims and survivors who have trusted and cooperated with us with their testimonies, often recounting the most painful moments of their lives because they still believe that truth matters and that one day justice will be achieved and prevail. It belongs to all segments of the Palestinian society, including journalists, doctors, humanitarian workers, and rescue teams, who refused to allow the pain and suffering of their people to be erased or normalized. And it belongs to every person, in Palestine and beyond, who continues to insist that international law must protect everyone equally regardless of their nationality, color, or race."
Click here for the full text of Raji Sourani’s speech.
Shining Lights
Through a video honoring those in Turkey and around the world who, through their work, “shed light” on humanity, and saluting people and communities who inspire hope, the “Lights” of 2026 were presented.
This year’s “Lights” included individuals and initiatives from a broad geography stretching from South Africa to India, Greenland to Palestine, Albania to the United States, and from Bulgaria, where young people have filled the squares, to Nepal. They inspired others through their work on issues including resistance against femicide, racism, and discrimination; the search for truth for those who have been forcibly disappeared; ecological rights advocacy; confronting colonialism and war crimes; labor and migrant rights; and youth-led struggles for democracy.
During the evening, Maral Ayvaz, Ari Barokas, Anna Sara Poghosyan, Raffi Hayra, and Sasa Serap also took the stage and performed music.
Every year, one of the indispensable moments of the International Hrant Dink Award ceremony is the original videos produced specifically for the event. Since 2009, Ümit Kıvanç has developed the concepts for the videos, while Mahir Günşiray and Eric Nazarian have provided the voiceovers that bring their spirit to life.
2026 jury
This year’s jury consists of Bülent Şık, recipient of the 2025 International Hrant Dink Award; Helena Maleno Garzon, recipient of the 2025 International Hrant Dink Award; Bonita Bennett, a specialist in memory studies and museology; Asena Günal, researcher, editor, and director of a cultural organization; historian and academic Cemal Kafadar; investigative journalist and author Fariba Nawa; international relations scholar Kalypso Nicolaidis; playwright and director Berkun Oya; human rights advocate Feray Salman; Naira Sultanyan, a civil society representative working in the fields of democracy and human rights; and Rakel Dink, Chair of the Hrant Dink Foundation.
