Project2015 in Photos: Part 1
This year, the commemoration events for the centennial of the Armenian Genocide were as massive as ever, taking place in many corners of the world. A group of Armenian scholars, academics and activists decided to commemorate April 24th in Istanbul – where the massive killings began, and where they are still being denied. Project 2015 worked closely with various Turkish human rights organizations to design a specific commemoration program in Istanbul to encourage an open discourse on the denial of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government.
Project 2015 – with board members such as Serj Tankian, Sarah Leah Whitson and Fatma Müge Göcek, a faculty member at the University of Michigan – also funded over 20 Armenian students from U.S., Turkey, Germany and Armenia, who have presented project proposals on the Armenian Genocide.
The following images are part of a student project that aimed to capture Project2015 events. These and other photographs first appeared on Asbarez.com.
- The activists bear posters demanding recognition of the Armenian Genocide at the Haydarpasa railway station. 100 years ago, on April 24, 250 Armenian intellectuals were incarcerated in this very station, before being sent to death.
- The participants carried red flowers to lay on the grounds of Haydarpasa.
- Each red flower was devoted to one of the first 250 deportees of 1915.
- Young participants of the peaceful protest organized by Turkish and Armenian activists at Haydarpasa station on April 24.
- The poster reads “We are Here” in Western Armenian.
- An Armenian family lights candles at Holy Trinity church in Istanbul, Turkey a day before the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.
- An Armenian girl ties a ribbon onto the Wishing Tree in front of the French Embassy in Istanbul.
- Armenians and Turks, young and old, all set together in silence in the memory of the victims of 1915 massacre. Many of the speakers noted the historical importance of this event - 100 years later, this was the first significant effort of opening a new platform for discussion inside Turkey.
- Armenians and Turks, young and old, all set together in silence in the memory of the victims of 1915 massacre. Many of the speakers noted the historical importance of this event - 100 years later, this was the first significant effort of opening a new platform for discussion inside Turkey.
