On January 19, 2007, the world was shaken by tragedy when Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian intellectual and the esteemed editor-in-chief of Agos newspaper, fell victim to a fatal shooting perpetrated by a misguided 17-year-old nationalist. This year, with the specter of his assailant's release from prison, the call for dialogue and reflection resonates with increased urgency.
Join us for our annual commemoration of Hrant Dink's life and ideals. Our event will feature a multidisciplinary presentation with the participation of author and actress Nouritza Matossian, Harvard University Fellow Ohannes Kılıçdağı, and the voice of Noemi Ducimetière.
About the speakers:
Nouritza Matossian
Nouritza Matossian, friend and documentarist of Hrant Dink has memorialized his life every year since his death in 2007. She recorded his innermost thoughts and feelings in conversations editing them later for the award winning video portrait, Hrant Dink, Heart of Two Nations.
Her acclaimed biographies on Iannis Xenakis, composer and Black Angel, A Life of Arshile Gorky, Armenian American artist were both made into films. She performed the story of Gorky in a one woman show internationally in three languages and 100 productions. She is a founder and former director of the Armenian Institute in London. Wife and partner of composer Rolf Gehlhaar.
Ohannes Kılıçdağı
Ohannes Kılıçdağı is a visiting fellows at the Center for the Middle Eastern Studies of Harvard University. After completing double major BA degrees from sociology and political science departments of Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey; continued to his doctoral studies at the department of history of the same university. He joined the research fellows of the Near Eastern Studies of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2012-2013. He received his PhD in 2014 with his dissertation titled “Socio-political Reflections and Expectations of the Ottoman Armenians after the 1908 Revolution: Between hope and Despair”. From 2003 to 2017, he extensively lectured at İstanbul Bilgi University Sociology Department on social and political history of the late Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey as well as history of Ottoman-Turkish social and political thought.
Noémie Ducimetière
Noémie Ducimetière is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and performer. Formerly lead vocalist of band Gentle Mystics now spearheads projects under the alias Noum, overlapping the experimental with the traditional. Her soundtracks featured in over 40 renowned festivals: Falling Tree, NOWNESS, REAL STORIES, GREENPEACE and BFI. Noémie studied Old Roman chant with expert Marcel Pérès of the Organum Ensemble, sang in monasteries in the mountains of northern Greece, trained with Corsican composer, researcher and specialist of Medieval music Thomas Fournil, and Palestinian-British oud player Kareem Samara and Greek modal professor Evgenios Voulgaris.