Our annual Hrant Dink remembrance event this year also honours human rights activist and philanthropist Osman Kavala.
A political prisoner for now over 3 years, Kavala has not been convicted of any crime. His work has supported Turkey's many minorities and, like Hrant Dink, his aim is to improve life in Turkey for all its citizens. He has inspired and assisted major projects and institutions, including his own Anadolu Kultur, an arts and culture organisation with multiple projects linking diverse people within and outside Turkey.
Our programme begins with a talk by Dr. Asena Günal, Director of Anadolu Kültür, describing the far-reaching work of the organisation and the role of Osman Kavala. We will then hear a song by Komitas sung by Suna Alan (London) and messages from well-known socio-political leaders from Istanbul, among them Rakel Dink, President of the Hrant Dink Foundation, Garo Paylan, representative to the National Assembly, Yetvart Danzikian, editor-in-chief of AGOS, actor and director Yegya Akgun and Sarin Agbas, Creator of Աթոռ Անահտայ (Seat of Anahid) educational platform. Collectif Medz Bazar will close the programme with their new release, Vodki/Stand/Ayaklan. Please join us!
Asena Günal, Director of Anadolu Kultur, will be the main speaker.
Asena Günal (1973), obtained her BS in International Relations and MA in Sociology from the Middle East Technical University. She received her PhD from Boğaziçi University in 2008 with a thesis focusing on state-citizen relations through health care policies in the Republican Turkey. She has worked as an editor at İletişim Publishing House from 1998 to 2005. Since September 2008, she has been working as the program coordinator of Depo, a center for arts and culture in the Tophane neighborhood of Istanbul. Günal is a co-founder of Siyah Bant, a research platform that documents censorship cases in the arts in Turkey, and was a fellow of the Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability Program at Columbia University in 2014. She was a member of Socialist Feminist Collective. She has been working as executive director of Anadolu Kültür since March 2018. Recent publications and editorial work includes A City that Remembers: Space and Memory from Taksim to Sultanahmet (co-authored with Murat Çelikkan, Memory Center, 2019), 90’larda Türkiye’de Feminizm (Feminism in Turkey in ’90s, co-edited with Aksu Bora, İletişim, 2002) and Bir Daha Asla!: Geçmişle Yüzleşme ve Özür (Never Again!: Apology and Coming to Terms with the Past, co-edited with Önder Özengi, İletişim, 2013). Her articles, book reviews and translations have been published on several platforms such as Toplum ve Bilim, Birikim, Feminist Politika, Amargi, Express and Virgül. Günal is the 2019 German-French Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law laureate.
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Join Zoom Meeting here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86959350011
Meeting ID: 869 5935 0011
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