The event will take place in Committee Room 4A, House of Commons on 12 September 2016 between 7 and 9PM. The speakers will be:
Huseyin Olan, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Co-Mayor of Bitlis
Ozcan Birlik, BDP Co-Mayor of Mutki
Ara Sarafian, Executive Director of the Gomidas Institute and historian and
Dr Tunc Aybak, Programme Leader of International Politics and Law, at School of Law, Middlesex University.
In June 2013, the Gomidas Institute began a civil society initiative to build bridges between Kurds and Armenians to come to terms with the legacy of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and to chart a peaceful way forward. Starting with face-to-face meetings in Bitlis, the initiative grew at an astonishing pace, with several public exhibitions related to the Armenians of Bitlis, a conference on the Armenian Genocide of 1915, renaming one of the city streets after William Saroyan (the famous American-Armenian writer whose family came from Bitlis), screenings of John Lubbock’s observational documentary “100 Years Later”, as well as further meetings and contacts between participants in Bitlis and abroad.
In this event, the co-mayors of Bitlis and Mutki as well as others will participate at a special meeting in London, where they will discuss recent developments in Bitlis and south-eastern Turkey, and the future prospects of the Kurdish-Armenian bridge-building project that started in Bitlis three years ago.
This event is kindly hosted and will be chaired by Lord Hylton.
on on the bridges between Armenian, Kurdish and TurksThe event will take place in Committee Room 4A, House of Commons on 12 September 2016 between 7 and 9PM. The speakers will be:
Huseyin Olan, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Co-Mayor of Bitlis
Ozcan Birlik, BDP Co-Mayor of Mutki
Ara Sarafian, Executive Director of the Gomidas Institute and historian and
Dr Tunc Aybak, Programme Leader of International Politics and Law, at School of Law, Middlesex University.
In June 2013, the Gomidas Institute began a civil society initiative to build bridges between Kurds and Armenians to come to terms with the legacy of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and to chart a peaceful way forward. Starting with face-to-face meetings in Bitlis, the initiative grew at an astonishing pace, with several public exhibitions related to the Armenians of Bitlis, a conference on the Armenian Genocide of 1915, renaming one of the city streets after William Saroyan (the famous American-Armenian writer whose family came from Bitlis), screenings of John Lubbock’s observational documentary “100 Years Later”, as well as further meetings and contacts between participants in Bitlis and abroad.
In this event, the co-mayors of Bitlis and Mutki as well as others will participate at a special meeting in London, where they will discuss recent developments in Bitlis and south-eastern Turkey, and the future prospects of the Kurdish-Armenian bridge-building project that started in Bitlis three years ago.
This event is kindly hosted and will be chaired by Lord Hylton.