Support to the Armenia-Turkey Settlement process
Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalization Process was a program implemented by a Consortium of eight civil society organizations from both countries with the financial assistance of the European Union under the Instrument for Stability.
The overall objective of the program is to promote civil society efforts towards the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia and towards an open border by enhancing people-to-people contacts, expanding economic and business links, promoting cultural and educational activities and facilitating access to balanced information in both societies.
The Consortium partners include Civilitas Foundation (CF), Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF), Public Journalism Club (PJC), Regional Studies Center (RSC) from Armenia; and Anadolu Kültür, the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV), Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (hCa), and Hrant Dink Foundation from Turkey.
The program lasted for 18 months as of January 2014 with a budget of € 2,000,000.
The program included a series of activities such as media support, TV talk shows and citizen reporting to contribute to better mutual understanding. The program also included travelling discussions; workshops and training for youth and teachers; exchange of artists, architects, and entrepreneurs; fellowship opportunities and travel support to enhance encounters and cooperation across the border. Research on business and economic opportunities; celebrity discussions about the past; and opinion exchanges of high-level former officials were a part of the program.
One of the main pillars of the Program is inclusiveness – to engage and support new actors in the dialogue process. To this end, the Consortium created a Grant Scheme to invite individuals and civil society organisations from Armenia and Turkey – other than the Consortium members – to propose and implement their own project ideas, which might contribute to the overall objective of the Program and multiply the shared outcomes.
The results of all activities have been shared with the public through the trilingual website, which serves as a networking tool featuring the overall picture of the past, current, and future developments in Armenia-Turkey dialogue initiatives.