From October 31 to November 3, Levon Isakhanyan, Head of Department of Legal Affairs, the Relationship with the State institutions, Inter-religious Cooperation at the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia, participated in “Goriz 2013”, a seminar for young leaders of Armenian Diaspora organized in Istanbul, Turkey. The seminar was organized by the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), in cooperation with the Hrant Dink Foundation.

Within the framework of the seminar the participants learnt about the history and contemporary state of the Armenian community in Turkey, Armenian cultural heritage in Turkey, discussed political and legal issues, as well as cooperation in the preservation of this heritage. The meetings with the representatives of Armenian newspapers Agos, Marmara, Zhamanak (the oldest continuously published Armenian newspaper), Armenian Aras Publishing House, the principal of Getronagan Armenian High School, the representatives of Armenian radio “Nor Radio”, and Nor Zartonk public organization were held.

Separate sessions were devoted to the Armenian religious foundations and their property issues, the Armenian print media in Turkey, the Armenian heritage in Western Armenia. The meeting with French journalists, Laure Marchand and Guillaume Perrier, the authors of the book “Turkey and the Armenian ghost: on the traces of Genocide”, took place.

On November 2 the seminar participants took part in the conference “Islamized Armenians in Turkey”, organized at Bosphorus University, with participation of prominent Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian and other historians both from Turkey and from abroad.

On Sunday, November 3 the participants visited one of the Armenian cemeteries in Istanbul and the tomb of Grant Dink, attended the Divine Liturgy at Surb Astvatsatsin Cathedral of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, after that visited the Armenian-populated district in Istanbul – Kumkapi.

It should be noted that the Armenian community of Turkey, as well as the Armenian community of Georgia, still has unresolved property issues, which we hope will soon be resolved.