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THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL HRANT DINK AWARD GOES TO EBNEM KORUR FINCANCE FROM TURKEY AND ANGIE ZELTER FROM BRITAIN
11:20 16.09.2014
The 2014 International Hrant Dink Award was presented to laureates
Å~^ebnem Korur Fincancı from Turkey and Angie Zelter from Britain,
on September 15, 2014, with a ceremony organized by the Hrant Dink
Foundation held at the Cemal ReÅ~_it Rey Concert Hall in Istanbul.
The award statue was presented to Angie Zelter from Turkey by the Head
of the Award Committee Ali Bayramoglu and Ziena Alhajj from Greenpeace.
In 1997, Zelter was one of the six activists that initiated the Trident
Ploughshares campaign that aimed to disarm the UK Trident nuclear
weapons system via non-violent, direct and peaceful means. In 1999,
with Ellen Moxley from the USA and Ulla Roder from Denmark, she entered
the Trident Sonar testing station in Loch Goil, Scotland; where they
damaged computers and electronic equipment and threw the log books,
files and computer hardware overboard. After this specific action,
she came to be known as a member of the Trident Three. In 2002, she
initiated the International Women's Peace Service - Palestine. In
March 2012, she supported the resistance against the construction
of the Jeju Naval Base on Jeju Island, declared in 2005 World Peace
Island by the South Korean Government and home to a number of UNESCO
World Heritage Sites. Since the mid-1990s, she has been arrested more
than 100 times; these arrests played a significant role in creating
public awareness and media interest on nuclear disarmament. In her
award speech, Zelter stated that Britain systematically undermines
and violates international law. It supports and trades weapons with
some of the most repressive regimes in the world and mentioned the
current developments as: "Currently it (UK) supplies arms to Israel
and refuses to condemn Israeli war crimes and breaches of humanitarian
law in the occupation of the West Bank and siege of Gaza."
The award statue was presented to Å~^ebnem Korur Fincancı from
Turkey by the Jury members Baskın Oran and Saturday Mothers / People
represenrarives Hanım Tosun and İkbal Eren.
Having dedicated her professional career to the struggle against
torture, in the 1990s, when torture was prevalent in Turkey and
covered up by authorities, Korur Fincancı was subjected to the
oppression and obstructions of the state as she wrote articles on
medical ethics and penned reports documenting torture. In 1996, she
took part in post-mortems from mass graves in the Kalesija region
of Bosnia as member of the PHR team on behalf of the United Nations
International Criminal Tribunal.
On behalf of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture
(IRTC), she travelled to Bahrain disguised as a tourist and
collected tissue samples from the body of a young man whose remains
were discovered at sea, claimed by the police to have drowned. She
brought the samples to Turkey, and in the autopsy she carried out,
determined that he had been murdered under torture in detention as
his family had claimed. She proved the torture carried out by Adil
Serdar Sacan, the former Director of the Directorate of Organized
Crime Branch. Her application to intervene on the grounds that her
telephone had been tapped by the Ergenekon organization and that her
personal information had been filed, becoming the only intervening
party in the Ergenekon case.
In her award speech, Korur Fincancı gave voice to her embarrassment
upon receiving the Hrant Dink Award: "I feel embarrassed because I
am receiving this award as I merely try to fulfil the responsibility
of being human. In addition to feeling incredibly honoured, I feel
embarrassed because I am receiving the same award extended to Saturday
Mothers who have been looking for people lost by the state for years.
I feel embarrassed because this award means so much. I feel embarrassed
because in my mind I have done what needs to be done and that does not
call for an award. I feel embarrassed because what needs to be done
is still not readily done in these lands. The fact that the Armenian
Genocide is still discussed behind closed doors, the denial of Kurds,
their annihilation, the fact that the purging out of indigenous people
of this land is celebrated every year, that you live with the shame
of the fact that in a neighbourhood populated by the ever-shrinking
Armenian community a school is named Talat PaÅ~_a, a road Ergenekon,
a street Turk Beyi, that we feel the plight of all oppressed people
in our hearts but that we have failed in dressing their wounds. The
embarrassment of this all..."
At the award ceremony, hosted by Olgun Å~^imÅ~_ek, the President of
the Hrant Dink Foundation, Rakel Dink made the opening remarks. Ara
Dinkjian, initiating the award ceremony with his piece entitled Keesher
Bar, after the opening remarks, took the stage with Ari Hergel to
give a musical performance.
Before the awards presentation, Inspirations, a group of people
and institutions from Turkey and from all corners of the world who
multiply hope for the future with the steps they take, were saluted
with a film acknowledging their achievements. The Inspirations of
2014 included Galata Fotografhanesi and the Photography Foundation
in Turkey which organized the "The Photographer Children of Soma
Workshop" in Elmadere village, following the great Soma mine disaster,
in order to provide support to children during the difficult process
they faced; the Palestinian non-governmental association, ADDAMEER
[Arabic for 'conscience'], providing support for Palestinian political
prisoners held in Israel and Palestine prisons; Ta'ayush [Arabic for
'living together'], a group of Palestinians and Jews, to end the
Israeli occupation and to achieve full civil equality through daily
non-violent direct-action; the Institute for Reporters' Freedom
and Safety in Azerbaijan working against governmental restrictions
on freedom of expression and press freedom; the Kazova workers in
Turkey who occupied their workplace when their factory was closed and
they were fired without compensation, and continued production; the
AEK supporters' group Original 21 which unfurled a banner, featuring
Alexandros Grigoropoulos and Berkin Elvan, victims of police violence
on both sides of the Aegean Sea; a group of citizens in Japan who
prepared a video in Turkish, expressing the shame they felt of the
Prime Minister of Japan regarding their government's sale of a nuclear
power station to Turkey; the Viasna Human Rights Centre in Belarus
providing assistance to political prisoners and their families;
the Earth Tables in Turkey during the month of Ramadan, in protest
of luxurious iftar banquets organized at five-star hotels; Bytes
for All from Pakistan working for freedom of expression and for the
prevention of gender-based violence on the internet both in Pakistan
and across the world; the movement that was initiated under the name
Oy ve Otesi/Votes and Beyond in order to find independent polling
clerks for the 2014 local elections in Turkey because pro-government
election rigging has been widespread, became an association in April
2014; the July 21 Association in Italy committed to the protection
of the rights of the Roma and Sinti communities in Italy; and,Kıymet
Peker who pulled her chair into the path of the bulldozer and started
sitting to protect the park in her neighborhood from being demolished.
The Jury of the International Hrant Dink Award 2014 consists of
Baskın Oran, Gerard Libaridian, Kenneth Roth, Kumi Naidoo, Mary
Kaldor, Oya Baydar, Rakel Dink and 2013 International Hrant Dink
Awardees NataÅ¡a KandiÄ~G and Saturday Mothers / People.
Alper GörmuÅ~_, Amira Hass, the Conscientious Objection Movement of
Turkey, Baltasar Garzón, Ahmet Altan, Lydia Cacho, Ä°smail BeÅ~_ikc,
International "Memorial" Society Russia, NataÅ¡a KandiÄ~G and Saturday
Mothers / People are the former laureates of the International Hrant
Dink Award.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2014/09/16/the-2014-international-hrant-dink-award-goes-to-sebnem-korur-fincanci-from-turkey-and-angie-zelter-from-britain/
From: Baghdasarian
11:20 16.09.2014
The 2014 International Hrant Dink Award was presented to laureates
Å~^ebnem Korur Fincancı from Turkey and Angie Zelter from Britain,
on September 15, 2014, with a ceremony organized by the Hrant Dink
Foundation held at the Cemal ReÅ~_it Rey Concert Hall in Istanbul.
The award statue was presented to Angie Zelter from Turkey by the Head
of the Award Committee Ali Bayramoglu and Ziena Alhajj from Greenpeace.
In 1997, Zelter was one of the six activists that initiated the Trident
Ploughshares campaign that aimed to disarm the UK Trident nuclear
weapons system via non-violent, direct and peaceful means. In 1999,
with Ellen Moxley from the USA and Ulla Roder from Denmark, she entered
the Trident Sonar testing station in Loch Goil, Scotland; where they
damaged computers and electronic equipment and threw the log books,
files and computer hardware overboard. After this specific action,
she came to be known as a member of the Trident Three. In 2002, she
initiated the International Women's Peace Service - Palestine. In
March 2012, she supported the resistance against the construction
of the Jeju Naval Base on Jeju Island, declared in 2005 World Peace
Island by the South Korean Government and home to a number of UNESCO
World Heritage Sites. Since the mid-1990s, she has been arrested more
than 100 times; these arrests played a significant role in creating
public awareness and media interest on nuclear disarmament. In her
award speech, Zelter stated that Britain systematically undermines
and violates international law. It supports and trades weapons with
some of the most repressive regimes in the world and mentioned the
current developments as: "Currently it (UK) supplies arms to Israel
and refuses to condemn Israeli war crimes and breaches of humanitarian
law in the occupation of the West Bank and siege of Gaza."
The award statue was presented to Å~^ebnem Korur Fincancı from
Turkey by the Jury members Baskın Oran and Saturday Mothers / People
represenrarives Hanım Tosun and İkbal Eren.
Having dedicated her professional career to the struggle against
torture, in the 1990s, when torture was prevalent in Turkey and
covered up by authorities, Korur Fincancı was subjected to the
oppression and obstructions of the state as she wrote articles on
medical ethics and penned reports documenting torture. In 1996, she
took part in post-mortems from mass graves in the Kalesija region
of Bosnia as member of the PHR team on behalf of the United Nations
International Criminal Tribunal.
On behalf of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture
(IRTC), she travelled to Bahrain disguised as a tourist and
collected tissue samples from the body of a young man whose remains
were discovered at sea, claimed by the police to have drowned. She
brought the samples to Turkey, and in the autopsy she carried out,
determined that he had been murdered under torture in detention as
his family had claimed. She proved the torture carried out by Adil
Serdar Sacan, the former Director of the Directorate of Organized
Crime Branch. Her application to intervene on the grounds that her
telephone had been tapped by the Ergenekon organization and that her
personal information had been filed, becoming the only intervening
party in the Ergenekon case.
In her award speech, Korur Fincancı gave voice to her embarrassment
upon receiving the Hrant Dink Award: "I feel embarrassed because I
am receiving this award as I merely try to fulfil the responsibility
of being human. In addition to feeling incredibly honoured, I feel
embarrassed because I am receiving the same award extended to Saturday
Mothers who have been looking for people lost by the state for years.
I feel embarrassed because this award means so much. I feel embarrassed
because in my mind I have done what needs to be done and that does not
call for an award. I feel embarrassed because what needs to be done
is still not readily done in these lands. The fact that the Armenian
Genocide is still discussed behind closed doors, the denial of Kurds,
their annihilation, the fact that the purging out of indigenous people
of this land is celebrated every year, that you live with the shame
of the fact that in a neighbourhood populated by the ever-shrinking
Armenian community a school is named Talat PaÅ~_a, a road Ergenekon,
a street Turk Beyi, that we feel the plight of all oppressed people
in our hearts but that we have failed in dressing their wounds. The
embarrassment of this all..."
At the award ceremony, hosted by Olgun Å~^imÅ~_ek, the President of
the Hrant Dink Foundation, Rakel Dink made the opening remarks. Ara
Dinkjian, initiating the award ceremony with his piece entitled Keesher
Bar, after the opening remarks, took the stage with Ari Hergel to
give a musical performance.
Before the awards presentation, Inspirations, a group of people
and institutions from Turkey and from all corners of the world who
multiply hope for the future with the steps they take, were saluted
with a film acknowledging their achievements. The Inspirations of
2014 included Galata Fotografhanesi and the Photography Foundation
in Turkey which organized the "The Photographer Children of Soma
Workshop" in Elmadere village, following the great Soma mine disaster,
in order to provide support to children during the difficult process
they faced; the Palestinian non-governmental association, ADDAMEER
[Arabic for 'conscience'], providing support for Palestinian political
prisoners held in Israel and Palestine prisons; Ta'ayush [Arabic for
'living together'], a group of Palestinians and Jews, to end the
Israeli occupation and to achieve full civil equality through daily
non-violent direct-action; the Institute for Reporters' Freedom
and Safety in Azerbaijan working against governmental restrictions
on freedom of expression and press freedom; the Kazova workers in
Turkey who occupied their workplace when their factory was closed and
they were fired without compensation, and continued production; the
AEK supporters' group Original 21 which unfurled a banner, featuring
Alexandros Grigoropoulos and Berkin Elvan, victims of police violence
on both sides of the Aegean Sea; a group of citizens in Japan who
prepared a video in Turkish, expressing the shame they felt of the
Prime Minister of Japan regarding their government's sale of a nuclear
power station to Turkey; the Viasna Human Rights Centre in Belarus
providing assistance to political prisoners and their families;
the Earth Tables in Turkey during the month of Ramadan, in protest
of luxurious iftar banquets organized at five-star hotels; Bytes
for All from Pakistan working for freedom of expression and for the
prevention of gender-based violence on the internet both in Pakistan
and across the world; the movement that was initiated under the name
Oy ve Otesi/Votes and Beyond in order to find independent polling
clerks for the 2014 local elections in Turkey because pro-government
election rigging has been widespread, became an association in April
2014; the July 21 Association in Italy committed to the protection
of the rights of the Roma and Sinti communities in Italy; and,Kıymet
Peker who pulled her chair into the path of the bulldozer and started
sitting to protect the park in her neighborhood from being demolished.
The Jury of the International Hrant Dink Award 2014 consists of
Baskın Oran, Gerard Libaridian, Kenneth Roth, Kumi Naidoo, Mary
Kaldor, Oya Baydar, Rakel Dink and 2013 International Hrant Dink
Awardees NataÅ¡a KandiÄ~G and Saturday Mothers / People.
Alper GörmuÅ~_, Amira Hass, the Conscientious Objection Movement of
Turkey, Baltasar Garzón, Ahmet Altan, Lydia Cacho, Ä°smail BeÅ~_ikc,
International "Memorial" Society Russia, NataÅ¡a KandiÄ~G and Saturday
Mothers / People are the former laureates of the International Hrant
Dink Award.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2014/09/16/the-2014-international-hrant-dink-award-goes-to-sebnem-korur-fincanci-from-turkey-and-angie-zelter-from-britain/
From: Baghdasarian