The eighteenth International Hrant Dink Award laureates were announced during the ceremony which took place on Tuesday, September 15 at Harbiye Muhsin Ertuğrul Stage. The award is granted to Süheyla Doğan from Turkey, for refusing to give up defending the Kazdağları region and all its natural and cultural resources, striving to improve women’s human rights, vocally challenging state-sponsored ecocide projects, and promoting the right to coexist with nature; and to Raji Sourani from Palestine, for his continuous work under conditions that render the legal documentation of human rights violations and the pursuit of accountability nearly impossible; for speaking truth to power without ever bowing to threats, pressures or sanctions; for holding to the rule of law, justice and dignity for victims as the guiding principles of his professional and moral path; and for demonstrating to us that the law can still conquer impunity.
The award ceremony was narrated by Şebnem Hassanisoughi. At the ceremony, Rakel Dink, President of the Hrant Dink Foundation, delivered a welcome message to the audience on behalf of the foundation. Rakel Dink greeted the audience with the words “No matter how hopeless, exhausting or disheartening it may sometimes feel, we will continue to say: peace, peace, peace. We want peace. Every effort, every endeavour made in the pursuit of peace and justice is precious. It is also a dignified undertaking for those who commit themselves to it. True peace, of course, requires courage—the courage to face the truth and to confront what lies deep beneath the surface.” Please click here to read the full speech of Rakel Dink.
As an invited speaker by the International Hrant Dink Award Committee, Tûba Çandar, author of the Hrant biography, gave a speech highlighting once again the spirit of solidarity in the ceremony with the following words, “Because the journalist Hrant Dink was also a healer… He worked with his hands. When he spoke to people, he could not help but reach out and touch them. And everyone he touched would undergo a change, a transformation. Because he carried within him enough love and warmth for everyone, and he shared this gift bestowed upon him with an utterly spontaneous, almost unrestrained naturalness. Like every healer, as he healed us, he too was healed. Because we, Turks and Armenians, had fallen ill some hundred years ago…Because of all that was inflicted and all that was endured on these lands…The path to healing would be through reaching out and touching one another. Through speaking while reaching out to one another…Through conversation, we would understand each other, accept each other, and face our past.” Please click here to read the full speech of Tûba Çandar.
In her speech Süheyla Doğan stated “We keep growing our hope…We know that we have no other choice but to hope, and we know that better days will ultimately come…
And just as I have done until now, from this day forward, I will continue my struggle for a life that is more egalitarian, just, secular, and ecological with all that I am, with my faith, my love, and my hope.”
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Please click here for the acceptance speech of Süheyla Doğan.
In his acceptance speech, Raji Sourani stated “The award belongs to the victims and survivors who have trusted and cooperated with us with their testimonies, often recounting the most painful moments of their lives because they still believe that truth matters and that one day justice will be achieved and prevail. It belongs to all segments of the Palestinian society, including journalists, doctors, humanitarian workers, and rescue teams, who refused to allow the pain and suffering of their people to be erased or normalized. And it belongs to every person, in Palestine and beyond, who continues to insist that international law must protect everyone equally regardless of their nationality, color, or race.”
Please click here for the acceptance speech of Raji Sourani.