My Adventurous Trip to Turkey by Nelli Minasyan

In October our organization got invitation to go to Turkey, to take part in Turkish-Armenian Civic Dialogue project called “Two Sides of a Mountain”. We were three from Gyumri. Our trip started from Gyumri Railway Station. We took the train to Tbilisi (Georgia) where we were to meet the other ten participants from Armenia and then continue our trip to Turkey, Hatay the project venue.

Here comes the most cruel and the funniest part of my trip. It was 5 o’clock in the morning, the train stopped and we were asked to show our passports. When I showed mine the policeman told that I had to leave the train as there was no stamp which allowed me to leave the country.

I am so absent-minded that I just forgot to get the stamp I was nearly crying. I left the train and my friends left the train with me. They didn’t leave me alone. We took a taxi and came back to Gyumri, went to the passport office, got the stamp and went to Tbilisi by taxi.

We managed to get our plane to Turkey.

After a crazy night we reached Turkey. The Turkish organizers met us at the airport. Now comes the 2nd “funny” part of the trip. All Armenian participants lost their luggage. I was in my pajamas 2 days. So after funny moments and sufferings we got to Turkey and the project started.

The Turkish-Armenian Civic Dialogue was organized by AEGEE-Ankara (branch of European Student Forum) and by the “Youth Initiative Centre” in Armenia, Gyumri (one of the founding members of which is me.) The project was financed by the American Embassies in Turkey and in Armenia. The project contained interesting workshops, seminars, and study visits.

We stayed in Hatay, in the youth hostel, just near the Mediterranean Sea, but the courses and workshops took place in the Armenian village called Vakifli. The village was inhabited with Armenians who speak Armenian, keep Armenian traditions, and religion and live completely in peace with Turks.

One of the most impressive and unforgettable days of the project was the intercultural evening, which took place near the Armenian church in Vakifli. During the intercultural evening, we presented our national food, dances, and songs. We were singing, dancing hand by hand, shoulder to shoulder with Turks.

There is a folk traditional song which is the same in Turkish and in Armenian and when we sang it with Turks nobody could help crying. The villagers, the guests, the organizers, the participants, everybody was crying. I will never forget that day and those feelings. While standing on that ground, hand in hand with Turks, we felt how close we are with Turks. We are the same. We have so many things in common. We lived together like friends, like brothers and now because of misunderstanding and lack of communication we have problems.

The project did not have any political context but during our free time we decided to have a discussion and just talk about the things which bother us. The discussion lasted more than seven hours. It was really interesting.

I have taken part in various international projects but this was one of the most effective ones, both personally and professionally. During the project we worked on our common ideas with the Turks and in very close future we are going to realize them. Next year we will host nearly fifteen Turkish youngsters in Armenia, Gyumri. We have lots of interesting ideas which we will realize for sure.

We were in Turkey during the historical period when the protocol was signed between Armenia and Turkey. World famous TV channels as well as Turkish ones were following us. The Turkish organizers had some problems. They were called “betrayers”, there were negative articles about them in the newspapers. Later BBC, CNN, and all national and local TV channels finally reached us. They took interview, recorded everything, positive articles appeared everywhere.

The project was really useful and effective and I am sure those kind of projects will help and increase the percentage of our bright future with Turkey.
I should mention how sad the departure day was. All Turks came to say good-bye. Everybody was crying. We didn’t want to leave. We felt at home. We had a wonderful time. We reached our aims and we broke the stereotypes.
So this much about my crazy trip to Turkey.

P. S. The trip back home was also full of adventures. We got to Tbilisi and learnt that there was no train and no mini-bus to Gyumri. We stayed at our friend’s place and enjoyed Tbilisi by night.

Nelli Minasyan is a 21-year-old student and a participant in the English Club at the American Corner in Gyumri, Armenia.