LIFE

There is only one Syrian Armenian in Istanbul that I know. Though I know him for one and a half year, I couldn't have managed to learn about his story. And once I learned about it, I thought that his story should be shared.

Around the corner from the Chora church sits a wooden building, a cultural hub for the city’s burgeoning Syrian population. This month, Pages, one of Istanbul’s two Arabic book stores, tucked carefully between the back streets of Edirnekapi, is celebrating its first anniversary.

“Live Love Armenia” is not only a sharing a platform; it is also an archive consisting of visual material.

Ian Tattersall and Rob DeSalle from American Museum of Natural History, with their book “A Natural History of Wine”, re-write the history of wine. They start from the cave in Armenia and trace the thousands of years of history of the techniques that are used even today.

“Fade to Black” video of “Maajooneh” released online 2 weeks ago and shared over and over. We talked to Farah and Amer from “Maajooneh” about their lives under the pressure of Asad regime and ISIS, their journey to Istanbul and plans for future.

Rezoning in Historical Peninsula that made possible to build boutique hotels there is approved by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Council despite the objections of the experts. According to this decision, boutique hotels will be built within historical part of Eminönü.

“Discrimination in Education Report” that is prepared by Migrant Rights Group (MRG) and Tarih Vakfı (History Foundation of Turkey) is released. According to the report, the education system has a religious and nationalist approach. Students with different religious beliefs and ethnicities struggle with the discriminatory practices. The report shows that the incentive scholarships that were given to the minority schools last year can only cover a small percentage of the minority schools’ expenses. The report also points out the status problem of minority schools.

21 years old law student Claudia Brounsouzian first went to Mersin with her mother. Then, she went to Cyprus and tried to go to Europe from there. However, she couldn’t have managed to go to Southern Cyprus and because of that, she returned to Turkey; but this time, she went to İzmir. We talked to Brounsouzian about her story of migration from Aleppo to Turkey.

The first stay of execution ruling has been issued regarding the government’s controversial ‘Green Road’ that would connect the Black Sea highlands. A court has suspended the permission given for the Avusor-Haczane section of the road.