On 24 April 1915, hundreds of Armenian intellectuals were arrested in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). The date has since become the political and symbolic threshold of the genocide against the Ottoman Empire’s Armenians and other non-Muslim communities. What Armenians call the Aghet—the catastrophe—resulted in the murder of an estimated 1,5 million people, mass deportations into the Syrian desert, and the dispersal of survivors across the globe. More than a historical event, the genocide constitutes an ongoing rupture: in language, in kinship structures, in cultural transmission, and in the collective visions of responsibility, justice, and coexistence shaped by both denial and remembrance.

In a 2016 resolution, the German Bundestag officially recognized these crimes as genocide, acknowledged Germany’s historical responsibility as an ally of the Ottoman Empire, and called for renewed efforts at remembrance, reconciliation, and education. Yet the broader political and social consequences of this acknowledgment remain contested. A decade on, within Germany’s postmigrant society and particularly among members of the Armenian diaspora, the resolution remains a site of reflection and debate: What does recognition mean in practice when it occurs without legal obligation? How does memory culture unfold between state acknowledgment and persistent denial? And how can solidarities emerge across communities historically positioned on opposing sides of violence?

With this diverse programme, HKW opens a space to engage with these questions through art, scholarship, and collective dialogue. Organized in collaboration with AKEBI, a Germany-based initiative of activists connected to Turkey committed to confronting the legacies of the Armenian Genocide and fostering Turkish-Armenian dialogue, the programme foregrounds solidarity as both an ethical commitment and a political practice.

Programme

17:00
Performance
Sahman-Grenze-Kuş
By Jasmin İhraç
Safi Faye Hall

17:35
Resignifying ceremony
Garden, Spree side

18:30
Film screenings
Introduction by Öndercan Muti
Chienne d’Histoire (Barking Island)
Serge Avédikian, 2010, Frankreich, 15', French with English subtitles
Epistemic Space
Chantal Partamian, 2021, Libanon/Armenien/USA, 18', English
Safi Faye Hall

19:30
Panel Discussion
With Tigran Petrosyan and Elke Hartmann, moderated by Öndercan Muti
Safi Faye Hall

21:00
Music
With Talin Hajintsi (oud), accompanied by Chrysanthi Gerogiannaki (percussion)
Angie Stardust Foyer

Snacks & Drinks