Saudi Arabian women rights defender Samar Badawi and the LGBT rights and freedoms defender Kaos GL Association were awarded the 2015 International Hrant Dink Award on September 15.
Samar Badawi has been a human rights defender since a very early age when she took her father, who had abused her for 15 years, to court. After that she dealt with several other issues in court, such as a faulty guardian system, the refusal of voter registration offices to register women, and defending prosecuted women who attempted to drive. She continues to struggle for human rights freedoms in her country even though she faces many different prohibitions, including travelling abroad. Elsa Saade, who accepted the prize on behalf of Badawi, mentioned in her speech that Badawi risked her own life for human rights and went after her own dreams; that is why she became an inspiration for Saudi Arabian women. Saade also highlighted that we need people who can put our concerns on the map. Additionally, she said prizes based on solidarity are signs of hope for people who live in fear and with the sense of being forgotten in the most difficult places in the world.
Ali Erol, who accepted the award on behalf of Kaos GL (established in 1994), works with the principle of “the liberation of homosexuals will liberate heterosexuals.” In his speech, he noted that the “uneasiness” that had cost Hrant Dink his life was also something that homosexuals had to live with in all phases of their life. He said that the salvation of homosexuals is a precondition for the liberation of the societyHe also pointed out the importance of establishing connections between different kinds of discrimination, explaining that racist and nationalist state policies which have created institutionalized discourses of “national enemies” and “national integrity” could be overcome by establishing bridges between the struggles for freedom.
The film entitled 1915 Lights were screened at the ceremony marking the occassion of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Author Taner Akçam also attended, making a speech about crimes against humanity and the concepts of justice, conscience, responsibility and human rights. The film noted some of those who witnessed the genocide in Anatolia, including Celal Bey, the Governor of Aleppo, Izzet Bey, the Gendarme Commander of Kastamonu, and US ambassador Henry Morgenthau. They tried to prevent the carnage, and to announce and document the brutality to the world. They paid with their lives because they let their voices be heard.
Light was another film shown in which people and organizations around the world and in Turkey in 2015 increase our hope for the future. In the film, many different activists were portrayed: Afghan artist Kubra Khademi; the Renault factory workers in Bursa protesting for higher wages; the Robin Hood Army, which distributes leftover food from restaurants and weddings to orphans, homeless people and others in need in India; the couple Fetullah Üzümcüoğlu and Esra Polat, who distributed their wedding dinner to refugees; Muslim student Faatimah Knight, who collected donations for the maintenance of eight black churches in Charleston; the people of Cerattepe marching with the slogan “The mine in Artvin is murder;” the White Helmets group in Syria that saves trapped people in places destroyed and burned in the war; Viyan Daxil, the first politician who mentioned the Yazidi Massacre in the Iraqi Parliament; the “Electric Yeravan” movement where people protested the increase in electricity charges at Yeravan; Mother Havva and the people of Rize protesting the road that was supposed to pass through a Natural Protected Area; people coming together under the slogan of “You Stink,” protesting uncollected garbage and the closure of one of the main landfills; Pepe Julian Onziema, who worked to have the law for the execution of homosexuals at Uganda withdrawn; the Camp Armen Resistance that demanded the unconditional return of the Camp Armen to the Armenian People; the Black Lives Matter Movement that aims to rebuild the movement of the black freedom movement again in the US; young people taking the road to the Kobane in order to deliver toys to and to build a library in Suruç and who lost their lives in a suicide bomber attack.
The awards ceremony was broadcasted live on www.hrantdink.org and www.hrantdinkodulu.org websites. Full details of the awards were published simultaneously during the awards ceremony on the Facebook and Twitter accounts (in three languages: English, Turkish and Armenian).