The "Thematic Film Days: Reckoning with the Past", which would later become a tradition, were among the first comprehensive events on this theme.
In these mini-festivals, we collectively witnessed how countries like South Africa and Rwanda dealt with their histories, mainly how deeply rooted denial was in every country.
That year's exhibition, "The History of Migration from Turkey to Germany," also confronted the past, but this time, as a victim rather than a perpetrator.
While the AK Party won the elections that year and came to power alone, Heinrich Böll Stiftung was before the State Security Courts, facing the Bergama indictment prepared by the well-known prosecutor Nuh Mete Yüksel.
Throughout the ordeal, Heinrich Böll Stiftung’s project partners showed unwavering solidarity, offering their support.
In the trial based on Necip Hablemitoğlu’s book German Foundations and the Bergama File (Hablemitoğlu would later be assassinated), the arguments and information presented in the book were proven false, and all foundations involved, including the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, were acquitted.
1 – Poster for the exhibition organized in 2002 with DOMIT and the Goethe Institute. Cultural activities were always as important to hbs as political ones, particularly those exploring the connections between the two countries. 2 – One of the events that embodied the theme of “coming to terms with the past“, which had been frequently explored in previous years. It was a thematic festival showcasing stories of reconciliation from various countries on the cinema screen. 3 – In 2002, we said goodbye to the Deutsche Mark, which had been used for resources until then. The Euro era began. This is a memento of one of the last times we exchanged DM.