PARIS — The Hrant Dink Foundation has been awarded the Chirac Prize For Conflict Prevention by the Chirac Foundation. On behalf of the Hrant Dink Foundation, the president of the foundation, Rakel Dink, received the prize from the President of French Republic Emmanuel Macron last month.
In his speech, Macron said, “On the ninth year of the prize, the awardees were announced following the meeting of the Chirac Foundation’s Jury on September 27. The Chirac Foundation also presented its Culture for Peace Prize to Zoukak theater company, which has been contributing, through theater, to the rehabilitation efforts of refugees living in Lebanon camps.
“The Chirac Foundation was established in 2008 by the former President of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac, with the mission to support efforts for prevention of conflicts, dialogue between cultures and increasing quality of access to health services.”
During the prize ceremony, which was attended by the jury members and selection committee as well as the international media and leading opinion makers that pursue rights-based advocacy, President of Hrant Dink Foundation, Rakel Dink, received the prize from the President of French Republic Emmanuel Macron.
In her speech, Rakel Dink thanked Macron and the Chirac family. She also noted, “When we decided to establish this foundation with our friends after the tragedy that our family suffered in 2007, we had just one intention: to continue Hrant’s efforts with this institution, and try to fill the huge emptiness created in our lives with his struggle for human rights. The racist mentality that made him a target, an enemy and that killed him, is not only trying to get its share of power in Turkey today, but this mentality is rising in the world too, creating new “others” and enemies,” putting up new walls. This world has seen so much pain, isn’t it enough now? So much blood and tears have been shed, isn’t it enough? Instead of propagating pain and suffering, shouldn’t we try to find ways to heal the existing pain? The goal of the states should not be to kill, but to keep alive! For God “has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and self-control” [Bible, 2. Timothy 1:7]
“As an Armenian who knows what it means to be displaced, it gives me great pain to see millions of refugees being uprooted and dispersed in the world today. And watching the response of the states to this situation is particularly striking… Unfortunately hate speech is rising all around the world and pushing people into further withdrawing into their own religious or ethnic communities.
