April 23.5: Genocide Commemoration in Sisli
On the evening of April 23, a day before the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, several hundred people held a silent candlelight vigil in Sisli, a district of Istanbul, near Taksim. The event, the first of its kind in Turkey, was organized by the Sisli branch of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and was called April 23.5, after Hrant Dink's powerful piece in Agos in 1996.
Following the silent vigil, participants walked through the neighborhood changing street names and spray painting the names of Armenian intellectuals on walls of buildings, leaving behind burning candles and flowers.