The group will travel to different cities and areas in Turkey (including Istanbul, Izmir, Fethiye, Antalya, Cappadocia, Ankara) from 13-19 October and will be travelling in Armenia from 20-26 October (Dilijan, Yerevan, Lake Sevan, Sisian, Garni) preparing video materials, interviews and articles to be published in their home media outlets and/or in social networks.

The purpose of the Tour is to provide an opportunity for journalists and bloggers from Armenia and Turkey to explore the neighbouring country and rediscover their own country which will help them to learn about the other, as well as establish professional connections between media professionals of the two countries.

The Media Bus Tour is organised within the framework of the Programme “Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process” implemented by a Consortium of eight civil society organisations from Armenia and Turkey with the financial assistance of theEuropean Union under the Instrument for Stability.

Two Media Bus Tours were accomplished in 2011 and 2012 by Media Initiatives Center (former Internews-Armenia) and EPF respectively, and made it possible for journalists and bloggers to travel around Turkey and Armenia, visit historic and cultural sites, meet representatives of the government, civil society, media, academia, and think tanks and hear varying perspectives on Armenia-Turkey normalisation. These Tours offered a unique opportunity for the participating journalists and bloggers to establish human and professional relations amongst each other, to re-explore their own country and learn about the neighbouring country and to better comprehend the hurdles and the nuances associated with the Armenia-Turkey dialogue by meeting people on the ground.  It also allowed them to gain a more holistic idea about the diversity of existing views on this issue, and they established a Facebook page that is functional up to date:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/138273512963043/ .