The oldest daily newspaper in Turkey with an uninterrupted print run, the Armenian daily political newspaper Jamanak, that has managed to survive from the Ottoman Empire to the present day, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2008. Published in Istanbul for a century by the same family in the same publishing format without any significant changes in its principles, Jamanak is also the oldest daily Armenian newspaper in print in the world.

Jamanak has been participant and witness to almost half of the 215-year long Armenian press history that began in 1794, when in the city of Madras, India, Priest Harutyun Şımavonyan published the first Armenian periodical titled Aztarar. It was founded on 28 October 1908, by the brothers Misak and Sarkis Koçunyan. JAMANAK's sales reached 15 thousand in its foundation period immediately after the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era, and was regularly distributed across Anatolia, with a wide distribution network from the Balkans to the Caucasus and Egypt in the south. JAMANAK hosted the vast majority of modern Western Armenian writers and intellectuals, and has been the first meeting place with readers of the great majority of those living today.

Jamanak is published six days a week (for around 35 years, it has not been published on Sundays) in a 4-page, black and white edition. The newspaper has become a symbol representing, in Istanbul today, the Armenian press heritage that once was an example in terms of affluence and diversity.

Jamanak celebrated its centennial with a variety of events.

Panels

How Armenian and Diaspora Media View the Armenian Community in Turkey
19 December 2009
Pera Museum
Moderator: Ara Koçunyan (Jamanak Newspaper Chief Editor)
Speakers: Hagop Avedikyan (Chief Editor of AZG newspaper in Armenia), Aram Abrahamyan (Chief Editor of Aravot newspaper in Armenia), Hagop Asatryan (Chief Editor of Orer magazine in the Czech Republic), Cengiz Çandar (Radikal newspaper columnist)

Jamanak in Press History
9 January 2010
Tütün Deposu
Speakers: Hıfzı Topuz (Press historian), Oshin Keshinian Keşişyan (USA, Chief Editor of the Armenian Observer newspaper), Christian Makarian (France, Deputy Chief Editor of L'Express newspaper), Ragıp Duran (Communication Theorist), Osman Köker (Founding Editorial Director of Birzamanlar Publishing House)

Commemorating Misak Koçunyan on his 150th Anniversary of His Birth: The New Reality of Minorities, New Horizons of the Armenian Community in Turkey
25 May 2013
SALT Galata

Session 1: Evolution on the agenda of non-muslim minorities in Turkey
Speakers: Laki Vingas, İvo Molinas, İsmet Berkan, Prof. Dr. Arus Yumul
Moderator: Aylin Koçunyan

Session 2: The New Perception of Minority Rights and Awareness of Heritage in Minority Communities
Speakers: Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Hatemi, Christian Makaryan, Mustafa
Karaalioğlu, Prof. Dr. Herkül Millas
Moderator: Dr. Sosi Antikacıoğlu

Session 3: The Shaping of the New Armenian Identity
Speakers: Prof. Dr. Harutyun Marutyan, Arpi Vartanyan, Jirayr
Çolakyan, Dr. Razmik Panosyan
Moderator: Prof. Dr. Kevork Bardakçıyan

Concert

Concert in Recognition of the 100th Anniversary of Jamanak Newspaper
20 December 2009
İTÜ Maçka Campus, Mustafa Kemal Hall
Feriköy Vartanants Choir
Conductor: Adruşan Halacyan
Soprano: Hasmik Papyan
Pianist: Şahan Ardzruni

Exhibition

A 100-year old Armenian Newspaper in Turkey
9 January 2010
Tütün Deposu