A big fire in front of Garni pagan temple. People jump over the fire celebrating...

A big fire in front of Garni pagan temple. People gathered to celebrate Tiarnendaraj Day.

MerhaBarev is a unique photo-bridge between Armenia and Turkey, two neighboring countries with no diplomatic relations and a border remained closed for more than 80 years. This project was created in 2006, when five Armenian photojournalists from Patker photo agency shot Istanbul during a week, and the same did five Turkish photojournalists from Nar photo agency in Yerevan. MerhaBarev is a combined greeting in two languages:Turkish - "merhaba" and Armenian - "barev". MerhaBarev is indeed the first visual greeting between the two countries, which are separated not only by the sharp wire on the border, built during the Soviet Union period, but by the political and historical problems. Using the black and white language of the photography, photojournalists narrated about Istanbul and Yerevan, their cultures, traditions, every-day life and people. The project was presented as a number of exhibitions in Armenia (Yerevan, Gumri) and Turkey (Istanbul, Ankara, Kars, Diarbekir). MerhaBarev is also a book in four languages (Armenian,Turkish, English and German), calendars and posters.