I was not planning to write about my trip to Sofia, Bulgaria, where I attended a conference on Cultural Heritage in Migration. We all had an intense discussion on this issue with the conference organisers and participants, and later my personal experience of heritage in Sofia left me to conclude that I must address […]
For history lovers, and in particular those interesting in naval exploration, the latest in Yunus Emre Institute’s Arts and Culture lecture series is a fascinating look at two of the early modern world’s leading navigators. In his Book of Navigation (Kitāb-ı Baḥriye), Piri Reis, the famous sixteenth-century Ottoman cartographer and naval captain, introduced Christopher […]
On Wednesday night, TRT will air a documentary about the last surviving members of the Ottoman dynasty. It centres around Bilûn Alpan, the sole survivor of the royal family that was exiled from Turkey in 1924 when she was aged just six. Now aged 99, the granddaughter of Sultan Abdülmecid I recounts the difficulties […]
Beautifully-preserved wrecks of the ships which held the mighty Ottoman Empire together have been discovered during a climate-survey of the Black Sea bed. An international team led by Southampton University’s Professor Jon Adams has found over 40 wrecks from the Ottoman, Byzantine and Roman periods using state-of-the-art underwater ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles). The stunning remains […]
With people increasingly turning to complementary and alternative medicine, one area that is being heralded for its wellbeing properties is music. Today music therapy is used to treat a wide range of ailments, from reducing pain and anxiety, to fighting dementia, and aiding stem cell transplantation. This Thursday, Prof. Levent Öztürk, author of Makamdan Şifaya […]
One of Turkey’s most renowned historians will be the subject of a talk at the Yunus Emre Institute this Thursday. Halil İnalcık, who passed away in July aged 100, was a leading authority on the Ottoman Empire, frequently challenging the biased and often hostile narratives of the West, as well as the exaggerated, nationalistic and […]
Istanbul-born Çiğdem Aslan brings her multi-lingual skills to this year’s Rebetiko Carnival, singing the songs of her roots. Çiğdem came to the forefront of the UK Rebetiko revival with her stunning 2013 debut release Mortissa, which breathed new life into 1920s and 1930s Rebetiko and Smyrnaic songs. The album received great reviews from all around […]
Well-known for his love and patronage of the arts, particularly music, calligraphy and poetry, Sultan Abdülaziz (1830-1876) was less known for his own drawings and paintings. This London exhibition is a rare opportunity to see the Sultan’s artistry, from sketches through to paintings. While the subjects he depicts reflect the world around him, they also […]
On 27 Nov., Chelsea’s Cadogan Hall played host to an exquisite evening of music celebrating the European classical music traditions of the Ottoman Court. Under the expert guidance of conductor and composer Dr Emre Aracı (one of the world’s leading authorities on Ottoman classical music), the Chamber Ensemble of London performed 12 original compositions in […]
Londoners have just two weeks to see a unique exhibition about life on the front line, as told by prisoners of war (PoW) from both sides that were captured during the Dardanelles campaign a century ago. Part of the Yunus Emre Institute’s 100 Years of Peace theme, it features correspondence from soldiers which had been approved […]
