Marking first, Turkish minister visits Armenian school
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Education Minister Ömer Dinçer conducted a historic visit to Mıhitaryan Armenian School in Şişli’s Pangaltı neighborhood, becoming the first minister from the department to visit an Armenian school in the history of the Turkish Republic.
The occasion was in return for a visit last year in which students from the school came to Dinçer’s office to request that hostile references to Armenians be removed from textbooks.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News before Dinçer’s visit, the school’s principal, Karekin Barsamyan, said they were very pleased to host such a historic visit.
“Minorities think they are the only ones who are subjected to problems, but this is not the case,” Dinçer said during the event, which included a cocktail. “In the past, not only the minorities and Alevis, but Sunnis were also victimized by authoritarian rulings and violations of rights and liberties. We aim to spread [practices in accordance with] human rights and liberties. The only way to create a peaceful atmosphere in society is democracy.”
The minister also touched on elective courses on mother tongues that began this school year. “We are taking our actions by considering that each child is an independent individual,” Dinçer said.
The ministry drew reaction after stipulating that such classes would only be opened after 10 students expressed a demand to take the lessons.
Addressing recent discussions over the insertion of religious questions onto the university entrance exam, the minister said: “The subject was unfortunately misrepresented to the public. The lessons have been given and the questions have been asked under the category of ‘Education for Religion and Ethics’ for years. It is not about a specific religion. [Students from] minority schools will be asked other questions in accordance with their curriculum.”
December/21/2012
25 Aralık 2012 Salı
Christians in Syria mark bitter Christmas
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Christians in Syria will mark a bitter Christmas this year as churches and their followers in the country have had their share of the ongoing violence. The places of worship of approximately 2 million Christians in Syria have been the target of attacks in the clashes between the forces of President Bashar al-Assad and the rebels.
“The religious leaders in Syria have declared that the churches will not celebrate Christmas because of the ongoing violence in the country,” Jamil Diarbekirli, a 25-year-old Syrian, told the Hürriyet Daily News in an e-mail interview.
Diarbekirli, who was a law student in Aleppo before the civil war and had been arrested at the beginning of the incidents before being released after a short time, pointed out that sacred spaces had become targets of regime powers.
“When our churches were attacked, our Muslim friends helped us repair them. The Syrian people and the opposition are respectful to God’s house,” said Diarbekirli, adding that if the situation continued in this way, there would not be any living people, not only no Christians. The Western powers are in complete ignorance of “this horrible catastrophe,” said George Gawrieh, a Syrian dentist who recently fled from Hasekeh city of Syria and moved permanently to Istanbul. “The Christians were so worried at the beginning of the revolution because they already knew that whatever the results were in the end, they would pay a higher price than other people and other sects.”
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Christians in Syria will mark a bitter Christmas this year as churches and their followers in the country have had their share of the ongoing violence. The places of worship of approximately 2 million Christians in Syria have been the target of attacks in the clashes between the forces of President Bashar al-Assad and the rebels.
“The religious leaders in Syria have declared that the churches will not celebrate Christmas because of the ongoing violence in the country,” Jamil Diarbekirli, a 25-year-old Syrian, told the Hürriyet Daily News in an e-mail interview.
Diarbekirli, who was a law student in Aleppo before the civil war and had been arrested at the beginning of the incidents before being released after a short time, pointed out that sacred spaces had become targets of regime powers.
“When our churches were attacked, our Muslim friends helped us repair them. The Syrian people and the opposition are respectful to God’s house,” said Diarbekirli, adding that if the situation continued in this way, there would not be any living people, not only no Christians. The Western powers are in complete ignorance of “this horrible catastrophe,” said George Gawrieh, a Syrian dentist who recently fled from Hasekeh city of Syria and moved permanently to Istanbul. “The Christians were so worried at the beginning of the revolution because they already knew that whatever the results were in the end, they would pay a higher price than other people and other sects.”
18 Aralık 2012 Salı
Book lists banned publications
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Ottoman and Turkish authorities have banned 20,000 books in the Turkey since 1834, according to a new book by Emin Karaca, who said censors in the republican era have approached their work with a zeal that was unseen in imperial times.
Titled “Vaaay Kitabın Başına Gelenler!” (Look what happened to these books!), the researcher and writer’s work was introduced at a press conference held in the Turkish Journalists Association’s clubhouse on Dec. 17. According to the book, the most frequently banned books in the Republican period are renowned author Nazım Hikmet’s works and Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital.”
Karaca said he completed the research on banned books over a period of five years. For Karaca, Turkey is a paradise for bans. “The most banned author during the Republican period was Nazım Hikmet, since it was thought that he would introduce socialism to the public,” Karaca said.
Karaca also spoke of the banned books list prepared for schools by the Board of Education and Discipline in 1970. “Almost all of the authors who are on the banned list are Turkish,” he said.
Turkish Publishers’ Union (TYB) chair Metin Celal, meanwhile, said bans had been lifted on 453 books and over 600 publications by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office last week as part of a third judicial reform package.
According to Celal, appeals were made to the police once again for the ban of 67 books and 16 periodicals. “During cases of arrested students, banned books found in their houses were regarded as criminal evidence. The state does not want to abolish the bans,” Celal said. “The Anti-Terror law and the relevant articles in the Turkish Penal Code should be altered as soon as possible.”
Karaca said some books were also banned during the Ottoman period; however, officials in the Republican period have been more severe in implementing bans even when compared to the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid, who was famous for his strict censorship.
“During the Tanzimat period [a re-organization of the empire’s administration that began in 1839], sultans used to ban books by enacting imperial edicts. During the reign of Abdülhamid, there was a censorship institution, which used to determine the bans on books. Even Abdülhamid’s method of censorship was more civilized [than today’s],” Karaca said.
December/19/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Ottoman and Turkish authorities have banned 20,000 books in the Turkey since 1834, according to a new book by Emin Karaca, who said censors in the republican era have approached their work with a zeal that was unseen in imperial times.
Titled “Vaaay Kitabın Başına Gelenler!” (Look what happened to these books!), the researcher and writer’s work was introduced at a press conference held in the Turkish Journalists Association’s clubhouse on Dec. 17. According to the book, the most frequently banned books in the Republican period are renowned author Nazım Hikmet’s works and Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital.”
Karaca said he completed the research on banned books over a period of five years. For Karaca, Turkey is a paradise for bans. “The most banned author during the Republican period was Nazım Hikmet, since it was thought that he would introduce socialism to the public,” Karaca said.
Karaca also spoke of the banned books list prepared for schools by the Board of Education and Discipline in 1970. “Almost all of the authors who are on the banned list are Turkish,” he said.
Turkish Publishers’ Union (TYB) chair Metin Celal, meanwhile, said bans had been lifted on 453 books and over 600 publications by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office last week as part of a third judicial reform package.
According to Celal, appeals were made to the police once again for the ban of 67 books and 16 periodicals. “During cases of arrested students, banned books found in their houses were regarded as criminal evidence. The state does not want to abolish the bans,” Celal said. “The Anti-Terror law and the relevant articles in the Turkish Penal Code should be altered as soon as possible.”
Karaca said some books were also banned during the Ottoman period; however, officials in the Republican period have been more severe in implementing bans even when compared to the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid, who was famous for his strict censorship.
“During the Tanzimat period [a re-organization of the empire’s administration that began in 1839], sultans used to ban books by enacting imperial edicts. During the reign of Abdülhamid, there was a censorship institution, which used to determine the bans on books. Even Abdülhamid’s method of censorship was more civilized [than today’s],” Karaca said.
December/19/2012
Book reveals seized Armenian properties
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
A recent book published by the Hrant Dink Foundation has revealed that almost half of the properties belonging to 53 different Armenian foundations have been confiscated since 1923.
“2012 Beyannamesi: Istanbul Ermeni Vakıflarının El Konulan Mülkleri” (The 2012 Declaration: The Seized Properties of Armenian Foundations in Istanbul) provides data on all the proprties of the Armenian foundations confiscated since 1923.
According to the information provided, 53 Armenian foundations in Istanbul were found to have 1,328 immovable properties. Some 661 of these properties were confiscated, while the fate of another 87 is still unknown. With legal amendments, 143 of the 661 confiscated properties have been returned over the last 10 years.
One of the confiscated properties is the Kalfayan Orphanage located in Istanbul’s Halıcıoğlu district. It was confiscated on the grounds that access roads would be built on its land during the construction of the intercontinental Bosphorus Bridge. The E5 Highway now occupies this land.
Another confiscated foundation is the Surp (Saint) Hagop Armenian Church Foundation located in Istanbul’s Kasımpaşa district. Its ownership was passed to the Foundations Directorate General, after which an apartment block was built on the remains of the historic church walls. A number of shanty houses now occupy a part of the original foundation’s land, for which the Foundations Directorate General pays rent.
The 479-page new book, which opens with an introduction by Professor Hüseyin Hatemi, covers a detailed list of confiscated properties, as well as historical information and photos of the foundation properties.
December/18/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
A recent book published by the Hrant Dink Foundation has revealed that almost half of the properties belonging to 53 different Armenian foundations have been confiscated since 1923.
“2012 Beyannamesi: Istanbul Ermeni Vakıflarının El Konulan Mülkleri” (The 2012 Declaration: The Seized Properties of Armenian Foundations in Istanbul) provides data on all the proprties of the Armenian foundations confiscated since 1923.
According to the information provided, 53 Armenian foundations in Istanbul were found to have 1,328 immovable properties. Some 661 of these properties were confiscated, while the fate of another 87 is still unknown. With legal amendments, 143 of the 661 confiscated properties have been returned over the last 10 years.
One of the confiscated properties is the Kalfayan Orphanage located in Istanbul’s Halıcıoğlu district. It was confiscated on the grounds that access roads would be built on its land during the construction of the intercontinental Bosphorus Bridge. The E5 Highway now occupies this land.
Another confiscated foundation is the Surp (Saint) Hagop Armenian Church Foundation located in Istanbul’s Kasımpaşa district. Its ownership was passed to the Foundations Directorate General, after which an apartment block was built on the remains of the historic church walls. A number of shanty houses now occupy a part of the original foundation’s land, for which the Foundations Directorate General pays rent.
The 479-page new book, which opens with an introduction by Professor Hüseyin Hatemi, covers a detailed list of confiscated properties, as well as historical information and photos of the foundation properties.
December/18/2012
17 Aralık 2012 Pazartesi
Minorities ‘given entire asset rights’
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Turkey’s Foundations Directorate General has organized a seminar on new regulations regarding minority foundations.
Held in Galata Greek School in Istanbul on Dec. 13, the seminar titled “The Legal Condition of the Minority Foundations” was the first of its kind in the Republican period.
Foundations Directorate General’s Chief Inspector Okan Saydam, the foundations’ Istanbul 1st Region deputy head Ebru Günaydın and Laki Vingas, who is in charge of minority foundations in the Directorate, were present at the seminar. Also, representatives of minority communities, including Armenian, Greek, Syriac and Jewish foundations showed a great interest in the seminar.
Saydam spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News about the latest developments the Directorate is working on. He said they cancelled the elective regulation of minority foundations and were working on a new one, which would be announced soon.
“Many law cases were opened to the elective processes of some foundations. Administrators could resist holding an election. Also, voter lists were not organized in an effective way. The new elective regulation we are working on will prevent such problems,” Saydam said.
“From now on, minority foundations will be able to invest in the stock market and they will be able to sell and buy stock certificates as long as they inform the Foundations Directorate General,” Saydam said.
With the new Foundation Law that came into effect in August 2011, a one-year period was given for the minority foundations to receive back their property. According to Vingas, 1,560 appeals were made for property return by Armenian, Greek, Jewish, and Syriac communities within this period. Vingas also remarked on the new elective regulation, saying they hoped the problems on election matters to be solved with the new system. Vingas, who is of Greek origin, also spoke specifically on the problems of Greek community foundations. “The population of the Greek community is very low, so we have problems in terms of administration,” Vingas said.
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Turkey’s Foundations Directorate General has organized a seminar on new regulations regarding minority foundations.
Held in Galata Greek School in Istanbul on Dec. 13, the seminar titled “The Legal Condition of the Minority Foundations” was the first of its kind in the Republican period.
Foundations Directorate General’s Chief Inspector Okan Saydam, the foundations’ Istanbul 1st Region deputy head Ebru Günaydın and Laki Vingas, who is in charge of minority foundations in the Directorate, were present at the seminar. Also, representatives of minority communities, including Armenian, Greek, Syriac and Jewish foundations showed a great interest in the seminar.
Saydam spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News about the latest developments the Directorate is working on. He said they cancelled the elective regulation of minority foundations and were working on a new one, which would be announced soon.
“Many law cases were opened to the elective processes of some foundations. Administrators could resist holding an election. Also, voter lists were not organized in an effective way. The new elective regulation we are working on will prevent such problems,” Saydam said.
“From now on, minority foundations will be able to invest in the stock market and they will be able to sell and buy stock certificates as long as they inform the Foundations Directorate General,” Saydam said.
With the new Foundation Law that came into effect in August 2011, a one-year period was given for the minority foundations to receive back their property. According to Vingas, 1,560 appeals were made for property return by Armenian, Greek, Jewish, and Syriac communities within this period. Vingas also remarked on the new elective regulation, saying they hoped the problems on election matters to be solved with the new system. Vingas, who is of Greek origin, also spoke specifically on the problems of Greek community foundations. “The population of the Greek community is very low, so we have problems in terms of administration,” Vingas said.
13 Aralık 2012 Perşembe
Syriacs want separate refugee camp in Turkey
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Syriac leaders are petitioning Turkish officials to establish a separate camp in southeastern Turkey for those who have fled violence in Syria
Leading Syriac figures say they met with officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Foreign Ministry in an effort to establish a separate camp in Mardin for Syriac citizens who are defecting from Syria.
Deputy chair of the Sweden-based Syriac Union Party, Said Malki, Syriac National Council member Bassam Ishak, and head of the Syriac Associations Federation’s management board Evgil Türker, met with AKP deputy chair Numan Kurtulmuş and the Foreign Ministry’s Center for Strategic Research (SAM) deputy chair Mesut Özcan.
No compromise has yet to be reached between the officials on that matter, but negotiations are still ongoing, Malki told the Hürriyet Daily News. “They assured us not to create a problem in the works we are to conduct within the bounds of our means. We want the Syriacs to stay in Turabidin (around the southeastern province of Mardin and Midyat), which is the old residential area of the Syriac community,” Malki said.
The Syriac community is asking for a separate camp to be established for them as they do not want to settle in already founded camps along the border. “Within the current camps there are various people from different segments of society so every kind of problem can arise there. Also, there are many gangs involved in human trafficking in these camps. The Syriacs who cannot comply with the camps leave there and try to migrate to a third country. So some undesired things might occur. Above all they do not want to return their homeland after all this, we are trying to prevent it,” Malki said.
“We firstly want to meet the accommodation needs with the support of diaspora and Turkey’s Syriac associations. But since we have limited facilities we need the support of the state,” Malki said about the expenses of a possible Syriac camp.
Unregistered Syriac immigrants
Thousands of people who fled from Syria found asylum in Turkey or migrated to a third country through Turkey, Malki said. “Only a few [of the refugees] were registered. Many of them stay with their relatives, while some reside in various places they could afford with their own means,” Malki said, indicating they did not want anyone to migrate from their homeland.
“We want them to stay in their residences and struggle. But if there is no chance to struggle, they could temporarily migrate and then return to their homeland after conditions get better. Consequently, we want the migrants to stay in a place where they would not face difficulties and would not need to migrate to a third country and the most appropriate location for that is Turabidin,” Malki said.
December/12/2012
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Syriac leaders are petitioning Turkish officials to establish a separate camp in southeastern Turkey for those who have fled violence in Syria
Leading Syriac figures say they met with officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Foreign Ministry in an effort to establish a separate camp in Mardin for Syriac citizens who are defecting from Syria.
Deputy chair of the Sweden-based Syriac Union Party, Said Malki, Syriac National Council member Bassam Ishak, and head of the Syriac Associations Federation’s management board Evgil Türker, met with AKP deputy chair Numan Kurtulmuş and the Foreign Ministry’s Center for Strategic Research (SAM) deputy chair Mesut Özcan.
No compromise has yet to be reached between the officials on that matter, but negotiations are still ongoing, Malki told the Hürriyet Daily News. “They assured us not to create a problem in the works we are to conduct within the bounds of our means. We want the Syriacs to stay in Turabidin (around the southeastern province of Mardin and Midyat), which is the old residential area of the Syriac community,” Malki said.
The Syriac community is asking for a separate camp to be established for them as they do not want to settle in already founded camps along the border. “Within the current camps there are various people from different segments of society so every kind of problem can arise there. Also, there are many gangs involved in human trafficking in these camps. The Syriacs who cannot comply with the camps leave there and try to migrate to a third country. So some undesired things might occur. Above all they do not want to return their homeland after all this, we are trying to prevent it,” Malki said.
“We firstly want to meet the accommodation needs with the support of diaspora and Turkey’s Syriac associations. But since we have limited facilities we need the support of the state,” Malki said about the expenses of a possible Syriac camp.
Unregistered Syriac immigrants
Thousands of people who fled from Syria found asylum in Turkey or migrated to a third country through Turkey, Malki said. “Only a few [of the refugees] were registered. Many of them stay with their relatives, while some reside in various places they could afford with their own means,” Malki said, indicating they did not want anyone to migrate from their homeland.
“We want them to stay in their residences and struggle. But if there is no chance to struggle, they could temporarily migrate and then return to their homeland after conditions get better. Consequently, we want the migrants to stay in a place where they would not face difficulties and would not need to migrate to a third country and the most appropriate location for that is Turabidin,” Malki said.
December/12/2012
Church land rises Syriacs’ reactions
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Share on linkedin Some Syriacs say they delivered the land to Syriac people in order to silence them on the matter of controvesial Mor Gabriel Monastery (above). Hürriyet photo
Syriac intellectuals released an announcement yesterday protesting the allocation of Latin Catholic land for a new Syriac church project in Istanbul.
The announcement, titled “We do not want a Syriac church over the bones of dead,” referred to an attempt to take the historical Mor Gabriel Monastery from them.
“We think delivering another community’s cemetery land to Syriacs for a church building is a pay-off in the face of the Supreme Court of Appeals’ unjust decision to invade the land belonging to the monastery. After this scandalous decision, the political will tries to brainwash Syriacs and the public in order to create a good impression. Syriacs have the right to found their own church, but we do not want such a solution. The cemetery land allocated [for the Syriac church] must be returned to its owners and other land that would not pose any problems must be granted to the Syriacs,” the announcement read.
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality granted land to Turkey’s Syriac community on Dec. 10 for the purpose of constructing its first official church in Istanbul, but it became the subject of controversy after Latin Catholics said the land in question legally belongs to them.
Bakırköy deputy mayor Yervant Özuzun told the Hürriyet Daily News on Dec. 10 that a part of the land was delivered to the Syriac community. Özuzun said the land was a protected area with a chapel and graveyards, adding that they received required authorization from the Monuments Board and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
“Only a part of the cemetery was allocated [to the Syriac community]. And the conditions of protecting the chapel and gathering the graveyards in one specific point were achieved. The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has possessed the land since 1951,” Özuzun said.
December/12/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Share on linkedin Some Syriacs say they delivered the land to Syriac people in order to silence them on the matter of controvesial Mor Gabriel Monastery (above). Hürriyet photo
Syriac intellectuals released an announcement yesterday protesting the allocation of Latin Catholic land for a new Syriac church project in Istanbul.
The announcement, titled “We do not want a Syriac church over the bones of dead,” referred to an attempt to take the historical Mor Gabriel Monastery from them.
“We think delivering another community’s cemetery land to Syriacs for a church building is a pay-off in the face of the Supreme Court of Appeals’ unjust decision to invade the land belonging to the monastery. After this scandalous decision, the political will tries to brainwash Syriacs and the public in order to create a good impression. Syriacs have the right to found their own church, but we do not want such a solution. The cemetery land allocated [for the Syriac church] must be returned to its owners and other land that would not pose any problems must be granted to the Syriacs,” the announcement read.
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality granted land to Turkey’s Syriac community on Dec. 10 for the purpose of constructing its first official church in Istanbul, but it became the subject of controversy after Latin Catholics said the land in question legally belongs to them.
Bakırköy deputy mayor Yervant Özuzun told the Hürriyet Daily News on Dec. 10 that a part of the land was delivered to the Syriac community. Özuzun said the land was a protected area with a chapel and graveyards, adding that they received required authorization from the Monuments Board and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
“Only a part of the cemetery was allocated [to the Syriac community]. And the conditions of protecting the chapel and gathering the graveyards in one specific point were achieved. The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has possessed the land since 1951,” Özuzun said.
December/12/2012
Exhibit marks Turkey’s first female sculptor
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Turkish and Armenian artists gather works together at an exhibit to commemorate Mari Gerekmezyan, the first female sculptor in Turkish history
The Getronagan Armenian High School in Istanbul’s Galata neighborhood is hosting a special exhibition for pioneering Armenian sculptor Mari Gerekmezyan, the lover of renowned Turkish poet and painter Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu.
The exhibit will run until Dec. 23, and an accompanying booklet will be published after the exhibition.
Only one piece belonging to Gerekmezyan will be showcased at the exhibition because a major portion of her works is missing. Many Turkish and Armenian artists, including photojournalist Ara Güler, gathered their works together to honor the sculptor, who blazed a trail for female sculptors in Turkey.
“Mari Gerekmezyan is the first female sculptor in Turkey,” said Sevengül Sönmez, a professor at Istanbul Bilgi University who contributed to the exhibition and conducted studies on Gerekmezyan’s life, recently told the Hürriyet Daily News. “But she was overshadowed by [her lover] Bedri Rahmi since she was very young and had not yet made her first works during that period. Her relatives and the arts environment preferred to ignore Mari.”
Nonetheless, Sönmez thinks that Mari inspired Bedri Rahmi in his many poems and that she was a devoted woman.
“She fell in love with a married man, and she lost her relatives and friends for that choice. The most important thing that made their love stronger was art. The traces of this love are found in both of their works. They share many things in common such as the view of Anatolia, the image of women and themes of love. If we collected the sculptures of Mari, we can detect the influence of Bedri Rahmi in her works,” Sönmez said.
Her missing works
A major part of Gerekmezyan’s works are missing. According to Sönmez, 15 have been revealed so far but only seven of them have been located. She said even the location of Gerekmezyan’s Yahya Kemal icon, which brought her the winning prize at a State Painting and Sculpture Exhibit in 1945, was unknown.
“We brought her work titled ‘Woman’s Head’ from Surp Yerortutyun Armenian Church in Beyoğlu to the exhibition. When I started studying Gerekmezyan, I only had a few bits of information about her. As the years passed by, I collected data from various books, and I interviewed her students. When I look back, I realize that I made great progress,” Sönmez said.
Sönmez also said Turkish artists’ interactions with their Armenian and Greek counterparts have become an area of study for many researchers in Turkey. “Now we are familiar with many people other than [Turkish-Armenian] Ara Güler. As we continue to work in this field, we are sure to get to know more artists, performers and musicians, as well,” Sönmez said.
Who was Mari Gerekmezyan?
Born in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri’s Talas district, Mari Gerekmezyan graduated from
Esayan Armenian Girls’ High School in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu neighborhood. During her high school
years, she met the renowned Turkish author Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, and this acquaintance led her to a philosophy education. She also received education at Fine Arts Academy. She died from tuberculosis at the age of 34 in 1947.
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Turkish and Armenian artists gather works together at an exhibit to commemorate Mari Gerekmezyan, the first female sculptor in Turkish history
The Getronagan Armenian High School in Istanbul’s Galata neighborhood is hosting a special exhibition for pioneering Armenian sculptor Mari Gerekmezyan, the lover of renowned Turkish poet and painter Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu.
The exhibit will run until Dec. 23, and an accompanying booklet will be published after the exhibition.
Only one piece belonging to Gerekmezyan will be showcased at the exhibition because a major portion of her works is missing. Many Turkish and Armenian artists, including photojournalist Ara Güler, gathered their works together to honor the sculptor, who blazed a trail for female sculptors in Turkey.
“Mari Gerekmezyan is the first female sculptor in Turkey,” said Sevengül Sönmez, a professor at Istanbul Bilgi University who contributed to the exhibition and conducted studies on Gerekmezyan’s life, recently told the Hürriyet Daily News. “But she was overshadowed by [her lover] Bedri Rahmi since she was very young and had not yet made her first works during that period. Her relatives and the arts environment preferred to ignore Mari.”
Nonetheless, Sönmez thinks that Mari inspired Bedri Rahmi in his many poems and that she was a devoted woman.
“She fell in love with a married man, and she lost her relatives and friends for that choice. The most important thing that made their love stronger was art. The traces of this love are found in both of their works. They share many things in common such as the view of Anatolia, the image of women and themes of love. If we collected the sculptures of Mari, we can detect the influence of Bedri Rahmi in her works,” Sönmez said.
Her missing works
A major part of Gerekmezyan’s works are missing. According to Sönmez, 15 have been revealed so far but only seven of them have been located. She said even the location of Gerekmezyan’s Yahya Kemal icon, which brought her the winning prize at a State Painting and Sculpture Exhibit in 1945, was unknown.
“We brought her work titled ‘Woman’s Head’ from Surp Yerortutyun Armenian Church in Beyoğlu to the exhibition. When I started studying Gerekmezyan, I only had a few bits of information about her. As the years passed by, I collected data from various books, and I interviewed her students. When I look back, I realize that I made great progress,” Sönmez said.
Sönmez also said Turkish artists’ interactions with their Armenian and Greek counterparts have become an area of study for many researchers in Turkey. “Now we are familiar with many people other than [Turkish-Armenian] Ara Güler. As we continue to work in this field, we are sure to get to know more artists, performers and musicians, as well,” Sönmez said.
Who was Mari Gerekmezyan?
Born in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri’s Talas district, Mari Gerekmezyan graduated from
Esayan Armenian Girls’ High School in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu neighborhood. During her high school
years, she met the renowned Turkish author Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, and this acquaintance led her to a philosophy education. She also received education at Fine Arts Academy. She died from tuberculosis at the age of 34 in 1947.
11 Aralık 2012 Salı
Syriacs to build new church in Istanbul
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Turkey’s Syriac community is granted land in Istanbul on which to construct its first official church in the city, but the move has become the subject of controversy after Catholics said the parcel in question legally belongs to them. Father Simonelli says they will take the issue to the court
Latin Catholics are claiming ownership of land recently given to Turkey’s Syriac community for the establishment of their first official church in Istanbul.
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality fulfilled the Syriac community’s request last week to approve the construction of a new church, for the first time both in its history and in the Republican period.
However, speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News on behalf of the Latin Catholic Church, FatherBruno Gregorio Simonelli said the Latin Catholic community would take legal action against the decision, claiming property rights to the land. “How could they take away our property and hand it to another community?” Simonelli asked.
Latin Catholic Foundation member and lawyer Nail Karakaş said the land was registered in the 1936 Declaration. “Before 1950, Latin Catholics used to bury their dead in this cemetery but the authorities of that time banned burials. After that, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality took over the possession of the land. Last summer, we appealed to the Municipality for the reopening of the cemetery and were expecting a result,” Karakaş said.
Following the Lausanne Treaty, a law was passed in 1936 that recommended the recording of all minority foundations. Apart from the property recorded in the declaration, the foundations were prevented from obtaining new properties.
‘The government tries to silence us’
Leaders of the Syriac community were surprised by the developments, with some arguing that the land was only given in return for the historic Mor Gabriel Monastery in the southeastern province of Mardin, over which there is an ongoing conflict regarding ownership of the land.
Syriac intellectual Sabo Boyacı harshly criticized the government for the latest developments. “I don’t believe the government’s sincerity. They delivered this land to us in order to silence us on the matter of Mor Gabriel Monastery. It is clear that they want to cause conflict between the minority communities. The government simply aims to make a good impression on the European and Turkish public,” Boyacı said.
Syriacs have struggled to obtain land in Istanbul’s Yeşilköy district for three years. The Istanbul Syriac community – amounting to 25,000, according to church records - used to worship in the churches they rented from Latin Catholics.
Bakırköy deputy mayor Yervant Özuzun told the Hürriyet Daily News that a part of the land was delivered to the Syriac community. Özuzun said the land was a protected area with a chapel and graveyards, adding that they received required authorization from the Monuments Board and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
“Only a part of the cemetery was allocated [to the Syriac community]. And the conditions of protecting the chapel and gathering the graveyards in one specific point were achieved. The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has possessed the land since 1951,” Özuzun said.
December/11/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Turkey’s Syriac community is granted land in Istanbul on which to construct its first official church in the city, but the move has become the subject of controversy after Catholics said the parcel in question legally belongs to them. Father Simonelli says they will take the issue to the court
Latin Catholics are claiming ownership of land recently given to Turkey’s Syriac community for the establishment of their first official church in Istanbul.
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality fulfilled the Syriac community’s request last week to approve the construction of a new church, for the first time both in its history and in the Republican period.
However, speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News on behalf of the Latin Catholic Church, FatherBruno Gregorio Simonelli said the Latin Catholic community would take legal action against the decision, claiming property rights to the land. “How could they take away our property and hand it to another community?” Simonelli asked.
Latin Catholic Foundation member and lawyer Nail Karakaş said the land was registered in the 1936 Declaration. “Before 1950, Latin Catholics used to bury their dead in this cemetery but the authorities of that time banned burials. After that, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality took over the possession of the land. Last summer, we appealed to the Municipality for the reopening of the cemetery and were expecting a result,” Karakaş said.
Following the Lausanne Treaty, a law was passed in 1936 that recommended the recording of all minority foundations. Apart from the property recorded in the declaration, the foundations were prevented from obtaining new properties.
‘The government tries to silence us’
Leaders of the Syriac community were surprised by the developments, with some arguing that the land was only given in return for the historic Mor Gabriel Monastery in the southeastern province of Mardin, over which there is an ongoing conflict regarding ownership of the land.
Syriac intellectual Sabo Boyacı harshly criticized the government for the latest developments. “I don’t believe the government’s sincerity. They delivered this land to us in order to silence us on the matter of Mor Gabriel Monastery. It is clear that they want to cause conflict between the minority communities. The government simply aims to make a good impression on the European and Turkish public,” Boyacı said.
Syriacs have struggled to obtain land in Istanbul’s Yeşilköy district for three years. The Istanbul Syriac community – amounting to 25,000, according to church records - used to worship in the churches they rented from Latin Catholics.
Bakırköy deputy mayor Yervant Özuzun told the Hürriyet Daily News that a part of the land was delivered to the Syriac community. Özuzun said the land was a protected area with a chapel and graveyards, adding that they received required authorization from the Monuments Board and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
“Only a part of the cemetery was allocated [to the Syriac community]. And the conditions of protecting the chapel and gathering the graveyards in one specific point were achieved. The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has possessed the land since 1951,” Özuzun said.
December/11/2012
10 Aralık 2012 Pazartesi
Counting days with potato skin in captivity in Syria
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
After spending three months in a Syrian prison, abducted Turkish journalist Cüneyt Ünal says he is slowly coming back to his normal pace and has no intention of leaving the profession
Turkish journalist Cüneyt Ünal, who was recently released after spending three months in a Syrian prison, has said he is slowly coming back to his normal pace and has no intention of leaving the profession.
In an interview with the Hürriyet Daily News, he said he counted the days in captivity by sticking pieces of potato skin onto the walls of his five-step-long cell.
Ünal, who works for U.S.-funded broadcaster al-Hurra, went missing with his Jordanian colleague, Kadumi, soon after crossing the Turkish-Syrian border on Aug. 20 to report on the civil war in the country.
“They would bring boiled potatoes and bread in the mornings. I would take a piece of the potato skin every day and paste it to the wall, so that I could count my days,” Ünal said.
He explained that he was exposed to physical and psychological suffering in his cell. “They would give me 15 seconds before and after breakfast to use the toilet. When they did not give me water in the evenings, then there was no toilet. To be at home [now] and to be able to go to the toilet when I wake up in the mornings is a huge luxury,” he said.
Losing hope
When asked if he ever lost his hope of being saved, Ünal said: “In the first week, I motivated myself by saying that I expected to be saved. My photo was then printed on an A4 sheet with a rocket launcher and I was declared a terrorist. I lost my hope at that moment.”
Ünal said the photograph was a pose he had taken before being captured. “I posed for my Japanese colleague with a rocket launcher. His camera was taken from him and they found this photo in his camera. Then they modified the photo and then I was declared a terrorist,” he said.
Ünal also expressed his concern about the situation of his friend, Palestinian journalist Başar Kadumi, who was shot and who was with Ünal when they were both arrested. “When we entered Aleppo, two helicopters were bombing the city. I had served in Libya and Gaza before, but I realized that Syria was in a much worse chaos. Some people came and told us they would take us to a safer street. People around us were running in panic. Then we heard gun shots. We left the camera recording in front of the door and sheltered inside a building. Then we went out to the front of the door and Başar had a small camera in his hand. Somebody in plain clothes hit Başar. Then they covered my head and took me somewhere. While they were torturing, they were speaking in Arabic. I could not understand what they were saying but our prime minister’s name was mentioned,” he said.
‘I thought I was dreaming’
An opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) delegation went to Syria to bring Ünal back, and he returned to Turkey on Nov. 18. “I had lost all hope. They took me out of my cell and brought me to the assistant of [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad. When I saw the CHP delegation, I knew I was saved. When I went outside for the first time and when I saw the sunshine, I thought I was in a dream. I still think I’m in a dream. When I wake up at night with nightmare, and when I see my wife and my child, I still think I’m in a dream,” he said.
“The voices of torture are still in my ears but my willpower is strong,” said Ünal, adding that his only shortcoming was that he had no training for war reporting and did not have the necessary safety equipment. Nevertheless, he stressed that he had no intention of leaving the profession.
December/10/2012
6 Aralık 2012 Perşembe
71 journalists in prison, union says
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Seventy-one journalists still remain behind bars in Turkish prisons, journalists from the International Press Institute (IPI) and the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC) said, adding they were concerned about the current state of press freedom in the country, during a meeting of the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC) held Dec. 5.
Democratization
Freedom for Journalists Platform (GÖP) speaker Peter Preston said he had been closely following Turkey’s steps in the democratization process for the last 25 years. Preston is also the secretary general of Ankara Journalists Association and a columnist for The Guardian and The Observer. “I think the speed of [Turkey’s] democratization process has slowed down. The things I heard worry me,” Peterson said, adding that they met government authorities and the main opposition Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP) chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in Ankara, demanding the release of the arrested journalists.
According to data gathered by the association, 71 journalists are still in prison, while the trials of those released are ongoing.
TGC deputy chair Turgay Olcayto, IPI’s Turkey Executive Board member Ferai Tunç, Turkish Journalists Syndicate chair Ercan İpekçi were among the meeting’s speakers.
Olcayto commented on the fourth judicial package, which is mainly focused on eliminating the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECHR) rulings that concern the violation of human rights in Turkey and is expected to pass Parliament soon. “Unfortunately, I am not very hopeful about this package,” he said, adding that the Turkish Penal Code and the Anti-Terror Law must be immediately reformed. “Those incidents are a shame for Turkey,” Olcayto said.
December/07/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Seventy-one journalists still remain behind bars in Turkish prisons, journalists from the International Press Institute (IPI) and the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC) said, adding they were concerned about the current state of press freedom in the country, during a meeting of the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC) held Dec. 5.
Democratization
Freedom for Journalists Platform (GÖP) speaker Peter Preston said he had been closely following Turkey’s steps in the democratization process for the last 25 years. Preston is also the secretary general of Ankara Journalists Association and a columnist for The Guardian and The Observer. “I think the speed of [Turkey’s] democratization process has slowed down. The things I heard worry me,” Peterson said, adding that they met government authorities and the main opposition Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP) chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in Ankara, demanding the release of the arrested journalists.
According to data gathered by the association, 71 journalists are still in prison, while the trials of those released are ongoing.
TGC deputy chair Turgay Olcayto, IPI’s Turkey Executive Board member Ferai Tunç, Turkish Journalists Syndicate chair Ercan İpekçi were among the meeting’s speakers.
Olcayto commented on the fourth judicial package, which is mainly focused on eliminating the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECHR) rulings that concern the violation of human rights in Turkey and is expected to pass Parliament soon. “Unfortunately, I am not very hopeful about this package,” he said, adding that the Turkish Penal Code and the Anti-Terror Law must be immediately reformed. “Those incidents are a shame for Turkey,” Olcayto said.
December/07/2012
Marriages help Turkish- Russian ties
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
Russian Culture Association Chair Rimma Rizayeva says a new generation of children emerging from Turkish-Russian marriages would act as a cultural bridge between the two nations in the future
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Share on linkedin The children of Turkish-Russian couples will bring the two nations together, says Russian Cultural Center chair.
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Marriages between Turks and Russians, which have increased a great degree over the last 20 years, have been helping boost relations between the two countries, according to a Russian cultural official.
Russian Education, Culture and Cooperation Association Executive Chair Rimma Rizayeva told the Hürriyet Daily News that a new generation of children emerging from Turkish-Russian marriages would act as a cultural bridge between the two nations in the future.
Established seven years ago, the Russian Cultural Center provides legal support to Russian women in Turkey who are going through a divorce or have other kinds of problems, with the help of Russian lawyer Alona Smirnova, who graduated from a Turkish university.
When asked about the divorce rate between Turkish and Russian couples, Rizayeva said: “The first marriages made 20 years ago were more problematic since they married before getting to know each other’s cultures and thus resulted in disappointments. But now the people who have received a higher education consciously marry each other. Of course, divorces may happen, but it could happen in every relationship.”
Rizayeva also said children from these marriages needed an education comprised of both Turkish and Russian cultural aspects. “Schools [that offer such subjects] will form a bridge between the two countries.”
Tatiana Uzunay, a Russian woman who graduated from St. Petersburg University and recently married a Turkish businessman, said she was irritated by prejudices that had caused some troubles in her social life.
“The wife of my husband’s best friend does not want to see us merely because I am Russian; this is very irritating. I want to change the bad reputation of Russian women,” she said.
“I am happy to be married to a Turk,” she said. “I would like to say that neither Turks nor Russians know each other well. Russians only see Turkey as a cheap country to have a vacation, but Turkey has much more than that; I want to be a cultural envoy.”
Russians living in Turkey largely demand their own schools and churches in cities such as Istanbul, Antalya and Alanya.
The association’s deputy head, Karani Çakır, said they negotiated with authorities in Ankara and the Turkish-Russian Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group with regard to building a school.
After the countries of the Eastern bloc collapsed at the beginning of the 1990s, women from Russia started shuttle-trading in Turkey; some of them were involved in prostitution. Thereafter, Russian women began being called “Natasha” among Turks, which came to mean “prostitute” in colloquial language. “In our hard times, our women came to Turkey and engaged in the shuttle trade, and there were also prostitutes among them. But it is very offensive to name all Russian women as ‘Natashas,’” she said.
December/06/2012
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
Russian Culture Association Chair Rimma Rizayeva says a new generation of children emerging from Turkish-Russian marriages would act as a cultural bridge between the two nations in the future
Send to friend »
Share on linkedin The children of Turkish-Russian couples will bring the two nations together, says Russian Cultural Center chair.
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Marriages between Turks and Russians, which have increased a great degree over the last 20 years, have been helping boost relations between the two countries, according to a Russian cultural official.
Russian Education, Culture and Cooperation Association Executive Chair Rimma Rizayeva told the Hürriyet Daily News that a new generation of children emerging from Turkish-Russian marriages would act as a cultural bridge between the two nations in the future.
Established seven years ago, the Russian Cultural Center provides legal support to Russian women in Turkey who are going through a divorce or have other kinds of problems, with the help of Russian lawyer Alona Smirnova, who graduated from a Turkish university.
When asked about the divorce rate between Turkish and Russian couples, Rizayeva said: “The first marriages made 20 years ago were more problematic since they married before getting to know each other’s cultures and thus resulted in disappointments. But now the people who have received a higher education consciously marry each other. Of course, divorces may happen, but it could happen in every relationship.”
Rizayeva also said children from these marriages needed an education comprised of both Turkish and Russian cultural aspects. “Schools [that offer such subjects] will form a bridge between the two countries.”
Tatiana Uzunay, a Russian woman who graduated from St. Petersburg University and recently married a Turkish businessman, said she was irritated by prejudices that had caused some troubles in her social life.
“The wife of my husband’s best friend does not want to see us merely because I am Russian; this is very irritating. I want to change the bad reputation of Russian women,” she said.
“I am happy to be married to a Turk,” she said. “I would like to say that neither Turks nor Russians know each other well. Russians only see Turkey as a cheap country to have a vacation, but Turkey has much more than that; I want to be a cultural envoy.”
Russians living in Turkey largely demand their own schools and churches in cities such as Istanbul, Antalya and Alanya.
The association’s deputy head, Karani Çakır, said they negotiated with authorities in Ankara and the Turkish-Russian Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group with regard to building a school.
After the countries of the Eastern bloc collapsed at the beginning of the 1990s, women from Russia started shuttle-trading in Turkey; some of them were involved in prostitution. Thereafter, Russian women began being called “Natasha” among Turks, which came to mean “prostitute” in colloquial language. “In our hard times, our women came to Turkey and engaged in the shuttle trade, and there were also prostitutes among them. But it is very offensive to name all Russian women as ‘Natashas,’” she said.
December/06/2012
4 Aralık 2012 Salı
Davutpaşa Mid 3 to represent the pain of 1980 coup
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Turkish photojournalist, Ahmet Sel, renowned for his works on documentary photography, has published the stories of 42 of his friends who were imprisoned following the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup along with their photographs in a new memoir titled “Davutpaşa Orta Üç” (Davutpaşa Mid 3).
An exhibition with the same name, hosted by Tütün Deposu (Tobacco Depot) in Istanbul’s Tophane district from Nov. 23 and Dec. 23, will feature the book’s photography, drawing attention to the torture and suffering experienced by prisoners in the aftermath of the 1980 military coup.
“My 42 friends served their prison sentence in the same ward. I wanted to do something about myself. Even though I managed to go abroad [at the time], I still shared the same fate as my friends,” Sel said regarding his inspiration to organize the exhibition in an interview with the Hürriyet Daily News.
“One of those friends, Fahrettin Arslan, said we experienced the coup in three different ways: those imprisoned and exposed to torture, those continuing their struggle within the groups they belong to, and those who fled abroad,” Sel said.
Aslan said those who were imprisoned as he was were the ones who managed to survive the post-coup years in the best way, because they were imprisoned and able to carry on with their lives after being released.
“However, I was forbidden to enter this country for 26 years. When I returned, I was like an alien in my hometown, even though I knew its language, customs and traditions,” said Sel. “My 42 friends were exposed to severe tortures in the Davutpaşa barracks. And many of them were not yet in their twenties then,” Sel said.
According to Sel, those imprisoned in the Mid 3 were able to find strength through friendships in the face of torture and hardship. “They resisted in the same ward for years. They said they experienced the greatest friendships in this ward and Davutpaşa was like a kind of school for them,” Sel said. When asked about the meaning of “Mid 3,” Sel explained that the Davutpaşa barracks was a three-storey building with many wards. Sel’s friends lived in the middle ward, which is called Davutpaşa Mid 3.
Sel’s memoir was released recently by Aras Publishing.
Place of torture turns into university campus
Davutpaşa barracks, where the victims of the coup were once exposed to torture, now serves as the Fine Arts Faculty of Yıldız Technical University. In an ironic twist, the son of one of Sel’s friends now receives an education in the same ward his father was once tortured in. “When taking the photographs, we visited [the barracks] and music was coming from the corridors. My friend got very happy when he saw younger generations receiving an education there,” Sel said.
Sel formed the scenes of his book according to the people he photographed. “The photograph on the book cover shows Sefer Atalay. [For the photograph] he took a walk on the hills of Dragos and I took a photograph of him while he was there. I supported the photos with my stories. This book will be an important mediator today since the late history is being questioned,” Sel said.
Story of a neurology professor
Sabahattin Sahip, a member of the Greek Communist Party, came from Komotini to Istanbul in order to study medicine. He was arrested and tortured after the coup. After he was released, he maintained his education with great difficulties. He was attempted to be exiled, but he managed to become a Turkish citizen. Now, he is a professor of neurology.
The journalist Aydın Engin was the editor-in-chief of Politika Gazetesi (Journal of Politics), he used to write a column titled “Tırmık.” And he was ordered to be arrested for one of his columns.
“On the day I was released, the charge against me was finalized. I was going to stay in prison 7.5 years more,” Engin said in the book. “On the day I was released, I fled to Dusseldorf with the first plane. The document of my final charge arrived in Davutpaşa next day,” he said.
The objects that were made by the prisoners during their imprisonment and their photographs from those times can also be seen in the exhibition. The book Davutpaşa Mid 3 will be available for purchase at the opening.
About the Mid 3 ward
“Davutpaşa Mid 3” presents the portraits of 42 human beings with a shared fate in the Mid 3 ward of Davutpaşa Military Prison in the lead-up to and aftermath of the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup d’état, that left an indelible mark on the recent history of Turkey.
In his book Sel treats the old inmates as if they were in a time tunnel, on a stage constructed somewhere between the past and the future. The places where the photographs have been taken not only contain details regarding the past and presents of the people in the portraits, but also feature clues that point toward the world beyond that field, for instance, toward Turkey’s transformation. Thus, a family album striving to exist in memory begins to exist in the reality of the present as a document that has been handed down from the past.
The Mid 3 ward, now used as an art studio by a university (Şahin Arslan); the asphalt road that has taken the place of teahouses along the shore and the coastline that gradually moves further away (Mustafa Taluğ); the hills of Dragos, once a place to visit to find solitude in the years after coming out of prison, but now covered with kitsch villas of the wealthy classes (Sefer Atalay); a five-storey building in Sefaköy, erected in place of a police department once used as a torture house (Kemal Işık); and memories revived at the side of one’s mother, who also signs of the passing of troublesome times (Kazım Rençberoğlu). The photograph of Erhan Tüskan, who after long years spent in prison settled in the Netherlands and felt alienated to his own city, was taken at the edge of a city, in an area that was once covered with fields, but is now filled with skyscrapers!
The portraits in these constructed places are an opportunity to face-off, both for the viewer and the person who has been photographed. “Which traces of youth remain?” is one question that comes to mind. The shadow of an old code of conduct - the way the legs have been crossed, the tesbih [worry beads] in one hand, the challenging manner of a certain slant, or the weathered look emanating from a crestfallen glance? The people in the portraits are left facing their own reality, their present condition and their own mortality in these photographs. Even the negatives on which the portraits are recorded on, the paper they are printed on, and the wood of their frames will last longer than these lives enriched with dedication and complexity.
December/04/2012
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Turkish photojournalist, Ahmet Sel, renowned for his works on documentary photography, has published the stories of 42 of his friends who were imprisoned following the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup along with their photographs in a new memoir titled “Davutpaşa Orta Üç” (Davutpaşa Mid 3).
An exhibition with the same name, hosted by Tütün Deposu (Tobacco Depot) in Istanbul’s Tophane district from Nov. 23 and Dec. 23, will feature the book’s photography, drawing attention to the torture and suffering experienced by prisoners in the aftermath of the 1980 military coup.
“My 42 friends served their prison sentence in the same ward. I wanted to do something about myself. Even though I managed to go abroad [at the time], I still shared the same fate as my friends,” Sel said regarding his inspiration to organize the exhibition in an interview with the Hürriyet Daily News.
“One of those friends, Fahrettin Arslan, said we experienced the coup in three different ways: those imprisoned and exposed to torture, those continuing their struggle within the groups they belong to, and those who fled abroad,” Sel said.
Aslan said those who were imprisoned as he was were the ones who managed to survive the post-coup years in the best way, because they were imprisoned and able to carry on with their lives after being released.
“However, I was forbidden to enter this country for 26 years. When I returned, I was like an alien in my hometown, even though I knew its language, customs and traditions,” said Sel. “My 42 friends were exposed to severe tortures in the Davutpaşa barracks. And many of them were not yet in their twenties then,” Sel said.
According to Sel, those imprisoned in the Mid 3 were able to find strength through friendships in the face of torture and hardship. “They resisted in the same ward for years. They said they experienced the greatest friendships in this ward and Davutpaşa was like a kind of school for them,” Sel said. When asked about the meaning of “Mid 3,” Sel explained that the Davutpaşa barracks was a three-storey building with many wards. Sel’s friends lived in the middle ward, which is called Davutpaşa Mid 3.
Sel’s memoir was released recently by Aras Publishing.
Place of torture turns into university campus
Davutpaşa barracks, where the victims of the coup were once exposed to torture, now serves as the Fine Arts Faculty of Yıldız Technical University. In an ironic twist, the son of one of Sel’s friends now receives an education in the same ward his father was once tortured in. “When taking the photographs, we visited [the barracks] and music was coming from the corridors. My friend got very happy when he saw younger generations receiving an education there,” Sel said.
Sel formed the scenes of his book according to the people he photographed. “The photograph on the book cover shows Sefer Atalay. [For the photograph] he took a walk on the hills of Dragos and I took a photograph of him while he was there. I supported the photos with my stories. This book will be an important mediator today since the late history is being questioned,” Sel said.
Story of a neurology professor
Sabahattin Sahip, a member of the Greek Communist Party, came from Komotini to Istanbul in order to study medicine. He was arrested and tortured after the coup. After he was released, he maintained his education with great difficulties. He was attempted to be exiled, but he managed to become a Turkish citizen. Now, he is a professor of neurology.
The journalist Aydın Engin was the editor-in-chief of Politika Gazetesi (Journal of Politics), he used to write a column titled “Tırmık.” And he was ordered to be arrested for one of his columns.
“On the day I was released, the charge against me was finalized. I was going to stay in prison 7.5 years more,” Engin said in the book. “On the day I was released, I fled to Dusseldorf with the first plane. The document of my final charge arrived in Davutpaşa next day,” he said.
The objects that were made by the prisoners during their imprisonment and their photographs from those times can also be seen in the exhibition. The book Davutpaşa Mid 3 will be available for purchase at the opening.
About the Mid 3 ward
“Davutpaşa Mid 3” presents the portraits of 42 human beings with a shared fate in the Mid 3 ward of Davutpaşa Military Prison in the lead-up to and aftermath of the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup d’état, that left an indelible mark on the recent history of Turkey.
In his book Sel treats the old inmates as if they were in a time tunnel, on a stage constructed somewhere between the past and the future. The places where the photographs have been taken not only contain details regarding the past and presents of the people in the portraits, but also feature clues that point toward the world beyond that field, for instance, toward Turkey’s transformation. Thus, a family album striving to exist in memory begins to exist in the reality of the present as a document that has been handed down from the past.
The Mid 3 ward, now used as an art studio by a university (Şahin Arslan); the asphalt road that has taken the place of teahouses along the shore and the coastline that gradually moves further away (Mustafa Taluğ); the hills of Dragos, once a place to visit to find solitude in the years after coming out of prison, but now covered with kitsch villas of the wealthy classes (Sefer Atalay); a five-storey building in Sefaköy, erected in place of a police department once used as a torture house (Kemal Işık); and memories revived at the side of one’s mother, who also signs of the passing of troublesome times (Kazım Rençberoğlu). The photograph of Erhan Tüskan, who after long years spent in prison settled in the Netherlands and felt alienated to his own city, was taken at the edge of a city, in an area that was once covered with fields, but is now filled with skyscrapers!
The portraits in these constructed places are an opportunity to face-off, both for the viewer and the person who has been photographed. “Which traces of youth remain?” is one question that comes to mind. The shadow of an old code of conduct - the way the legs have been crossed, the tesbih [worry beads] in one hand, the challenging manner of a certain slant, or the weathered look emanating from a crestfallen glance? The people in the portraits are left facing their own reality, their present condition and their own mortality in these photographs. Even the negatives on which the portraits are recorded on, the paper they are printed on, and the wood of their frames will last longer than these lives enriched with dedication and complexity.
December/04/2012
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