Month: September 2008

by Anne Szustek

Rising Islamism and nationalism within Turkey are hurting Istanbul’s once robust Orthodox Christian community. Possible EU accession has brought the situation into the limelight.

Istanbul’s Orthodox Patriarchate Fighting for Survival

In 2007, 42 of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee’s 50 members sent Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan a letter pleading on behalf of the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate, established in Istanbul in the 4th century. Bartholomew I, the leader of the world’s 300 million members of Eastern Orthodox churches, sits in the Patriarchate’s headquarters in Fener, a blighted neighborhood on Istanbul’s Golden Horn.

Former Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., then the head of the committee, called the patriarchate “one of the world’s oldest and greatest treasures.”

Tide of Nationalism Threatens Istanbul’s Greek Orthodox Community.

Istanbul, 12 Sept. (AKI) – Eighteen students have been arrested in the Turkish city of Istanbul for protesting against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

News agency, Dogan, said on Friday that members of the Turkish Communist Party and an Istanbul Technical University student club were protesting against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The protest coincided with a visit by Erdogan who attended a ceremony to mark the university’s new school year.

The agency said protesters chanted slogans against the AKP and the ITU’s newly elected rector.

Eighteen student club members, who continued to chant slogans, were taken into custody by police.

Gul reportedly appointed a pro-AKP candidate as rector who had come third in the voting among academic staff instead of the candidate who won the majority of votes.

Source : Adnkronos

TEHRAN, Sept. 12 (MNA) — “Art of Islamic World: From Turkey to Indonesia” exhibition is currently underway at the Istanbul’s Asian Art Museum that will run through March 1.

Ranging from the tenth to the twenty-first century, the sixty works of art include paintings, manuscripts, ceramics, textiles, metal wares, historic photographs, and puppets.

The artworks are from Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines and many are on display for the first time.

One of the ceramic pieces on display is a large blue-and-white dish from Iran dated 1650-1670, which might be thought at first glance to be Chinese. During the Safavid empire (1501-1722), Persia and China had admired each other’s artwork and luxury goods for many centuries, and both had at various times adopted forms and motifs from each other’s creations.

The early 1600s—the last decades of the Ming dynasty—Chinese production was disrupted by natural disasters and social disorder. Persian ceramic factories seized the opportunity and geared up production to satisfy the enormous demand for large, splendid blue-and-white dishes. Persian artisans did not have the materials or China’s technical secrets for making true porcelain, but they managed to make credible imitations.

The exhibition also is timed to coincide with the publication of the museum catalog, “Persian Ceramics: From the Collections of the Asian Art Museum”, scheduled for release in mid-September.

SB/YAW
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MNA

Source : mehr news agency