January 18, 2017, 8:21 pm
Mavi Boncuk |
Measured by the number of international overnight visitors, the study, now in
its seventh year, predicts which countries will be the most visited in 2016.
From the Asia-Pacific region to Europe to the Middle East and Africa, here are the 20 cities set to see the most visitors this year:
20) Prague, Czech Republic - 5.81 million international visitors
19) Shanghai, China - 6.12 million international visitors
18) Vienna, Austria - 6.69 million international visitors
17) Osaka, Japan - 7.02 million international visitors
16) Rome, Italy - 7.12 million international visitors
15) Taipei, Taiwan - 7.5 million international visitors
14) Milan, Italy - 7.65 million international visitors
13) Amsterdam, Netherlands - 8 million international visitors
12) Barcelona, Spain - 8.20 million international visitors
11) Hong Kong, China - 8.37 million international visitors
10) Seoul, South Korea - 10.20 million international visitors
9) Tokyo, Japan - 11.70 million international visitors
8) Istanbul, Turkey - 11.95 million international visitors
7) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 12.02 million international visitors
6) Singapore - 12.11 million international visitors
5) New York City, USA - 12.75 million international visitors
4) Dubai, United Arab Emirates - 15.27 million international visitors
3) Paris, France - 18.03 million international visitors
2) London, England - 19.88 million international visitors
1) Bangkok, Thailand - 21.47 million international visitors
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January 25, 2017, 7:07 am
Berlinale Panaroma[1] 2017 | Kaygı|Inflame By Ceylan Özgün Özçelik[2]
Ceylan Özgün Özçelik’s "INFLAME" to have its world premiere at the Berlinale Turkish writer/director Ceylan Özgün Özçelik’s debut feature INFLAME will make its world premiere at the 67th Berlinale Panorama. INFLAME is the only film from Turkey at this year's edition which takes place from February 9 to 19, 2017
Mavi Boncuk |
Kaygı (Inflame) - TurkeyBy Ceylan Özgün ÖzçelikWith Algı Eke, Özgür ÇevikWorld premiere– Debut filmTODAY’S FRESH MEMORIES WILL ONLY BE REACHED THROUGH THE MEDIA TOMORROW There is a shopping mall in Istiklal Street, which was built recently, fracturing both the fabric of Taksim and our memories. I felt so scared when I realized that I couldn’t recall what stood there before. I asked many friends the same question: What used to stand where the shopping mall is now? The result was frightening! None of them could remember. We do forget, indeed. What are the limits of oblivion? Forgetting massacres? INFLAME is a psychological thriller, based on collective memory and its sphere of influence, tells its tale through a nightmare. Tracks a news channel employee who lives in an uncanny country, where reality and hallucinations bounce off of each other. Tracks a woman, who seeks her past in her own memory… Ceylan Özgün Özçelik
COUNTRY TurkeyGENRE Psychological thrillerRUNTIME 94 minASPECT RATIO 2.39:1PARTNERS & FUNDS !f Istanbul Sundance Screenwriters Lab Turkish Ministry of CultureFirst Feature Film SupportFEST Pitching Forum (2nd place)Meetings on the Bridge Work In Progress(Anadolu Efes Award)Fongogo Crowdfunding CampaignAdahan Istanbul Hotel
DIRECTORCeylan Özgün ÖzçelikSCRIPTCeylan Özgün Özçelik DoP Radek Ładczuk EDITING Ahmet Can Çakırca MUSIC Ekin Fil PRODUCTION DESIGN Kerem Ardahan, Sıla Karaca SUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR Fatih Ragbet SOUND Özgür Özden COSTUME DESIGN Tuba Ataç CASTING Günay AltanCAST Algı Eke, Özgür Çevik, Kadir Çermik, Selen Uçer, Boncuk Yılmaz, Asiye Dinçsoy, Ipek Türktan Kaynak, Kerem Kupacı PRODUCTION Adnan M. Sapçı, Sadık Ekinci,Emre Oskay (Istanbul Film Production) CO-PRODUCERS Armağan Lale (Filmada)Ceylan Özgün Özçelik (EHY Film Production) CONTACT Armagan Lale armagan@filmada.net WORLD SALES M-appeal berlinoffice@m-appeal.com
[1] With the invitation of 24 further feature films, the selection for the Panorama 2017 programme has been completed. 51 works from 43 countries have been chosen for screening in the section, including 21 in Panorama Dokumente and 29 feature films in the main programme and Panorama Special. 36 of these films will be celebrating their world premieres at the Berlinale, while the programme also features six international and nine European premieres (see the Panorama press releases from December 12, 2016 and January 17, 2017).
The Panorama Audience Awards for Best Feature Film and Best Documentary will be presented for the 19th time together with radioeins and for the first time in co-operation with rbb television. In 2016, over 30,000 audience members cast their votes. On the Berlinale Publikumstag, February 19, the winning films will be presented in CinemaxX7 following the awards ceremony.
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FEATURE FILM 2016 Kaygı / Inflame (Based on a True Nightmare) - Psychological Thriller
SHORT FILMS 2011 Adil ya da Değil / By Any Means Necessary - Mystery Script, Director, Producer
2009 Onlar Birbirlerini Sevdiler Ama... / So-Called Love Story! - Musical Comedy Script, Director, Editor, Producer
2007 Nisanın Her Tarafı Vicdan Olsa / How Much Does Pride Cost? - Drama Script, Director, Producer
SELECTED WORKS From Script to Screen: Zeki Demirkubuz and Zeki Ökten (Turkish Directors Documentary Series - The Ministry Of Culture Project) Interviewer, Co-editor
2010 Dir. Tayfun Pirselimoğlu - Saç / Hair Behind the scenes – Camera, Editing
2010 Erman Film (Production Company) – Trailer Creator, Editor
2008-2009-2010 Turkish Film Critics AssociationTurkish Cinema Awards - Nominees & Honorary Awards Videos Creator, Co-editor
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January 26, 2017, 7:05 am
Berlinale 2017 | Helle Nächte by Thomas ArslanMavi Boncuk |
Main CompetitionHelle Nächte (Bright Nights)Germany / NorwayBy Thomas Arslan (Dealer, Vacation, In the Shadows, Gold)With Georg Friedrich, Tristan Göbel, Marie Leuenberger, Hanna KarlbergWorld premiere
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A father tries to rekindle his relationship with his son after years of absence and lack of communication. He takes him on a car ride across northern Norway, hoping it is not too late.
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Bio: Thomas Arslan was born on July 16 1962 in Braunschweig. The son of a German-Turkish couple grew up in Essen and Ankara. Following his graduation from school, he studied German Literature in Munich, and later enrolled at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie in Berlin, where he majored in direction. Since 1992, he is working as a freelance screenwriter and director.
In 1994, his feature film debut "Mach die Musik leiser" was released. This was followed by a trilogy of films – "Geschwister – Kardesler" (1996), "Dealer" (1999) and "Der schöne Tag" (2001) – which reflects upon the different experiences of people of Turkish descent living in Berlin. Arslan employs long takes and a detached, documentary-like approach in his portrayals of everyday life. He mostly eschews folkloristic details and does not focus on the nationality of his characters, whose problems do not primarily stem from the fact that they are of foreign descent. "Dealer" premiered at the 1999 Berlinale Forum and was won the FIPRESCI award and the Award of the Ecumenical Jury.
Following the documentary "Aus der Ferne" (2006) about Arslan's travels through Turkey, he directed the intimate drama "Ferien", which saw its premiere at the 2007 Berlinale Panorama. In 2010 he presented "Im Schatten" at the festival. The unique gerne film follows a gangster, who resumes his criminal career after being just released from prison.
Following this critically acclaimed gangster film, Arslan takes on another classic genre, the Western: Set in the year 1898 and featuring Nina Hoss, "Gold" tells the story of a group of German immigrants who travel from New York to the newfound gold fields in the Canadian Yukon territory. Arslan's film was selected for the competition of the 2013 Berlin IFF.
Filmography as Director : 2017 Bright Nights 2013/I Gold 2010 In the Shadows 2007/I Vacation 2006 Aus der Ferne (Documentary) 2001 A Fine Day 1999 Dealer 1997 Brothers and Sisters 1994 Mach die Musik leiser (TV Movie) 1992 Im Sommer - Die sichtbare Welt (Short) 1991 Am Rand (Documentary short) 1990 19 Portraits (Short)
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January 27, 2017, 2:18 pm
Mavi Boncuk |
Agency | Rating | Outlook S&P | BB | Stable Moody's | Ba1 | Stable Fitch | BBB- [1]| Negative DBRS | BB(high) | Negative
[1] Some BBB- countries: Hungary (Stable), India (Stable), South Africa (Negative), Kazakhstan (Negative), Italy (Stable)
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January 29, 2017, 10:43 am
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Mavi Boncuk |
Dress in a Muslim countryTurkey covers up
The headscarf returns to TurkeyFrom the print edition | InternationalJan 26th 2017, 15:44moreAS OTHER countries move to ban Muslim head coverings, Turkey is going the opposite way. Women have been free to wear headscarves at state universities since 2011, and in parliament since 2013. Last August policewomen were allowed to cover their heads; in November a ban on headscarves among civilian defence staff was lifted.
In 1925 Kemal Ataturk, Turkey’s first president, declared that a “civilised, international dress” was “worthy and appropriate” for the new republic. For men, this meant Western shoes, trousers, shirts and ties—in with the bowler and out with the fez. Women were urged to follow European fashion, dance the foxtrot and work in the professions. In 1934 Turkey let women vote and banned the wearing of the Islamic veil.
Curbs on religious garb were tightened in the 1990s. Fatma Benli, a lawyer and parliamentarian, remembers being asked to remove her scarf before defending her dissertation in the late 1990s. In 1999 an MP who came to parliament in a headscarf was booed out. That began to change after 2002, as the Justice and Development (AK) party consolidated power. Today 21 covered women sit in parliament. Critics say the AK party has promoted veiling by preferring veiled job applicants and conservative groups. Binnaz Toprak, a sociologist and opposition politician, has found that some women, especially in the public sector, wear the scarf to further their careers.
Some secularists see a link between stricter Islamic dress norms and increased violence against women. In September a nurse in Istanbul was kicked in the face by a man enraged at her shorts. He was quickly released, to be rearrested only after an outcry.
At a protest several weeks later a teenage student, Oznur, complained about a hostile climate in the district where she lives: “We can’t walk on our own in the evening without being harassed.” She and her friends wanted neither a return to Kemalist dress codes nor their replacement by Islamic ones. The state, she said, has no business telling women what they should wear.
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January 30, 2017, 9:21 am
Just a few months ago, the situation between Russia and Turkey looked frightening enough. Not since 200 years ago had the risk of war between these two great powers been so real.
In November 2015, Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 fighter jet flying out of a regime-controlled airbase in Syria. Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, described the act as a “stab in the back” by Turkish President Recep Erdogan. Moscow accused Erdogan’s regime of collaborating and supporting the Islamic State, and Russian television ran stories backing the claim. Both sides dug in uncompromising positions.
Under domestic pressure, and running out of friends, the Turkish president offered an unexpected olive branch at the end of June. Turkey apologized for the downing of the jet, while new modes of cooperation and a state visit were discussed. The unsuccessful July 15 coup did nothing to undermine the prospects of rekindled friendship between Moscow and Ankara. SOURCE
Mavi Boncuk |
Is Erdogan a Russian Ally or Putin's Puppet? By Anna Borshchevskaya [1]
Forbes | January 27, 2017
The Turkish-Russian relationship is an unequal one, and Erdogan may not realize the extent of Putin's capacity for manipulating and abandoning temporary allies.
Russian and Turkish strongmen Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan appear closer than ever. For years Erdogan opposed Putin's position on Syria, and demanded that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad must go. No longer does Erdogan voice this demand. To the contrary, upon conclusion of the latest Syria talks in Astana on January 24, Putin and Erdogan only moved closer by agreeing, together with Iran, to jointly fight ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fatah al-Sham. Russian and Western press reports indicate Turkey and Russia already launched joint strikes in Syria.
Yet the Russian-Turkish relationship is unequal. Putin is in an increasingly stronger position, and it is unclear if Erdogan is aware of this.
Erdogan has eliminated virtually all free press. It is hard to top Russia on freedom of expression crackdown, but Turkey for years now has ranked below Russia on free press according to Reporters without Borders. Putin and Erdogan share many traits, but Turkish society is more sharply divided than Russia's, and the Kremlin's propaganda efforts are more organized and systematic. Indeed, Russian propaganda is second to none. Since the failed Turkish coup in July, Erdogan has unleashed an unprecedented crackdown on civil society and the military. In this context it is easier for Erdogan than for Putin to be out of touch with reality.
Meanwhile, Putin retains leverage over Erdogan, especially through his relationship with the Kurds. Broadly speaking, Kurdish nationalism has long been central to Erdogan, first as an object of reconciliation, and now one of confrontation, specifically with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Moscow's deep ties to the Kurds go back two centuries. Russian and Soviet leaders always used them against Turkish leaders to assert control. The PKK is essentially a Kremlin-sponsored Cold War era creation. It is partly because of fears of Kurdish nationalism in Syria that Erdogan has come to believe he has no choice than to accept Putin's position on Assad, especially in the context of years of US absence in Syria.
Putin has serious problems -- both real and imaginary, but Erdogan has little leverage over him. By comparison, the Turkish economy appears to be doing even worse than Russia's. Putin can also turn on and off the flow of Russian tourists into Turkey. Turkey has grown more dependent on Russian tourists who, by comparison, have greater options.
Turkey is also more vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Erdogan is more isolated and stretched thinner on multiple fronts. Putin is also simply less emotional than Erdogan, and more calculating. As one Turkish analyst said in January, "The Turkish government has completely detached itself from reality." This is not necessarily so with Putin.
Putin views diplomacy in zero-sum terms, and in the end, holds allegiance to no one. He has thrown other leaders under the bus before and can turn on a dime, be it freezing the sale of S-300s to Iran in 2010 when it suited the Kremlin's interests, or lifting the ban in 2015 despite Israel's security concerns. Putin tends to view international affairs as a system of strong-arming others into submission, making offers one can't refuse, or simply fomenting unrest or confusion through subterfuge.
At the same time, in the Middle East Putin has been closer to the anti-Western Shia bloc, and will likely remain closer to it in the near future. Turkey, a Sunni power, on the other hand, is still a NATO ally. When Erdogan apologized in June 2016 to Putin for Turkey's downing of the Russian jet that briefly entered Turkish territory in November 2015, he implicitly admitted that Turkey needs Russia more than Russia needs Turkey. Erdogan may think Putin is his ally, but instead, Turkey is falling far deeper under Moscow's influence than even Erdogan may realize.
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Originally from Moscow, Ms. Borshchevskaya came to the United States as a refugee in 1993 and has since received an MA in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a BA in political science and international relations from the State University of New York at Geneseo.
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January 30, 2017, 9:43 am
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Mavi Boncuk | Delight for the palate by Aylin Öney Tan[1]
January/16/2017SOURCE
Pistachios and chocolate: These two have an affinity for each other according to the Turkish palate. All Turkish patisseries feature a chocolate specialty with pistachios; chocolate ganache cake is almost always sparked with bright green pistachios; I bet there is not a single pastry shop in the whole country that does not have a chocolate-pistachio combo product on its shelves. Similarly, chocolate-coated pistachio Turkish delight, once a novelty, is now all around and almost considered a classic. The Turkish obsession in combining these two tastes has an interesting story; and no it is not a Turkish chocolatier who invented a creation by accident, or something similar. It originated in Switzerland.
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One would never imagine that the much-loved Turkish pistachio chocolate has had a Swiss connection. It was the Swiss firm Nestlé which came up with the idea almost a century ago, and although they were already strong in the Turkish market with a factory in Istanbul, they kept it to themselves; the pistachio chocolate was initially not intended to seduce the Turkish palate.
All this is revealed by an amazing research undertaken by a curious historian, Saadet Özen, and now also featured in a documentary on the history of chocolate in Turkey, conducted by Coşkun Aral for İz TV, based on the same research. The local history of chocolate had not been studied in depth before Özen tackled with the subject. In the foreword of her book, she admits that, though the topic seems so attractive and seducing, it proved to be a tough one; even composing a single statement had been hard. The topic might have been a tough one, but Özen, a tough cookie herself, was very determined and keen to solve every possible problem she comes across. She possessed one crucial quality to do this: a true passion for chocolate.
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Already having a sweet tooth, the Ottomans could not be kept away from the chocolate fashion that was sweeping the European market. An initial appearance of chocolate tablets were recorded in a pharmacy in Istanbul, advertised in the local newspaper Journal de Constantinople, and there are records of chocolate imports in the archival documents of Ottoman customs in 1848. Soon, many European chocolates made their appearances in Ottoman cities, such as Louis Marquis in 1855 and Menier chocolates in 1856. The foreign chocolates were soon to be rivaled by local companies such as Royal and Hilal and later by Zafer and Melba in the early 1900s. But it was the Swiss Nestlé, the first multinational company to be established in the Ottoman Empire, who challenged all, and became the official chocolatier of the Ottoman court in 1908.
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However, the company’s first initiative was not about selling chocolates to the Ottomans, it was about a milk product the company invented, Farine Lactée, milk flour which was created as a substitute for breast milk. Fresh milk was problematic to get by, so this new product, first launched in 1868, was soon imported into the Ottoman world in 1875, and was embraced with enthusiasm. Already famed for its milk-based products, and thanks to the trust stemming from the health aspect tied to milk, the chocolates of Nestlé would easily be welcomed. Eventually, the company opened its first factory in 1927 in Feriköy, Istanbul, in the early years of the young Turkish Republic.
Coming back to the iconic pistachio and chocolate creation, it was in 1933 when the company came up with the idea. It was called Damak and was within a line of other Turkish-inspired products such as Kaïmak, a double cream extra milky chocolate; Selim, a milk chocolate with almonds and hazelnuts; and Pachas marketed as “bonbons surfins.” All these Turkish names were intended to evoke an oriental connection for the European market, as none were available in Turkey. Some were branded under the Caillers or Kohler labels, other companies owned by Nestlé. Among all, Damak was a pure success and proved to be the last one standing. But it took some time to invade the Turkish palate, more than three decades actually. The first Damak in Turkey was launched in 1966.
Damak, as a name, means palate in Turkish, but also refers to good taste, evoking a sense of “delight for the palate,” but one reason it was chosen was because it has connotations with Damascus, the hometown of Turkish pistachios. Until not long ago, the Turkish pistachio, a.k.a. the Antep pistachio, the variety most suited for sweets, was known as “Şam fıstığı,” the Damascene pistachio. The first European package informatively wrote: “Chocolat au lait aux pistaches de Damas.” So the connection was obvious; Damak & Damas. Of course nobody in Europe would know the Turkish meaning of Damak, but the bright green package made one think of the pistachio connection at once.
Turkish pistachios have a delicate taste, strangely both sweet and slightly savory, which contrasts beautifully with the deep earthy seductive flavor of chocolate.
The taste combination became an icon amid its successful fusion of the local and global, Turkish and Swiss, traditional and modern. The Swiss company was already trying hard to be as local as possible, making appearances in local produce fairs, and advertising its chocolates as a totally local product, though cacao beans were obviously neither Swiss nor Turkish. It was perhaps Damak that had the chance to make a chocolate truly local, from a much-loved nut that already had its place in sweets from baklava to halvah.
Pistachio was totally grown in Turkey, and in 1977 it would eventually be recognized as Antep fıstığı (Antebi pistachios), rather than the Şam fıstığı, as a sign of the sense of strong ownership of the Gaziantep people. There is no escape now from the pistachio-chocolate marriage in Turkey; it is a unique fusion, just like the country itself, so open and embracing of Western ways, but remaining traditional in many aspects, adding this familiar pistachio bite to even the most alien and bitter taste, ultimately transforming it into its own.
[1] The food columnist for Istanbul’s daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, Tan is also a historian
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January 30, 2017, 10:01 am
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Mavi Boncuk |
Turkish production of Nestle began in 1927. Pictured above are the first Turkish factory and employees.
The berat of thanks is from Sultan Mehmed the Fifth.[1]
[1] Mehmed V Reşâd (Ottoman Turkish: محمد خامس Meḥmed-i ẖâmis, Turkish: Mehmed V Reşad or Reşat Mehmet) (2 November 1844 – 3 July 1918) was the 35th and penultimate Ottoman Sultan. He was the son of Sultan Abdülmecid I. He was succeeded by his half-brother Mehmed VI. His nine-year reign was marked by the cession of the Empire's North African territories and the Dodecanese Islands, including Rhodes, in the Italo-Turkish War, the traumatic loss of almost all of the Empire's European territories west of Constantinople in the First Balkan War, and the entry of the Empire into World War I, which would ultimately lead to the end of the Ottoman Empire.
His reign began on 27 April 1909, but he was largely a figurehead with no real political power, as a consequence of the Young Turk Revolution in 1908 (which restored the Ottoman Constitution and Parliament) and especially the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état, which brought the dictatorial triumvirate of the Three Pashas to power.
Under his rule, the Ottoman Empire lost all its remaining territory in North Africa (Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan) to Italy in the Italo-Turkish War and nearly all its European territories (except for a small strip of land west of Constantinople) in the First Balkan War.
Mehmed V's most significant political act was to formally declare jihad against the Entente Powers (Allies of World War I) on 14 November 1914, following the Ottoman government's decision to join the First World War on the side of the Central Powers. He was actually said to look with disfavor on the pro-German policy of Enver Pasha.
This was the last genuine proclamation of jihad in history by a Caliph, as the Caliphate lasted until 1924. The proclamation had no noticeable effect on the war, despite the fact that many Muslims lived in Ottoman territories. The Arabs eventually joined the British forces against the Ottomans with the Arab Revolt in 1916.
Mehmed V hosted Kaiser Wilhelm II, his World War I ally, in Constantinople on 15 October 1917. He was made Generalfeldmarschall of the Kingdom of Prussia on 27 January 1916, and of the German Empire on 1 February 1916.
Mehmed V died at Yıldız Palace on 3 July 1918 at the age of 73, only four months before the end of World War I. Thus, he did not live to see the downfall of the Ottoman Empire. He spent most of his life at the Dolmabahçe Palace and Yıldız Palace in Istanbul. His grave is in the Eyüp district.
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January 30, 2017, 10:58 am
Mavi Boncuk |
(click text to see in full size)
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January 31, 2017, 8:55 am
Mavi Boncuk |
The Ottoman Empire severed diplomatic relations with the United States on April 20, 1917, after the United States declared war against Germany on April 4, 1917. Normal diplomatic relations were reestablished with the Empire's successor state, Turkey, in 1927.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiaries
John G. A. Leishman (1901–1909)[1]Oscar S. Straus (1909–1910)[2]William Woodville Rockhill (1909–1913)[3]Henry Morgenthau, Sr. (1913–1916)[4]Abram I. Elkus (1916–1917)[5]
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[1]John George Alexander Leishman (March 28, 1857 – March 27, 1924) was an American businessman and diplomat. He worked in various executive positions at Carnegie Steel Company and later served as an ambassador for the United States. President William McKinley first appointed him as United States Ambassador to Switzerland. Thereafter, Leishman became United States Ambassador to Turkey in 1900, United States Ambassador to Italy in 1909 and United States Ambassador to Germany in 1911.As a result of the impasse between himself and Kaiser Wilhelm II which was created by his daughter Nancy's marriage to Karl von Croy, Leishman left Berlin and retired to private life in 1914. His wife Julia died in 1918 in Monte Carlo. He died on March 27, 1924 in Monte Carlo. They are buried in the Cemeterie de Monaco.
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[2] Oscar Solomon Straus (December 23, 1850 – May 3, 1926) was United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor under President Theodore Roosevelt from 1906 to 1909. Straus was the first Jewish United States Cabinet Secretary.He was born in Otterberg, Germany. He emigrated with his parents to the United States, and settled in Talbotton, Georgia. At the close of the Civil War he moved to New York City where he graduated from Columbia College in 1871 and Columbia Law School in 1873. He practiced law until 1881, and then became a merchant, retaining his interest in literature. He first served as United States Minister to the Ottoman Empire from 1887 to 1889 and again from 1898 to 1899.
John Hay, the American Secretary of State, asked the Jewish American ambassador to Ottoman Turkey, Oscar Straus in 1889 to approach Sultan Abdul Hamid II to request that the Sultan write a letter to the Moro Sulu Muslims of the Sulu Sultanate in the Philippines telling them to submit to American suzerainty and American military rule, the Sultan obliged them and wrote the letter which was sent to Sulu via Mecca where 2 Sulu chiefs brought it home to Sulu and it was successful, since the Sulu Mohammedans . . . refused to join the insurrectionists and had placed themselves under the control of our army, thereby recognizing American sovereignty.
The Ottoman Sultan used his position as caliph to order the Sulu Sultan not to resist and not fight the Americans when they came subjected to American control. President McKinley did not mention Turkey's role in the pacification of the Sulu Moros in his address to the first session of the Fifty-sixth Congress in December 1899 since the agreement with the Sultan of Sulu was not submitted to the Senate until December 18. Despite Sultan Abdulhamid's "pan-Islamic" ideology, he readily acceded to Oscar S. Straus' request for help in telling the Sulu Muslims to not resist America since he felt no need to cause hostilities between the West and Muslims. Collaboration between the American military and Sulu sultanate was due to the Sulu Sultan being persuaded by the Ottoman Sultan. John P. Finley wrote that: After due consideration of these facts, the Sultan, as Caliph caused a message to be sent to the Mohammedans of the Philippine Islands forbidding them to enter into any hostilities against the Americans, inasmuch as no interference with their religion would be allowed under American rule. As the Moros have never asked more than that, it is not surprising, that they refused all overtures made, by Aguinaldo's agents, at the time of the Filipino insurrection. President McKinley sent a personal letter of thanks to Mr. Straus for the excellent work he had done, and said, its accomplishment had saved the United States at least twenty thousand troops in the field. If the reader will pause to consider what this means in men and also the millions in money, he will appreciate this wonderful piece of diplomacy, in averting a holy war. Abdulhamid in his position as Caliph was approached by the Americans to help them deal with Muslims during their war in the Philippines and the Muslim people of the area obeyed the order to help the Americans which was sent by Abdulhamid. The Moro Rebellion[*]then broke out in 1904 with war raging between the Americans and Moro Muslims and atrocities committed against Moro Muslim women and children such as the Moro Crater Massacre.
[*] The word "Moro" is a term for ethnic Muslims who lived in the Southern Philippines, an area that includes Mindanao Jolo and the neighboring Sulu Archipelago. Despite the very nominal claim to the Moro territories, Spain ceded them to the United States in the Treaty of Paris which signaled the end of the Spanish–American War. The Moro Rebellion (1899–1913) was an armed conflict between Moro indigenous ethnic groups and the United States military which took place in the southern Philippines but was unconnected to the Spanish–American War in 1898.
John Hay, the American Secretary of State, asked the ambassador to Ottoman Empire, Oscar Straus in 1899 to approach Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II to request that the Sultan write a letter to the Moro Sulu Muslims of the Sulu Sultanate in the Philippines telling them to submit to American suzerainty and American military rule. Despite the sultan's "pan-Islamic" ideology, he readily aided the American forces because he felt no need to cause hostilities between the West and Muslims.
Abdul Hamid wrote the letter, which was sent to Mecca where two Sulu chiefs brought it home to Sulu. It was successful, and the "Sulu Mohammedans . . . refused to join the insurrectionists and had placed themselves under the control of [the American] army, thereby recognizing American sovereignty." John P. Finley wrote that:
After due consideration of these facts, the Sultan, as Caliph caused a message to be sent to the Mohammedans of the Philippine Islands forbidding them to enter into any hostilities against the Americans, inasmuch as no interference with their religion would be allowed under American rule. As the Moros have never asked more than that, it is not surprising, that they refused all overtures made, by Aguinaldo's agents, at the time of the Filipino insurrection. President McKinley sent a personal letter of thanks to Mr. Straus for the excellent work he had done, and said, its accomplishment had saved the United States at least twenty thousand troops in the field. If the reader will pause to consider what this means in men and also the millions in money, he will appreciate this wonderful piece of diplomacy, in averting a holy war.
President McKinley did not mention the Ottoman Empire's role in the pacification of the Sulu Moros in his address to the first session of the Fifty-sixth Congress in December 1899 since the agreement with the Sultan of Sulu was not submitted to the Senate until December 18
[3] William Woodville Rockhill (May 1, 1854 – December 8, 1914) was a United States diplomat, best known as the author of the U.S.'s Open Door Policy for China and as the first American to learn to speak Tibetan. Rockhill was born in Philadelphia, the son of Thomas Cadwalader Rockhill and Dorothea Anne Woodville (1823–1913). His father died when he was 13 years old and his mother relocated the family to France to escape the Civil War.[1] While in his teens, Rockhill read Abbé Huc's account of his 1844-46 voyage to Lhasa, which sparked young Rockhill's interest in Tibet. Rockhill sought out the celebrated Orientalist Léon Feer of the Bibliothèque Nationale, who guided Rockhill's learning about the Far East.[2] Rockhill attended the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, where he studied Tibetan.[1] After graduation, Rockhill joined the French Foreign Legion, serving as an officer in Algiers.In 1909, President William Howard Taft named Rockhill Minister to Russia and Rockhill held this post from January 11, 1910, until June 17, 1911. President Taft then named him Minister to Turkey, and he held this post from August 28, 1911, until November 20, 1913.
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[4] Henry Morgenthau (April 26, 1856 – November 25, 1946) was an American lawyer, businessman and United States ambassador, most famous as the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. As ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Morgenthau has come to be identified as the most prominent American to speak about the Armenian Atrocities.
Morgenthau was born, the ninth of 11 living children, in Mannheim, Grand Duchy of Baden, in 1856 into an Ashkenazi Jewish family. He was the son of Lazarus and Babette Morgenthau. His father was a successful cigar manufacturer who had cigar factories at Mannheim, Lorsch and Heppenheim, employing as many as 1,000 people (Mannheim had a population of 21,000 during this period). Having suffered a severe financial setback during the American Civil War, due to an 1862 tobacco tariff on imports, which closed German tobacco exports to the US forever, the family emigrated to New York in 1866. There, despite a considerable "nest egg" of cash, his father was unsuccessful in re-establishing himself in business, as his development and marketing of various inventions and his investments in other enterprises failed. Lazarus Morgenthau was able to stave off failure and stabilize his income by becoming a fundraiser for Jewish houses of worship. Henry attended City College of New York, where he received a BA, and later graduated from Columbia Law School. He began his career as a lawyer, but he made a substantial fortune in real estate investments. He married Josephine Sykes in 1882 and had four children: Helen, Alma, Henry Jr. and Ruth. Morgenthau built a successful career as a lawyer and served as the leader of the Reform Jewish community in New York.
Morgenthau's career enabled him to contribute handsomely to President Woodrow Wilson's election campaign in 1912. He had first met Wilson in 1911 at a dinner celebrating the fourth anniversary of the founding of the Free Synagogue society and the two "seem to have bonded", marking the "turning point in Morgenthau's political career". His role in American politics grew more pronounced in later months and though his desire to be designated the financial chairman of the campaign finance committee went unfulfilled, Wilson offered him the position of ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. He had hoped for a cabinet post as well, but was not successful in gaining one.
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Morgenthau was the father of the politician Henry Morgenthau Jr. His grandchildren included Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney of Manhattan for 35 years, and the historian Barbara W. Tuchman.
[*] Solomon Hirsch (March 25, 1839 – December 15, 1902) was a businessman and politician from the U.S. state of Oregon. He was one of the leaders of Portland's early Jewish community. With Jacob Mayer and Louis Fleischner, Hirsch was one of the founders of Fleischner, Mayer and Co., the largest wholesale dry goods company on the West Coast. He served as president of the Oregon State Senate during the 1880 session. He served as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire from 1889–1892[5]Abram Isaac Elkus (August 6, 1867 – October 15, 1947), was an American ambassador, judge and public official. He was one of the most prominent Jews in American government. In 1916 he was appointed by Woodrow Wilson to be the United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople. While there he also represented the interests of Great Britain, France, Italy, Russia, and Belgium which were then at war with the Ottomans. In April 1917, when the United States entered World War I against Germany, he was recalled, but serious illness prevented his homecoming for many months. The U.S. never declared war against the Ottoman Empire.
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January 31, 2017, 9:01 am
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Mavi Boncuk | See:
Mavi Boncuk Article on Oscar S. Straus
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The Oscar S. Straus Memorial in Washington, D.C., commemorates the accomplishments of the first Jew to serve in the cabinet of a U.S. president. Oscar Solomon Straus was Secretary of Commerce and Labor under President Theodore Roosevelt from 1906 to 1909. The memorial is a marble fountain located in the Federal Triangle on 14th Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and Constitution Avenue, Northwest, Washington, D.C.. It is located in front of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.
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The fountain was designed by Adolph Alexander Weinman, funded with a public subscription beginning in 1929,and dedicated on October 26, 1947. In the center of the memorial is the massive fountain with the inscription "statesman, author, diplomat" and to each side are two groups of statues, one called Justice (to symbolize the religious freedom which allowed a Jew to serve in such a position of authority) and the other Reason (to symbolize the capitalism and labor efforts put forth by Straus).
It was rededicated on October 26, 1998.
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February 1, 2017, 9:59 am
This is another posting with a little back Story. Kemal Kurtuluş is one of the many devoted followers of Mavi Boncuk postings. Resently he asked a trivia question. Have any Justices been born in Turkey? Are there one or two. Upon some investigation the answer to his question forms the basis of this posting.
Mavi Boncuk |
Six Justices were born outside the United States. They are:
James Wilson (1789-1798) born in Caskardy, Scotland James Iredell (1790-1799) born in Lewes, England William Paterson (1793-1806) born in County Antrim, Ireland
David J. Brewer [1](1889-1910) born in Smyrna, Turkey
George Sutherland (1922-1939) born in Buckinghamshire, England Felix Frankfurter (1939-1962) born in Vienna, Austria
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[1] Brewer was born to Emilia Field Brewer and Rev. Josiah Brewer, who at the time of his birth were running a school for Greeks in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire; Emilia Brewer's brother Stephen Johnson Field, a future Supreme Court colleague of Brewer, was living with the couple at the time. His parents returned to the United States in 1838 and settled in Connecticut. Brewer attended college at Wesleyan University (1851–1854), where he was a member of the Mystical 7 Society, and he afterward attended Yale University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1856. While at Yale, Brewer was a classmate of Henry Billings Brown and was "greatly influenced by the political scientist-protestant minister Theodore Dwight Woolsey." After graduation, Brewer read law for one year in the office of his uncle David Dudley Field, then enrolled at Albany Law School in Albany, New York, graduating in 1858.
[*] Stephen Johnson Field (November 4, 1816 – April 9, 1899) was an American jurist. He was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from March 10, 1863, to December 1, 1897. Prior to this appointment, he was the fifth Chief Justice of California.
Born in Haddam, Connecticut, he was the sixth of the nine children of David Dudley Field I, a Congregationalist minister, and his wife Submit Dickinson. His family produced three other children of major prominence in 19th Century America: David Dudley Field II the prominent attorney, Cyrus Field the millionaire investor and creator of the Atlantic Cable, and Rev. Henry Martyn Field a prominent clergyman and travel writer. He grew up in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and went to Turkey at thirteen with his sister Emilia and her missionary husband, Rev. Josiah Brewer. He received a BA from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1837. While attending Williams College he was one of the original Founders of Delta Upsilon Fraternity. After reading law in Albany with Harmanus Bleecker and New York City with his brother David Dudley II, Stephen and David practiced law together until 1848 when Stephen went west to California in the Gold Rush.
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February 1, 2017, 1:14 pm
Mavi Boncuk |
Monthly Bulletin, Volume 14 New York Chamber of CommerceThe Chamber, 1922 - New York (State)
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Location of the American Chamber of Commerce for the Levant [1]was in Minerva Han, Galata
Minerva Han, a splendid Islamic Revival–style building that was built as the Greek-owned Bank of Athens in the early 20th century. Funded by Sabacı University, today it supports and exhibits collaborative, experimental, international art projects at Kasa Galeri located in the basement vault of the historic building. It also offers residencies and shows to emerging Turkish artists.
[1] See also : Levant trade review, pub. by the American Chamber of Commerce for the Levant ... Language: English Published: Constantinople [1911-1931]
1911 American Consular Officers
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February 2, 2017, 10:26 am
Mavi Boncuk |
During 1850ies chocolate and cocoa was unheard of in the Ottoman Empire. By 1901 the port recorded impoerts of 110,556 kilos. At about 1900's Mr. F. Mullatier, a Frencman and a member of the French Chamber of Commerce in Constantinople locally manufactured chocolate creams, almonds and etc. reported good sales. At that time Menier[1] had the largest share of the market.(as reported by The British Trade Journal April 1, 1903)
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As part of its sales strategy, Menier introduced small dark chocolate sticks to be inserted into a piece of bread. To raise their profile and sell more product, on sidewalks in towns and cities all over France, the company set up "chocolate kiosques". Their hexagon shape and peaked roof became the standard for newspaper kiosques. Such was their popularity that for children, the company made plastic model kiosks as toy dispensers filled with tiny chocolate bars.
After years of decline against growing competition, in 1960, the Menier company had no choice but to find a buyer and was merged with the Cacao Barry company; by 1965 the Menier family no longer held an interest in the company. The Menier factory was sold to Group Ufico-Perrier which became part of British confectioners Rowntree Mackintosh in 1971 who in turn was acquired in 1988 by the Swiss food and beverage giant, Nestlé S.A..
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February 2, 2017, 11:00 am
150 years ago during the Battle of Lissa, Ippolito Caffi [1](1809-1866) lost his life on the sinking ship Re d’Italia, on which he had embarked to document the events of the war through his swift and accurate drawings.
Caffi, born in Belluno[2] but Venetian by choice, was an extraordinary painter and reporter, a restless observer of society and a convinced patriot. 150 years ago (almost a sign of fate!) the Veneto and Venice were annexed to Italy. Venice was the city that Caffi loved most, whose freedom he fought for and whose spectacular beauty he translated into painting, employing a capacity for synthesis unequalled during the entire nineteenth century.
Mavi Boncuk |
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The Slave's Bazaar, Constantinople, Ippolito Caffi (1809 - 66)oil on canvasLocation: Venice, Museo d'Arte Moderna di Ca' Pesaro
Bazaar of the Jews in Constantinople (oil on canvas), Caffi, Ippolito (1809-66) / Museo Correr, Venice, Italy
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Haghia Sophia, Constantinople, 1843 (oil on canvas), Caffi, Ippolito (1809-66) / Museo d'Arte Moderna di Ca' Pesaro, Venice, Italy [1] Ippolito Caffi (1809–1866) was an Italian painter of architectural subjects and seascapes or urban vedute.
He was born at Belluno. His first works were produced at the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice. By 1830, he had won awards for his vedute at the Academy. He subsequently moved to Rome, made some reputation by his treatise on perspective, as well as by his investigations on Roman archaeology. In 1843 he visited Greece and the East (Athens, Constantinople, Syria, Egypt, and Malta). The first work of his that created a sensation was Carnival at Venice. This was exhibited at Paris in 1846, and was admired for its brilliant effects of light. Other works are his Panorama of Rome from Monte Mario, Isthmus of Suez, and Close of the Carnival at Rome. He joined revolutionary movements in Venice in 1848, and had to retire into Piedmont. His aim of commemorating in paint the first Italian naval engagement was frustrated when the Re d' Italia, on which he traveled was destroyed on July 20, 1866, by Austro-Venetian fleet at the battle of Lissa, drowning him along with his comrades.
[2] In 2005-2006, an exhibition on Ippolito Caffi was held in his native Belluno
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February 2, 2017, 11:13 am
Mavi Boncuk |
Liebig[1]S367 The Kaiser's Journey to Constantinople Liebig's Beef Extract "The Journey's of Kaiser William" German issue, 1892 "Reception at the Golden Horn" Constantinople (Istanbul).
[1] Liebig's Extract of Meat Company was the producer of LEMCO brand Liebig's Extract of Meat and the originator of Oxo meat extracts and Oxo beef stock cubes. It was named after Baron Justus von Liebig, the 19th-century German organic chemist who developed and promoted a method for industrial production of beef extract. Liebig's meat extract is a molasses-like black spread packaged in an opaque white glass bottle, which contains reduced meat stock and salt (4%).
The ratio of meat to meat extract is generally reported to be about 30 to 1: it takes 30 kg of meat to make 1 kg of extract. The extract was originally promoted for its supposed curative powers and nutritional value as a cheap, nutritious alternative to real meat. As subsequent research brought its nutritional value into question, its convenience and flavourfulness were emphasized, and it was marketed as a comfort food.
The company also worked with English chemist Henry Enfield Roscoe to develop a cheaper meat extract product which it commercialized some years after Liebig's death. "Oxo" was trademarked worldwide in 1899 and in the United Kingdom in 1900. Originally a liquid, Oxo was released as a bouillon cube in 1911.
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February 3, 2017, 10:26 am
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February 6, 2017, 7:44 am
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The Ottoman Endgame by Sean McMeekin review – the breakup of an empire. The first world war was part of a much longer period of conflict in the east – and its consequences are still with us.
Mavi Boncuk |
The Ottoman Endgame by Sean McMeekin [1] review – the breakup of an empire.SOURCE
For the historian of the first world war, the Ottoman theatre is a blur of movement compared to the attrition of the western front. Its leading commanders might race off to contest Baku and entirely miss the significance of events in the Balkans, while the diffuse nature of operations tended to encourage initiative, not groupthink. The war of the Ottoman succession, as Sean McMeekin calls it, was furthermore of real consequence, breaking up an empire that had stifled community hatreds, and whose absence the millions who have fled sectarian conflict in our age may rue.
McMeekin is an old-fashioned researcher who draws his conclusions on the basis of the documentary record. In the case of a conflict between Ottoman Turkey and Germany on one side, and Russia, Britain and France on the other, and involving Arabs, Armenians and Greeks, this necessitates linguistic talent and historical nous of a high order. McMeekin is at home in the archives of all major parties to the conflict and his accounts of some of the more contested episodes carry a ring of finality. The Ottoman Endgame is a marvellous exposition of the historian’s art that will frighten everyone else off the subject for years.
For the Ottomans, the “great war” of western historiography was part of a much longer period of conflict and revolution, and arguably not even its climax. The process started with the collapse of the Ottomans’ Balkan empire – encouraged by Russia, moderated by Britain – and it brought to power the militaristic regime of the Committee of Union and Progress, or CUP. When Turkey entered the European war on 10 November 1914, Ottoman innocence was long gone, the army fully mobilised, the people benumbed by loss and refugees and the empire hanging in the balance. And yet, for the CUP and its triumvirate of leading pashas, Enver, Talat and Djemal, the moment was as fraught with opportunity as it was with danger. On the opportunity side of the ledger was the prospect of riding Germany’s coat tails to victory, overturning the Balkan reverses and winning back provinces in the east from the old enemy, Russia. Enver, the CUP’s diminutive generalissimo, even spoke of appealing to Muslim sentiment and marching all the way to India.
For the Russians, the game was about winning Constantinople (or Tsargrad, as they presumptuously called it) and with it unimpeded access to the Mediterranean through the Bosphorus; it was with “complete serenity”, Tsar Nicholas II informed his subjects, that Russia took on “this ancient oppressor of the Christian faith and of all Slavic nations”.
The mass slaughter that followed showed that the generals of the eastern theatre were no less inured to casualties than their counterparts in the west. Enver’s offensive into mountainous Transcaucasia in December 1914 was a failed gamble that left as many as 30,000 Turkish dead, the majority frozen on the passes (Enver had forbidden greatcoats). The fiasco of Churchill and Kitchener’s Gallipoli campaign the following year ended up mimicking the stalemate in France it was designed to terminate; the “butcher’s bill”, in McMeekin’s crisp phrase, was well over half a million casualties with no strategic advantage to either side (though the Turks, who had repulsed the allied invasion, at least felt like victors).
Describing these and other events, notably the surrender of General Townshend’s Indian Army force in April 1916 after a nasty siege at Kut, in Iraq (Britain’s costliest defeat since Yorktown in terms of men captured), McMeekin dips into the archives on all sides and often pulls out something new. He reveals, for instance, the depth of Russian reluctance to intervene to help their ostensible British allies when the latter were pinioned at Gallipoli and Kut – in the case of Gallipoli with a material effect on the war. “Had the Russians delivered the troops they had promised”, he writes, “the Ottoman war might have been over by spring 1915.”
Even with that bit of luck, the Ottomans were ground down over the next couple of years. By the beginning of 1917 Russia was mistress of eastern Anatolia and the Black Sea, while TE Lawrence had lit the fuse of Arab revolt in the Hejaz. The Turks had themselves denuded Anatolia of much of its productive population by slaughtering and deporting the Armenians (considered to be Russian sympathisers). Still, Enver pursued his heroic fantasies – an invasion of Persia; an expeditionary force to Austrian Galicia (that straddled the modern Polish-Ukraine border) – while the empire ran out of men, coal and food. “We have lost seven provinces,” he exclaimed to a German ally, “hecatombs of our people have been sacrificed, and our economy has been utterly ruined.” The pasha was as much to blame as anyone for Turkey’s exposed position. In early 1917, Russia’s foreign minister recommended an immediate amphibious assault on Tsargrad.
But revolution intervened, the tsar himself fell – in what McMeekin describes as the greatest deathbed miracle of them all – and later that year Lenin renounced Constantinople in a blaze of revolutionary zeal. At the peace talks at Brest-Litovsk, where the Bolshevik delegation was augmented by a randomly selected “representative of the peasantry”, Trotsky famously announced Russia’s unilateral withdrawal from the war. The imperial forces demobilised, streaming out of Anatolia, scuttling the fleet, and leaving much of Transcaucasia for whomever (Armenians; Turks; revolutionary committees of various stripes) got there first.
Enver could not resist making a lunge for the oilfields of Baku. His German allies, insatiably carving up the tsarist empire, matched him stride for stride. The city eventually fell to Enver on 15 September 1918, but then came news that the allies had punched northwards through Bulgaria and that Damascus had been taken by the British and their Arab irregulars, killing off Turkey’s Middle Eastern empire. (Iraq had fallen the previous year). Talat Pasha responded laconically. “Boku yedik,” he said. (We’re finished, or literally: “We’ve eaten shit”.) The war was over.
Nowadays the Sykes-Picot agreement, 1916. gets the blame for the arbitrary and unsustainable division of the Middle EastNow that the Turks’ empire had gone, their fight for national survival began. That, too, is a thrilling story, concluding with the birth of modern Turkey through the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who had made his name at Gallipoli and now expelled the powers that had gathered to press their claims on Anatolia. President Woodrow Wilson had agreed that Turkey would become a US mandate (favoured by the Turks), but the Senate rejected the plan and the Wilsonian ideal of self-determination was forgotten as Turkey became the only territory in the Middle East (along with Persia) to escape colonisation or semi-colonisation.
Nowadays the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 (revealed by Trotsky to the Manchester Guardian) gets the blame for the arbitrary and unsustainable division of the Middle East. This isn’t quite accurate, as McMeekin points out; the original plan had included tsarist claims to Turkey and Kurdistan, and in any case Sykes-Picot was superseded by other, more consequential arrangements, among them the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which promised the Jews a national home.
McMeekin’s story is far from edifying as to the motives of men in war. The Ottomans haggled shamelessly for gold and arms before committing themselves to the German cause, while the Arab revolt, far from the romantic national self-discovery of Lawrence’s depiction, was founded on a liberal distribution of gold sovereigns. The charnel house of Gallipoli might have been avoided through an allied landing on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, but that would have upset France’s postwar plans for a Syrian colony and was vetoed.
After the war, Britain was unable to resist assuming a Middle Eastern overlordship that, as Churchill anticipated, was utterly beyond its capabilities. While there was valour, immense valour, what the eastern theatre was really about was greed.
[1] Professor of Historical and Political StudiesPhone: 845-758-6822 x7448 | E :smcmeeki(at)bard(dot)edu
Sean McMeekin is a professor of history at Bard College. His The Berlin to Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany’s Bid for World Power, 1898–1918, won the Barbara Jelavich Book Prize. He previously taught at Koç University, Istanbul; Bilkent University, Ankara; and Yale University.
Academic Program Affiliation(s): Global and International Studies, Russian and Eurasian Studies
Biography:
A.B., Stanford University; M.A., Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley; also studied at University of Paris 7, Moscow State University, Humboldt University, and Mezhdunarodny Universitet, Moscow. Previously taught at Koç University, Istanbul; Bilkent University, Ankara; and Yale University. He is the author of The Russian Revolution (forthcoming, 2017); The War of the Ottoman Succession (forthcoming, 2015); July 1914: Countdown to War, which was reviewed on the cover of the New York Times Book Review; The Russian Origins of the First World War, which won the Norman B. Tomlinson Jr. Book Prize and was nominated for the Lionel Gelber Prize; The Berlin to Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany’s Bid for World Power, 1898–1918, winner of the Barbara Jelavich Book Prize; History’s Greatest Heist: The Looting of Russia by the Bolsheviks; The Red Millionaire: A Political Biography of Willi Münzenberg, Moscow’s Secret Propaganda Tsar in the West; and numerous articles and book chapters. Notable recent reviews have appeared in The American Historical Review, History Today, The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review; Slavonic and East European Review; and Journal of Cold War Studies. Additional awards and fellowships include Henry Chauncey Jr. ’57 Fellowship at Yale; postdoctoral fellowship at the Remarque Institute, New York University; German Chancellor’s Fellowship, Humboldt Foundation; FLAS award for Russian language study in Moscow; and various fellowships and prizes from Stanford and UC Berkeley. At Bard since 2014.
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February 6, 2017, 8:21 am
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Avedis Zildjian III in front of Zildjian Quincy Factory
The company was founded in 1981 in Meductic, New Brunswick, Canada by Robert Zildjian, son of Avedis Zildjian III, the head of the Avedis Zildjian Company. Family tradition had it that the head of the company would pass the company down to the oldest son (Armand). After Avedis Zildjian III died in 1979, Armand (who was president of Zildjian at the time) became chairman of the board. This eventually led to a family feud and a legal dispute between Robert and Armand that resulted in Robert leaving Zildjian to form the rival Sabian company.
The companies continue to be rivals, and are both among the world's most popular cymbal brands. The settlement gave Robert Zildjian the Canadian factory that had been producing the K. Zildjian line. As president of the Zildjian Company, Armand had insisted that the K name remain with his company, while the artisans moved to Robert's company. In the settlement, Robert agreed not to use the Zildjian name or to claim that his cymbals were the same.
Mavi Boncuk |
Not only are cymbals an integral and nuanced component of any serious drummer’s rig, they are also one of the oldest instruments in human history, found buried within the tombs of the pharaohs. The story of cymbals, however, is far more relevant to today than old discs of metal from thousands of years ago. One of the greatest family sagas in music history lies at the entwined heart of two of today’s biggest cymbal manufacturers, Zildjian[1] and Sabian[2].
The history of Sabian cannot be told without the history of Zildjian. Through 14 generations of cymbal makers, the still family-owned Zildjian cymbals traces its origins back to 1618. This clocks the company in at just under 400 years, making it one of the oldest operations on earth still in existence. The legend stands that the creator of the Zildjian name, Avedis, was an alchemist searching for the recipe for gold when he happened across a metal mixture and lathing process that gave musical qualities to the metal while remaining durable. When his cymbals gained traction at military and royal ceremonies, the Sultan Osman II granted Avedis the title (Zilciyân) Zildjian, a combination of the Turkish words zil (“cymbal”), dji (“maker”), and -ian (“son of”). From that point on, Zildjian spent centuries distinguishing itself as an authority on cymbals.
Fast forward 300 years and 10 generations of Zildjians to the births of the architects of modern Zildjian and Sabian: Armand Zildjian in 1921 (whose 21” namesake ride this author plays) and Robert Zildjian in 1923. Their father, Avedis III, emigrated from Turkey to America in 1908, leaving the Zildjian company to his cousins in Istanbul. Traditionally, the first-born male of a Zildjian generation is heir to the manufacturing secrets and operations, and because Avedis III’s father allowed the line to pass to his brother, didn’t consider himself eligible. However, in 1927, Avedis III’s uncle Haram wrote him a letter from Turkey asking him to return and assume control of the business after bungled management by his sons and relatives. Avedis III managed to convince his uncle to come to Boston where he lived, and in 1929, just months before the Great Depression, Avedis Zildjian Co. was created in Quincy, Massachusetts.
MORE at Crash Clash: The Shared History of Zildjian and Sabian Cymbals.[1][1] In keeping with tradition, Armand passed the Zildjian Secret Alloy to his daughters, Craigie and Debbie (14th generation), both of whom continue to run the family business from the current factory in Norwell, Massachusetts. Other than cymbals, the Avedis Zildjian Company produces products such as drum sticks and other drum accessories. The Artist Series drum sticks allow these endorsers to personalize their drum sticks, and these sticks are sold to the public.
[2] Sabian is named after Sally, Andy and Bill Zildjian. Sabian is a Canadian cymbal designer and manufacturer. It is one of the "big four" manufacturers of cymbals, along with Zildjian, Meinl and Paiste. Robert Zildjian formed the word Sabian from the two first letters of the names of his three children—Sally, Bill and Andy (a nickname for Armand) and "-ian" (indicating Armenian descent)[citation needed]—and initially released two lines of cymbals, HH and AA, both of them of the traditional bell bronze alloy. As of 2006, Sabian's president is Andy Zildjian, the youngest in the family.
Sabian Interviews:
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February 6, 2017, 9:59 am
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