When the original wooden St Stephen Church Istanbul was erected on the shores of the Golden Horn in the early 19th century, the Bulgarian Church was trying to break away from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Istanbul. At that time the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople controlled all the religious affairs of Orthodox congregations throughout the entire…
Mevlid Kandili is one of the five holy nights on the Muslim calendar called kandil. This night commemorates the birth of the Prophet Muhammed. In the Muslim world, the week preceding Mevlid Kandili is one of prayer, celebration and reflection. The focus is on the value of humanity and compassion, mercy and justice, patience, fortitude…
Republic Day Turkey, or Cumhuriyet Bayramı as it’s known in Turkish, commemorates the offical start of a new Turkey. On this day in October 1923 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk officially proclaimed the establishment of the Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (Republic of Turkey). The Turkish Grand National Assembly, the parliament, had been in operation since it was established on 23 April…
I walked into the National Palaces Painting Museum in Istanbul hoping to see a particular painting by Hasan Vecih Bereketoğlu and left having discovered a wealth of early modern Turkish and foreign artists I never knew existed. The museum is housed in the former residences of the Crown Princes and entry is included in the…
Fifteen years ago I was living in Kayseri with my now husband, in the Anatolian heart of Turkey, teaching English at what was then the sixth best government university in the country. Every year, students organized a Spring Festival, to celebrate the end of winter and the completion of the academic calendar. We went to…
While the country known as Turkey has a history going back hundreds of years, had it not been for the Turks’ decisive victory during the Turkish War of Independence in a key action in the province of Kütahya, led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha (now famously known as Atatürk, father of the Turks) in 1922, the…
Serefiye Cistern (Şerefiye Sarnıcı in Turkish) was built on the orders of Emperor Theodosius II who ruled Constantinople from 428 to 443 AD. It was constructed as a water depot to distribute supply to the inhabitants of Istanbul, then known as Constantinople. Fresh water was drawn from Belgrade Forest and its surrounds and reached the…
I have to admit, first up, that I’m a long-time fan of the Barbara Nadel Ikmen series set in Istanbul. That’s because her stories, full of fascinating twists and turns, never disappoint. The House of Four is no exception. What makes it even better for me is it’s largely set on the Asian side of…
When I first came to Turkey more than 20 years ago, I experienced the sweet frenzy then known as Şeker Bayramı (sugar festival) for the first time. It marks the end of the fasting month of Ramazan. It would be logical to think the name Sugar Holiday comes from the amount of chocolate, baklava and…
Kadir Gecesi is thought to be the most important of the five holy nights in the Muslim calendar called kandil. According to the 97th chapter of the Koran and the traditions of the Prophet Mohammed, it is the night on which the first verses of the Koran were revealed to Mohammed. “We revealed the Koran on…