International Symposium of Ottoman Istanbul.

Hello, I’m Prof. Dr. Feridun Mustafa Emecan and I am the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, at the same time I am also a lecturer in the Department of History. Because our university is found in Istanbul and due to our name having a historic meaning, we had planned on having scientific meetings every year. The name of our university represents the conquest of Istanbul on May 29th. Therefore, in order to hold up our name, we organize an annual science convention dealing with the Ottoman period. These conventions are at international standards. We have attendents from all over Turkey as well as from outside the country. This year will be our fourth annual convention. As well, we will start to publish our convention books. We have already published compilations from the first two conventions. We are working on the third year at the moment. You can also follow our conventions from our website. You can view in detail the research presented at the convention and the congratulatory messages as well. Now, we need to answer the question of why we continue to do research into Ottoman Istanbul. Well, because the face of Istanbul is so closely associated with the Ottoman Period. Today’s Istanbul has a very important in the Ottoman Period. Getting to know Istanbul provides an urban awareness and the ability to understand her past. So, I believe we have made great strides in the ability to create a cultural and historical infrastructure of Istanbul and to direct new research studies in these areas. These research studies will continue and their results will help to show new and different starting points or points of departure for this historical period and city. Istanbul is the jewel of Turkey, and of the world, and every day it is continuing to grow, it is a metropolitan city for certain. We need to protect the historic aspects of the city from this continued development. We need to have historical awareness and understand its benefits. Our conventions and books help to preserve historical awareness. The more common we can make this situation, the better we can protect Istanbul’s historical identity and the city’s silhouette.