NEWSLETTER OF ASSOCIATION SUISSE TURQUIE

No 27

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It’s been a while since we last met and laughed together.  We hope that you have been able to keep yourself and your families safe during this period, and we are looking forward to the simple pleasures of seeing each other in person sometime soon.

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As you know, we had to cancel all of our planned Swiss-Turkish Association trips and events during the Spring and Summer as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.  We also took a short break from our bi-monthly email newsletter as well.  However, the newsletter is now back!  And we also remain cautiously optimistic that we will still be able to organise our Annual Republic Day Ball on October 31, 2020. LAST MINUTE: our president announces a Happy Hour on the 22nd. More details to follow!

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Because we couldn’t celebrate Women’s Day in March due to the pandemic, we wanted to belatedly honour women in this edition. And we wanted to further highlight the life of one special pioneering woman, to whom we all owe a special debt of gratitude for helping to preserve many of the most important historical sights of Turkey and particularly of Istanbul.

The scene is an apartment near Harbiye, Istanbul. A little girl of 6 years old is playing with her dolls on the carpet. Around her sit four ladies of around sixty-five years old chatting with one another over tea. While the little girl is immersed in her game, she cannot resist lifting her gaze to look at the ladies who suddenly start laughing and giggling as if they are high school girls. Indeed, probably they were laughing just like that when they were studying together sixty years earlier at Erenköy Girls School.  They would all lead remarkable lives. One of them would become an economist, another, a member of parliament (after an illustrious career as Turkey’s first geologist and the world’s first female earthquake expert), the third, a criminal court judge and the last, an architect, preservationist and the first female general director of Turkey’s Foundations (Vakıflar) which owns all the national patrimony.

This last woman’s name is Cahide Tamer.

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Cahide Tamer was the restorer of the main building of Seven Towers, Rumeli Hisarı, Bosphorus’ oldest mansion on waterside, Amcazade Yalısı, the Archeological Museum, Topkapı Palace, Aya Sofya, Kariye Church (from Byzantine period where she also discovered the hidden mosaics), and so many other of Istanbul’s jewels.

At a time when architecture and restoration were male-dominated professions, Cahide Tamer overcame many obstacles and prejudices.  During the restoration of Archeological Museum, she came across a contractor who clearly did not know what he was doing, “He gave me so much headache. Of course, like many others in my career, he is young, much less experienced and doesn’t pay much heed to a woman architect… Yet, in the end, they all come to regret and respect!”.

For her success in restoring Seven Towers of Istanbul, she was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France in 1961

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She was a formidable woman whose portrait by Ibrahim Çallı was exhibited alongside her works and photos at the 2004 exhibition “High Heels on Domes” the year before she passed away at the age of ninety.  There are photos of her in her high heels on the roof of Aya Sofya, and in her worker overalls on the walls of Rumeli Hisarı.

Everyone around the world and all who care about Istanbul, its history and monuments can benefit from her tireless work and advocacy in preserving Turkey’s remarkable historical heritage for generations to come. For a brief catalogue of her work, you can visit

http://www.istanbulkadinmuzesi.org/en/cahide-tamer-aksel

https://www.arkeolojikhaber.com/haber-cahide-tamer-21060/

We look forward to meeting again when it is safe to do so! In the meantime we wish you a beautiful summer.

Editors

Please keep us posted on events and news that you would like to share at

editorsassosuisseturquie@gmail.com

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FUTURE EVENTS

Association Events

Happy Hour – June 22

Details will follow!

Annual Republic Day Ball –  October 31, 2020

We are holding the date as we hope the situation to improve by then

For future Association events : https://assochtr.ch/#Etkinlik

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Lausanne Bizim Lozan on Sale

The much-praised book recently published by our Association is available for purchase at:

–          Bookstore Letu in Geneva

–          Online on our website https://assochtr.ch

–          And also on https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=22298731039&searchurl=sortby%3D0%26vci%3D601833

We believe it will be a much-appreciated gift by your friends and family!

Cornucopia Magazine

Our annual Republic Ball sponsor and the source of many events that take place in Turkey and around the world, would much appreciate your support

Subscribe to Cornucopia Magazine in time for the next issue
http://www.cornucopia.net/store/subscriptions/

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SOME SUGGESTED READING AND DOCUMENTARIES

 

L’Autre Rive du Bosphore (in French)

By Theresa Révay

A story of love and Istanbul at the end of World War I and on the brink of the start of Liberation War. Prix Historia 2014.

La Visite de la Vieille Dame or The Visit

By Friedrich Dürrenmatt

A theatre piece written by the Swiss author and first played in 1956 in Zurich. It’s a satire of human condition. It was about to be played at National Theatre in London and had to be put on hold due to the pandemic.

Byzantium: A Tale of Three Cities

Documentary by Simon Sebag Montefiore

A most enriching documentary about the rise of a small Greek fishing village, to the holly centre of a powerful Roman empire and then to the holly centre of a Muslim empire. In three episodes: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03l2shc