Photography in Turkey began in the late nineteenth century.
Already in the 1870s printing companies were using photography in major coastal cities to document buildings and monuments for the municipal government, and to produce postcards for tourists. In this way cities like Smyrna (Izmir) and Trebizond (Trabzon) were documented in the late 19th century. The majority of these photographers and postcard editors were Greeks, Armenians and Italians. Outside Constantinople photography first took off in Trabzon. A photographer of Russian origin called Yermakof opened a photostudio in the city in 1868. [1] Hatchik Tcholakian was an Armenian photographer who opened his studio in Trabzon in the 1870s. However, there were Turks active in the business as well. Kitabi Hamdi Efendi (Bookseller Hamdi), the Turkish owner of a printing house in Trabzon, was publishing his photographs (and those of others), and he sold photo cameras as well. Another Turkish photographer and postcard editor who was active from the late 19th century in Trabzon was Osman Nouri.
One of the first Turkish photographers by profession was Rahmizâde Bâhâeddin Bediz who opened his photostudio in Crete and later in Istanbul. He was active also in the first half of 20th century as a pioneer photographer in Turkey.
Further, as one of the earliest photographers in Turkey, Pascal Sébah, who was born in Istanbul, but not fully Turkish, had his photostudio in Istanbul.
Further, Othmar Pferschy, non-Turkish photographer, opened his photo studio in Istanbul in 1931 and actively took documentary photographs.
In this period, there are emerging numerous Turkish photographers active in and outside of Turkey.
Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road, became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Persia in the southeast and the Caucasus to the northeast. The Venetian and Genoese merchants paid visits to Trabzon during the medieval period and sold silk, linen and woolen fabric. Both republics had merchant colonies within the city – Leonkastron and the former "Venetian castle" – that played a role to Trabzon similar to the one Galata played to Constantinople. Trabzon formed the basis of several states in its long history and was the capital city of the Empire of Trebizond between 1204 and 1461. During the early modern period, Trabzon, because of the importance of its port, again became a focal point of trade to Persia and the Caucasus.
Pascal Sébah (1823–1886) was a photographer in Constantinople and Cairo, who produced a prolific number of images of Egypt, Turkey and Greece to serve the tourist trade.
Şişli is one of the 39 districts of Istanbul, Turkey. Located on the European side of the city, it is bordered by Beşiktaş to the east, Sarıyer to the north, Eyüp and Kağıthane to the west, and Beyoğlu to the south. In 2009, Şişli had a population of 316,058.
Ara Güler was an Armenian-Turkish photojournalist, nicknamed "the Eye of Istanbul" or "the Photographer of Istanbul". He was "one of Turkey's few internationally known photographers".
The Istanbul pogrom, also known as the Istanbul riots or the September events, also referred to as the Turkish Kristallnacht, were a series of state-sponsored anti-Greek mob attacks directed primarily at Istanbul's Greek minority on 6–7 September 1955. The pogrom was orchestrated by the governing Democrat Party in Turkey with the cooperation of various security organizations. The events were triggered by a fake news story which stated that the day before, Greeks had bombed the Turkish consulate in Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, — the house where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in 1881. A bomb which was planted by a Turkish usher at the consulate, who was later arrested and confessed, incited the events. The Turkish press was silent about the arrest, instead, it insinuated that Greeks had set off the bomb.
Deutsche Schule Istanbul, with formal Turkish name Özel Alman Lisesi or İstanbul Alman Lisesi or simply Alman Lisesi is a private international high school in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is responsible to both the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany and the Ministry of National Education of Turkey.
Lycée Saint-Joseph is a private high school located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is a French school founded in 1870. Classes are taught in Turkish, French, and English. Fenerbahçe S.K. was formed by students of this high school.
Othmar Pferschy was an Austrian photographer who worked primarily in Turkey. Pferschy began as a well-paid assistant to Romanian Jewish photographer Jean Weinberg, who hired him in 1926. He opened his own Istanbul studio in 1931.
Jean Weinberg (1887–1942) was a Romanian Jewish photographer.
Inspectorates-General or General Inspectorates was a regional governorship whose authorities prevailed over civilian, military and judicial institutions under their domain but had to comply with the orders of Turkish president Mustafa Kemal. Their aim was to establish an authoritarian rule and to consolidate the authority in the process of Turkification of religious and ethnic minorities.
The 4th Yeşilçam Awards, presented by the Turkish Foundation of Cinema and Audiovisual Culture (TÜRSAK) and Beyoğlu Municipality, honored the best Turkish films of 2010 and took place at the conclusion of the 4th Yeşilçam Week festival on March 28, 2011, at the Lütfi Kırdar Congress and Exhibition Hall in Istanbul, Turkey.
Şakir Eczacıbaşı, a second generation member of the notable Turkish Eczacıbaşı family, was a pharmacist, photographer and businessman.
Place name changes in Turkey have been undertaken, periodically, in bulk from 1913 to the present by successive Turkish governments. Thousands of names within the Turkish Republic or its predecessor the Ottoman Empire have been changed from their popular or historic alternatives in favour of recognizably Turkish names, as part of Turkification policies. The governments have argued that such names are foreign or divisive, while critics of the changes have described them as chauvinistic. Names changed were usually of Armenian, Greek, Georgian, Laz, Bulgarian, Kurdish (Zazaki), Syriac or Arabic origin.
Mari Gerekmezyan was one of Turkey's first female sculptors and the first female Armenian sculptor. She was the lover of the Turkish poet and painter Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu.
Christa Frieda Vogel is a German photographer who lives and works in Berlin, Germany. She has published several photo books and presented her work in national and international exhibitions.
Pehr Vilhelm Berggren, known as Guillaume Berggren, was a Swedish photographer active in Istanbul.
Yıldız Moran was a Turkish photographer who was active from 1950 to 1962. Her work has posthumously been shown in solo exhibitions at Pera Museum and at İstanbul Modern in Istanbul, and is held in the collection of the latter.
Ara Güler Museum is a photography museum in Istanbul, Turkey, exhibiting photographs taken by the photojournalist Ara Güler. Established in 2018, the museum also houses an archive of his work.