Zaman, Turkey
June 3 2005
British Publishing Company to Revise Scandalous Travel Guide
By Bahtiyar Kucuk, Tugba Sasanlar
Published: Friday 03, 2005
zaman.com
The publishers of “Eyewitness Travel Guide”, which gives misleading
images of Turkish history, has promised to revise the book in
response to an article in Zaman.
About an illustration of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamit II with blood
dripping from his hands, the publishing company Dorling Kindersley
(DK) said passages in the booklet that caused controversy would be
revised. The main contributor of the book Suzanne Swan also noted she
would ask the company to change the illustrations of Abdulhamit II
and Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha, Admiral of the Ottoman fleet. Canan
Silay, a Turkish citizen who is among the authors of the book, said
that she saw the said illustrations for the first time and was
astonished. Meanwhile, Istanbul Attorney General Nazmi Okumus said
there would be a thorough examination of both books and an
investigation into the guide to Istanbul by MasterCard.
On Thursday, June 2, in a headline titled “Istanbul City Guides
Become Source of Scandals” Zaman announced that travel guides written
and published abroad for tourists to Turkey include information that
slanders Turkey and some of its historical figures. The news article
noted that the “Turkey-Blue Guide” wrote that Mehmet the Conqueror
had committed “slaughter” when he captured Istanbul and the other
guidebook named “Eyewitness Travel Guides” illustrated Abdulhamit II
with blood dripping from his hands.
London-based publishing company DK’s Travel Department Office Manager
Caroline Evans said that the book’s parts about Abdulhamit II and
Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha will be revised by editors, who will
double-check the sources on the Ottoman Sultan and Admiral. Susan
Swan, main contributor of the Eyewitness Travel Guides Turkey also
said that she would personally ask the publishing company in London
to change the illustrations of Abdulhamit II and Barbaros Hayreddin
Pasha. She has been living in Turkey for 15 years and very well
understands Turkey’s sensitivity about these illustrations, Swan
emphasized, and that she did not know that these illustrations were
to be included. The two illustrations on pages 55 and 57 of the book
were taken from the Mary Evans Picture Library in London she said: “I
was responsible only for writing the text for this book, as the
author. Photographs, prints and drawings were not my responsibility
and I had no decisions in which prints were used. I have been in
Turkey for 15 years as a foreign journalist and am always careful to
portray Turkey in the correct and proper way.” Swan continued that
she has also received letters from readers about some erroneous
information in the book and added these would be amended in 2006
edition. Swan, who has been living in Turkey since 1990, still works
for British Leather International Media Company in Antalya.
Canan Ener Silay, a Turkish author, was also among the contributors
of the Eyewitness Travel Guides. Silay expressed that she saw the
scandalous illustrations for the first time in Zaman, that each
author contributed parts in their own specific area of interest and
she wrote information about hotels, restaurants and transportation.
She said of the illustrations: “These are political issues that
should be taken seriously. The presence of these parts is unnecessary
and nonsense. It might have been done to attract attention.”
Saying that the articles she wrote for the Eyewitness Travel Guides
were published in 1998, Silay says: “Information that I wrote for the
issue on Istanbul then was used again by the publishing company in
Eyewitness Travel Guides-Turkey in 2003. I am learning from you that
my name was also printed in the 2003 edition. I will call the
publishing company in London and receive information about this.”
Silay makes translations to foreign-based books.
Meanwhile, Istanbul Attorney General Nazmi Okumus announced that they
are considering enlarging the investigation they launched into
literature produced by MasterCard. Okumus said that they would take
the other travel books mentioned in Zaman newspaper into the
framework of the investigation as well. Attorney General Okumus had
launched an investigation on erroneous expressions such as “Armenians
were massacred” and “Ataturk banned any expression of Kurdishness as
part of an assimilation plan in 1924” that were included in the
Istanbul guidebook distributed by the MasterCard for the UEFA
Champions League final match in Istanbul on May 25.