WATERTOWN MUSEUM HOSTS ‘ARMENIANS IN TURKEY 100 YEARS AGO’
Watertown TAB & Press
March 19 2010
MA
WATERTOWN — Turkish journalist and historian Osman Köker will present
his book, "Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago," at the Armenian Library
and Museum of America on Wednesday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m.
The event, which marks Köker’s first public appearance on the East
Coast of the United States, is co-sponsored by ALMA, Friends of
Hrant Dink, National Association for Armenian Studies and Research
and Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives. Admission is free and
open to the public. A reception will follow.
Köker first came to international attention in 2005 when he organized
the exhibition "Sireli Yeghpayrs (My Dear Brother)" in Istanbul.
Eventually seen by thousands of people, it presented photographs
of Armenian life in pre-genocide Ottoman Turkey, drawn from a large
collection of postcards owned by the collector, Orlando Calumeno. In
the five years since then, the exhibition has also been mounted in
Paris, Munich, Koln, Frankfurt and last year in Yerevan.
Köker originally intended to write a book about Armenian life in the
Ottoman Empire, but with the discovery of the postcard collection, the
scope of the project changed. Following the exhibition, he published
the volume "100 Yil Once Turkiye’de Ermeniler," subsequently published
in English as "Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago," featuring hundreds
of images showing where and how Armenians in the Ottoman Empire lived.
Köker was also involved in the creation in 1996 of the Istanbul
Turkish-Armenian daily Agos and Aras Publishing House, the only
publishing house which publishes books in Armenian and books translated
into Turkish from the Armenian.
ALMA is at 65 Main St., in Watertown. Parking is available in the
municipal parking lot behind the Museum and in adjacent areas. For
directions and more information, visit