An international conference titled “Istanbul 1914-1922: War, Collapse, Occupation, and the History of Resistance” was held at the Hrant Dink Foundation’s Havak Hall on November 4-5, 2022 with the participation of academics, researchers, students, as well as those interested in history from Turkey and abroad.

At the conference, organized in a hybrid format and live streamed in Turkish and English, 22 participants from nine countries presented papers. For two days, subjects such as the social and economic transformation that Istanbul went through during World War I and the armistice period afterwards, relief activities in the city, and the situation of orphans were discussed. Different themes such as immigration, diplomacy, literature, cinema as well as theater were also discussed in the presentations prepared on the basis of various state archives and personal narratives.

You can watch the videos of the papers presented at the conference, which attracted great interest, on this page.

Click to download the conference program.

 1.DAY

 
Opening Remarks   
09.30 - 10.30 
Opening Remarks:
Rakel Dink
Opening Speech   Ayhan Aktar - "My Pasha, Why did we enter to this war?" The Ottomans' Decision to Enter the War (February–October 1914)
 

 
 
 I. The War and Its Consequences 
10.30 - 11.30
Chair:
Ayşe Kadıoğlu
Hilmar Kaiser - Constantinople and Armenian Resistance
Kent Schull - Prisons in Occupied Istanbul (1918-22): Politicized Sites of Civilizational Fitness 

  
 
II. The Occupation of the City and Relief Activities 
12.00 - 13.30
Chair:
Mehmet Polatel
Evangelia Achladi - The Greek State’s Supervision of Orphanages (1919–1922)
Alexandros Makris - Transnational Welfare during the Armistice Period: The Activities of the Ministry of Relief of Greece in Occupied Istanbul 
Konstantina Andrianopoulou - Greek Orthodox Orphans, with Special Reference to the Ones Adopted by the Turkish Families and Institutions (online presentation) 

 
 
III. Different Pursuits under the Occupation
14.30 - 16.00
Chair:
Ayfer Bartu Candan
Vahé Tachjian - The Story of a Speech: Debating Armenian-Turkish Relations in Istanbul in the Aftermath of WWI (online presentation)
Andreas Baltas - Sports and National Ideologies in Istanbul during “the Armistice” Period (1918-1922): The Case of Local Greek Sports Clubs
Sona Baldrian - Armenian Women in Post-Genocide Turkey (1919-1921) from the Standpoint of the Hay Gin Periodical 

  
 
IV. Diplomacy during the Armistice
16.30-18.00
Chair:
Ayşe Ozil
Dmitar Tasić - Between Just Ended War and Postponed Peace - Mission of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in Istanbul (1919-1922)
Claire Le Bras - Representing Constantinople and Ankara: Ottoman Diplomats Facing Governmental Duality in Turkey (1920–1922)
Eden Naby Frye - An Assyrian-Iranian Family in Istanbul Negotiates Passage to New York: Currencies, Political Sectors and Safe Passage (online presentation) 

 
  


 2.DAY   

 
V. Personal Narratives 
10.30-12.00
Chair:
Kent Schull
Savvas Tsilenis - Memoirs of Arria Clondia from Istanbul during the War Period (1914-1922)
Allison Panelas - Stateless and Helpless
Ali Okumuş - The Footprints of the Gulbenkians in Istanbul after the First World War 

 
VI. Literature and Politics during the Armistice
13.00-14.30
Chair:
Ahmet Kuyaş
Engin Kılıç - Turkish Novel and the Occupation of Istanbul
Talat Ulusoy - Touching the Truth: Revisiting Ali Kemal’s Writings on Peyam
Baki Tezcan - From Compassion to Oblivion: Ottoman Armenians in Halide Edib’s Newspaper Articles during the Armistice Period 

 
VII. White Russians during the Armistice
15.00-16.00
Chair:
Ayhan Aktar
Timur Saitov - Russian Civil War Refugees in Occupied Istanbul (online presentation)
Anush Hovhannisyan - "Microcosm" of Post-War Istanbul and the Fate of the White Russian Emigration 

 
VIII. Cinema and Theater during the War and Armistice
16.00-17.00
Chair:
Engin Kılıç
Özde Çeliktemel-Thomen - Cinema at War: Wartime Films and Cinema-Going during the First World War
Nesim Ovadya İzrail - The Rise of Armenian Theater Activities in Istanbul during the Armistice Years 

 

 

This event has been organized with the co-funding of European Union Etkiniz Programme. The content of this event are the
sole responsibility of Hrant Dink Foundation and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

Attachments:
File
Download this file (İngilizce broşür_web.pdf)İngilizce broşür_web.pdf