İlber Ortaylı
Pages from Istanbul
Type
abstract
Year
2014
Ortaylı, İlber. İstanbul’dan Sayfalar. İstanbul: Iletişim, 1995, 259pp.
ABSTRACT
Pages from Istanbul
İstanbul’dan Sayfalar
The book is a compilation of articles, published in various newspapers and journals between 1977 and 1990, by a history professor. In the second edition, the author included an article to draw attention to the desperate social and economic state the Tarlabaşı neighbourhood had fallen into at the end of the 1980s. The book’s articles are mainly on social history, discussing Istanbul’s past and criticising its distorted urbanisation and eroding historical values. Taking Istanbul as a starting point, the author refers to a number of socio-cultural problems and values lost by Turkish society in general: these include problems with the Turkish language, historical artefacts lost in the process of urbanisation and the public’s insensitivity towards such issues.
The author also provides information on old neighbourhoods and their current problems (paying specific attention to neighbourhoods important for Muslims, such as Eyüp and Fatih, and those important for Christians, such as Tarlabaşı and Balat), traditional festival celebrations, provisions brought into the city, entertainment and culture (especially the articles on books, book shops, book lovers, the Istanbul Archaeological Museum and palace traditions in Ottoman times). He mentions some Ottoman intellectuals, statesmen and literary figures (such as Şemsettin Sami, Midhat Paşa and Cevdet Paşa), on whom brief bibliographical information is given.
In almost all his articles, he pays attention to issues related to the growth of the city: touching upon its transport, unplanned urbanisation, the process of industrialisation that destroys historic parts of the city, and environmental pollution. While he underlines striking examples of ‘primitive’ urbanisation, such as the city’s rubbish being dumped along the Haliç coastline and its sewers emptied into the sea, he laments the fact that the residents of Istanbul fail to own their city. Between the lines, he offers suggestions to the inhabitants of Istanbul to enable a healthier urban development. The book is not geared towards specialists and is directed to a wide audience, which would be interested in reading about the views of this historian, who is very well-known in Turkey.
Feryal Tansuğ
Citation
Tansuğ, Feryal'". English abstract of 'Pages from Istanbul'". Translated by Feryal Tansuğ. In Cities as Built and Lived Environments: Scholarship from Muslim Contexts, 1875 to 2011, by Aptin Khanbaghi, 64. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014.
Authorities
Collections
Copyright
Muslim Civilisations Abstracts - The Aga Khan University
Terms of Use
Public Domain
Country
Türkiye
Language
English
Related Documents
Pages from Istanbul
Type
abstract
Year
2014
Ortaylı, İlber. İstanbul’dan Sayfalar. İstanbul: Iletişim, 1995, 259pp.
ABSTRACT
Pages from Istanbul
İstanbul’dan Sayfalar
The book is a compilation of articles, published in various newspapers and journals between 1977 and 1990, by a history professor. In the second edition, the author included an article to draw attention to the desperate social and economic state the Tarlabaşı neighbourhood had fallen into at the end of the 1980s. The book’s articles are mainly on social history, discussing Istanbul’s past and criticising its distorted urbanisation and eroding historical values. Taking Istanbul as a starting point, the author refers to a number of socio-cultural problems and values lost by Turkish society in general: these include problems with the Turkish language, historical artefacts lost in the process of urbanisation and the public’s insensitivity towards such issues.
The author also provides information on old neighbourhoods and their current problems (paying specific attention to neighbourhoods important for Muslims, such as Eyüp and Fatih, and those important for Christians, such as Tarlabaşı and Balat), traditional festival celebrations, provisions brought into the city, entertainment and culture (especially the articles on books, book shops, book lovers, the Istanbul Archaeological Museum and palace traditions in Ottoman times). He mentions some Ottoman intellectuals, statesmen and literary figures (such as Şemsettin Sami, Midhat Paşa and Cevdet Paşa), on whom brief bibliographical information is given.
In almost all his articles, he pays attention to issues related to the growth of the city: touching upon its transport, unplanned urbanisation, the process of industrialisation that destroys historic parts of the city, and environmental pollution. While he underlines striking examples of ‘primitive’ urbanisation, such as the city’s rubbish being dumped along the Haliç coastline and its sewers emptied into the sea, he laments the fact that the residents of Istanbul fail to own their city. Between the lines, he offers suggestions to the inhabitants of Istanbul to enable a healthier urban development. The book is not geared towards specialists and is directed to a wide audience, which would be interested in reading about the views of this historian, who is very well-known in Turkey.
Feryal Tansuğ
Citation
Tansuğ, Feryal'". English abstract of 'Pages from Istanbul'". Translated by Feryal Tansuğ. In Cities as Built and Lived Environments: Scholarship from Muslim Contexts, 1875 to 2011, by Aptin Khanbaghi, 64. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014.
Authorities
Collections
Copyright
Muslim Civilisations Abstracts - The Aga Khan University
Terms of Use
Public Domain
Country
Türkiye
Language
English
Related Documents