Exhibition of rare Armenian postcards opens in Yerevan

by Maria Titizian

Published: Friday September 18, 2009

Cover of Osman Köker's Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago.
. Photolure / Haik Badalyan

Osman Köker
. Photolure / Haik Badalyan

Yerevan - The opening of an exhibition entitled, "My Dear Brother, Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago," took place on September 15 at the Moscow Theater in Yerevan.

Through the initiative of the Civilitas Foundation and Turkish historian Osman Koker's publishing house Birzamanlar, this exhibition, which was brought to Armenia from Istanbul, represents the substantial presence of Armenians in dozens of cities and villages within the Ottoman Empire.

The collection of Orlando Calumeno's postcards includes those published from 1900-1910, which tell the story of the lives of Armenians, the Armenian Church, schools, the many factories, restaurants, hotels and other establishments owned by Armenians during those years.

The collection of more than 4000 posted postcards and envelopes include those from Aintab, Marash, Seytoun, Kessaria, Moush, Van, Erzerum, Kars and many other cities and villages. They depict the daily existence and preoccupation of the Armenians, including the many charitable works undertaken by missions of international organizations in Armenian neighborhoods, historical sites and events of the day.

Five hundred of the postcards were exhibited for the first time in June, 2005 in Istanbul at an exhibition entitled, "My Dear Brother," through the efforts of historian and publisher Osman Koker. Subsequently, the exhibition then traveled to Vallencia, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, and Geneva. Mr. Korker has published a four hundred-page book of the postcard collection.

At the opening of the exhibition, Osman Koker said that in Turkey, history is presented from a Turkish point of view. "This is fundamentally noteworthy from the point of view of the history of cities. Starting from grade 3, the history of the city is part of the school curriculum. Here they are taught that this city was founded by the Turks, or the meaning of another city's name originated from the Turks; legends are woven around a city's Turkishness. For example, they tie the origin of the name of the city of Tokat with the Tokats of the race of Turan. No importance at all is placed, that this opinion is contrary to basic information, because the Turks came to Anatolia only in the 11th century and when they came, those cities had been long established," Osman Koker said in his speech at the opening of the exhibition. 

He said that the reason he wrote a book and organized this exhibition was to try and stop this incorrect concept of history. "As a result of endless efforts, my book, ‘Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago,' was published and the exhibition ‘My Dear Brother' opened in Istanbul. The 11-day exhibition had more than 7000 visitors. That is the highest number of visitors to an exhibition in Turkey in recent years," said Mr. Koker. "Both Turks and Armenians expressed interest in the exhibition."

It is interesting to note, that Osman Koker couldn't find a publisher in Turkey who was willing to publish a book that documented the existence of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. For this reason, he opened his own publishing house specifically to have his book published.

Haypost was the sponsor of this exhibition and the director of Civilitas, Salpi Ghazarian welcomed their participation. Of the more than 4000 postcards, 500 were chosen to be part of this exhibition and as Ms. Ghazarian noted, it was a valuable exhibition in its content and for the fact that it was done by a Turkish publisher based on a Turkish collection.

"Librarians and scientists know very well that publications, which are not books but rather postcards, posters, brochures, stamps are the most valuable evidence of the life of any society. It is possible to consider these postcards a social history. It is possible to view these postcards with tears, pride or political awareness. We have to understand our common history to build a peaceful future in our region," said Salpi Ghazarian. "These postcards illustrate our history; they prove the lost presence of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. I don't want to say that this is only our loss, for it is a loss of an entire existence for world history."

The exhibition will run till September 28.