Symposium in Moscow!
"A Historical Perspective of Turco-Russian Relations"

The Ottoman Bank Museum (OBM) is organizing a symposium in association with the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University. The symposium, titled "A Historical Perspective of Turco-Russian Relations," will be held in Moscow on Wednesday, December 3. The attending Turkish and Russian academics will examine the turning points in the history of Russia and Ottoman Turkey and investigate the relations between the two countries and their approaches to events. The symposium will take place in the Center for Eastern Literatures in the Lenin Library as part of the "The Year of Turkish Culture" activities organized in Russia by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV).

Speakers at the symposium include Prof. İlber Ortaylı, director of the Topkapı Palace Museum, who will submit a paper entitled "Rusya Reformları ve Türkiye" (Russian Reforms and Turkey) and Liaisan Şahin from Marmara University with a paper on Turkish research during the Soviet era entitled "Sovyet Döneminde Türkiye Araştırmaları: Tarihsel Gelişim ve İçerik Özellikleri." In addition, Prof. Zafer Toprak, from Boğaziçi University will present a paper entitled "Ekim Devrimi ve Osmanlı Basınında Lenin" (the October Revolution and Lenin in the Ottoman Press), while Assoc. Prof. Asım Karaömerlioğlu, from Boğaziçi University as well, will contribute a paper entitled "Bir Rus Sosyal Demokratı Alexandr Helphand Parvus ve Jön Türkler" (Alexandr Helphand Parvus, a Russian Social Democrat and the Young Turks).

Among the Russian speakers at the symposium are Prof. Oreşkova, from the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russsian Academy of Sciences, with a presentation on the need for an unbiased approach in dealing with Russian-Turkish relations; Prof. Kireev, who will discuss Soviet-Turkish relations during the Mossul crisis; and Dr. Boldırev with a paper entitled "Russia, Turkey and the Issue of the Straits in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries." Other featured speakers include Prof. Jukov, from the University of Saint Petersbourg, with a presentation entitled "Russian Orientalism: the Image of the Ottoman Empire in Russia;" Dr. Zaytsev, associate chair of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russsian Academy of Sciences, who will discuss the Crimean question in Russian-Ottoman relations; and Asssoc. Prof. Ulçenko, chair of the Department of Turkish Studies in the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University, who will submit a paper on the major phases in the economic cooperation between Russia and Turkey during the Soviet and post-Soviet eras.  

Please click for the program.