Since 2011, the 400th anniversary of Evliya Çelebi’s birth has been receiving wide attention in Turkey and abroad, with UNESCO organizing international activities to celebrate the life and the 10-volume masterpiece of the famed Ottoman traveler and writer. Subsequently, the Turkish National Commission proposed and UNESCO approved the inclusion of Evliya Çelebi in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, a listing of documentary heritage of “world significance and outstanding universal value.”
On Friday, November 29, the UNESCO Turkish National Commission, the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Bilkent University Center for Turkish Literature will hold a program entitled “Evliya Çelebi’s Travelogue in UNESCO’s World Memory.” The event will take place in the auditorium of the Ankara Museum of Paintings and Sculpture at 4:30 p.m.
The speakers are Prof. Talât Halman (Bilkent University dean of humanities and letters), Prof. Öcal Oğuz (Gazi University; president of the UNESCO Turkish National Commission; visiting professor of literature at Bilkent), Prof. Yaşar Tonta (Hacettepe University), Assoc. Prof. Nuran Tezcan (Bilkent University; world-renowned scholar specializing in Evliya Çelebi studies), Prof. Heath W. Lowry (Bahçeşehir University), Dr. Yeliz Özay (Gazi University) and Prof. Semih Tezcan (Bilkent University; noted specialist in Evliya Çelebi’s language). The program will end with readings of Evliya Çelebi selections by State Theater actors Mesude Yılmaz and Tuncer Yığcı, followed by refreshments. Admission is free.