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One of the oldest languages ​​of Istanbul, Ladino has a 550-year history in Istanbul. Ladino is the common name used for Judaeo-Spanish.   Language, like all other cultural assets, is a living organism and evolves over time. Like other languages, Ladino too went through many changes. Even before the Spanish Jewry had abandoned their homeland, the foundations of the modern Spanish were not yet laid. The political unity of the Spaniards in 1492 was the first step on this path. Ladino’s backbone was predominantly a sub-branch of the Castilian Spanish. Spanish King Ferdinand The story of Judeo-Spanish or Ladino in...

A travelling exhibition entitled ‘The Gallipoli War – The 1st World War and the Ottoman Jews’ will be available to public at Mekor Hayim Synagogue in the Turkish town of Canakkale between 15 March and 15 April. Canakkale is the city where Gallipoli campaign took place. The exhibition is organised by “The 500th Year Foundation”. Jewish officers (from Ottoman Palestine - modern Israel) in Ottoman army A total of 66 historical pieces consisting of visual materials and stories will be exhibited. The exhibition, which consists of five main sections, starts with a petition sent to the Ottoman King Abdulhamid II by...

Who knows, all the evil haunting us, the endless mass killings and our inability to recover from afflictions may be due to a century-old curse and a century-old lie. What do you think? This is perhaps the malediction uttered by Armenians — children, civilian women and men alike — who died moaning and buried without a coffin. It may be the storms created in our souls by the still-agonizing specters of all our ill-fated citizens, including Greeks and Syriacs and later, Alevis and Kurds. Perhaps the massacres that have not been accounted for since 1915 and the “prices” that have...

The Anzac resilience and the Gallipoli campaign helped shape Australia’s national identity. Gallipoli Campaign however is a very important event in Turkish history as well. Gallipoli Battle was the last battle Ottoman Empire had to face after fighting against allied armies at various fronts in Africa, Asia, middle-east and Europe. It was the battle where the nation had to use its last resources – basically whoever was available to fight fought with whatever they had left to fight with. Therefore teachers, engineers, athletes, doctors and school principals from all Ottoman nations (including Greek, Armenian and Jewish volunteers) all had to...

The flag of Turkey is the national flag and the national flag of the Republic of Turkey . It consists of a waning moon and five-pointed star, both in white on a red background. The flag is called Ay-Yildiz (literally, “star moon”), or a-sancak (the “Red Banner”) in Turkish . The flag has a very complex origin. It is first virtually identical to the flag of the Ottoman Empire, with changes to the shape of the moon and the number of branches of the star from eight to five. The current flag was adopted in 1844, before its proportions are...