Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul

When you work at a research institute in Istanbul you may have to research your garden for kittens that have become lost so you can reunite them with their mothers.

Hi! My name is Lovisa Jakobsson, I have a background in history of philosophy and ideas, library and information as well as language studies. This semester I am happy to say that I have the opportunity to work with all these fields and more as a junior researcher at SRII.

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Another productive week has unfolded at SRII. Last weekend, we hosted Freemuse and UNESCO for a network meeting. On Saturday evening, we welcomed Rachel Harris from SOAS London, Istanbul-based Uyghur educator and poet Muyesser Abdul’ehed, along with a group of Uyghur musicians led by Muhatar Abdukerim Janbaz, to highlight Uyghur culture in the diaspora.

Following this cultural highlight, we were visited by our partners from the Swedish National Graduate School in Islamic Studies. Twelve PhD students and eight professors presented and discussed research projects and met with local Turkish colleagues under three days.

Additionally, we managed to carve out some time for a fruitful meeting with Istanbul-based academics who share a keen interest in research related to music, something we hope to return to in the near future.

This Sunday also marks a significant moment in history: the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate on March 3, 1924, the world's last caliphate to be broadly recognized. We are highlighting this by kicking off a conference in cooperation with IFEA, Koç University, and Boğaziçi University entitled "When the Center Cannot Hold: Modern Statehood, Global Islam, and the End of the Ottoman Caliphate," with participants from all over the world.

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Enjoying a sunny Saturday morning at SRII. Featuring:

Johanna, Sixten (the cat) and Martin from

Ole and Sverre from Freemuse conducting a workshop at SRII

Our scholarship holder immersed in painting in front of Dragoman House

Bengt the Cat

Is this one of the best workspaces in the world? 🌍 

They say that Istanbul boasts some 3,000 mosques, each with its own unique charm. Many find joy in exploring the mosques constructed during the 15th and 16th centuries, including iconic landmarks like the Sultan Ahmed Camii (Blue Mosque), Süleymaniye Camii, and Yeni Cami.

If SRII were to select a preferred period for mosque architecture, the era spanning from 1740 to 1800 would undoubtedly stand out. Renowned for its Ottoman Baroque style, this period has gifted us with architectural gems like the Laleli Camii, Beylerbeyi Camii, and the Nuruosmaniye Camii.

And if, by some evil twist of fate, we were forced to choose only a single mosque to visit, the Ayazma Camii in Üsküdar would be the one. This architectural masterpiece, built between 1758 and 1761 by  Mehmed Tahir under the commission of Mustafa III, holds a special place in our hearts. Today was a sunny Saturday making it a perfect day for an excursion to Üsküdar and the Ayazma Camii. Enjoy the pictures!

A reminder to all our followers that the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria are still in dire need of help. On our homepage srii.org (scroll down to “billboard”) you can find a list of organizations that take various forms of donations.

The affected region lies at the very heart of the ancient Fertile Crescent, the common cradle of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean civilization. We owe it more than we can ever pay back. Let us join forces to make it heal and flourish again.

Depicted: Antakya, 2017

#شام

🇹🇷İsveçli arama ve kurtarma ekipleri, deprem bölgesindeki çalışmalara destek vermek üzere Türkiye'ye hareket etti.

İsveç Silahlı Kuvvetleri ve Sivil Acil Durum Ajansı'ndan oluşan 45 kişilik ekip; özel eğitimli köpekleriyle birlikte, arama kurtarma, sağlık ve koordinasyon alanlarında çalışmalara katkıda bulunacak.

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🇬🇧Swedish search and rescue personnel have departed Sweden for Türkiye to participate in the earthquake relief efforts. The contribution consists of search, canine, medical and management teams from the Swedish Armed Forces and the Civil Contingencies Agency, all in all 45 people.

Photo: Jonas Holmberg/Försvarsmakten

İPA İstanbul Kitaplığı’nda, İstanbul araştırma kurumları biraraya gelmeye ve deneyimlerini paylaşmaya devam ediyor. Bu kez BiblioPera Beyoğlu Araştırma Merkezleri Ağı’nı oluşturan 13 kurumu ağırlıyor, İstanbul kent belleğini merkeze alarak birlikte tartışıyor ve düşünüyoruz.

• Hikayedeki bağlantı üzerinden etkinlik için kaydınızı oluşturabilirsiniz.

We've been working hard and deserve some time off! We are back on January 9th and in the meantime we wish all our friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 🎄

Yesterday evening the board of the SRII arranged a surprise event at the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm in order to celebrate the birthday of the former director of SRII Karin Ådahl. Karin has been involved in the institutes since the early days and she still very much plays and active role as the head of the board for our Association of Friends.

Thank you to all the speakers and participants. Thank you Karin for everything you have done for SRII over the years. Everyone at SRII wishes you an early happy birthday!

On a dark, cold, rainy and windy day on the Bosporus, we have been fortunate to visit the to see the exhibition “After Utopia: The Birds” with under the guidance of the curator - a creative take on past and present, migration and settlement, heritage and loss.

With ”Dreams of Turan: Traces and Trajectories of a contested ideology from past to present” we celebrated yet another fruitful and dynamic collaboration with the and the . Great thanks to our speakers from Turkey, Hungary, France, Germany and Finland!

This past Saturday they new issue of Dragomanen was released. It was a joint effort between the SRII association of friends (FSIV) and Rönnells bookstore. Dragomanen 24 is centered around the themes of blasphemy, heresy, heretics, and apostasy - and encapsulates case studies ranging from Sokrates to Orhan Pamuk.

At the release, members of FSIV and the public, got the opportunity to listen to Karin Ådhal (chair of FSIV), Simon Stjernholm (editor of Dragomanen), Douglas Mattsson & Simon Sorgenfrei (editors of the special issue), as well Susanne Olsson and Charlotta Weigelt who have contributed to the issue.

We would like to express our gratitude to everyone who attended the release and for a wonderful and successful release! Members of the FSIV receives the issue as part of their membership. If you are not a member the issue is available at Rönnels.

Christmas came early to SRII this year. Today we had the honor to host SWEA Istanbul for their the First Sunday of Advent "Fika" and Ukraine fundraiser. SWEA is the Swedish Women's Educational Association. Engaging 6 000 Swedish speaking women in 33 countries.

It was nice seeing so much entusiasm and smiling faces and thank you so much for the mulled wine, Saffron bun and gingerbread cookies and all the other Christmas treats!

We hope to see you again next year!

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Our thoughts are with those who were injured and our deepest condolences go to those who lost loved ones in the act of violence that took place yesterday in Istanbul.

Swedes in Istanbul are advised to follow the travel recommendations of the Swedish foreign ministry and register on the list of Swedes in Turkey.

Finally, on Wednesday we assembled in our own auditorium with from , from .london, our own three-month fellow for the autumn from and from for an engaging discussion on the history of the , again with a presentation of the website and signing of the books, followed by a reception for our friends and colleagues at and at the hosted by and from . It has been an absolutely fantastic week that we hope has made more people interested in and the long and winding history of cultural encounters from the along the to the !

On Monday, we were hosted by and for a splendid lecture by at which was opened by himself! We also took the opportunity to visit our friends at the

Photo courtesy of

This has been a week of Vikings! I began with a package from and the arrival of and , followed by a signing event and presentation of both the books and the new digital exhibition at the assisted by the students of and in front of a brilliant little audience.

Register on [email protected] to attend the panel “Roads to Rus: Sources, Materials, Concepts” with Alexandra Vukovich, Leif Inge Ree Petersen, Monica White and Tonicha Mae Upham next Wednesday, 16:30-18:00 at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul!

Yaşasın Cumhuriyet!

To celebrate the 99th anniversary of the Turkish Republic, we are posting a poem by the mid-20th century Swedish envoy to Ankara, Eric von Post (1899–1990). His deep love of the Turkish nation and its culture was expressed not only in his professional work as a diplomat, but also in various essays and poems that he left behind, which were inspired by his years in the nascent republic 1946–51. He even wrote a poem to Yayha Kemal (1884–1958) which was published in the newspaper Cumhuriyet in 1948 in a translation by their common friend Cemal Yeşil (1900-1977).

For our Swedish followers, we also take the opportunity to re-post the Swedish translation of the İstiklal Marşı that was made by the last dragoman of the Swedish legation in Istanbul, Johannes Kolmodin in the 1920s – a scholar-diplomat and forerunner of our institute.

SRII has left the shores of the Bosphorus in order to travel north to Umeå University in the mid-northern region of Sweden to talk about our activities and give lectures.

The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present borders. Famous Almunis from Umeå University includes Ibrahim Baylan (born in Salah, in the Mardin Province in Türkiye) a Swedish politician who, among other things, served as Minister for Schools. Also Stefan Löfven, Prime Minister of Sweden (2014-2021) attended Umeå University.

Umeå is also international Known for its vibrant DIY hardcore punk scene. The city has a long tradition of straight edge movement and gave birth to a plethora influential bands, in the 1990s, like for example Refused, Abhinanda and Separation. Today Umeå is also a center for Swedish Hip-Hop. Check out: .i.norrland to get a taste of the local hip-hop scene.

Thanks for inviting us!

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Meet Agneta Arnesson Westerdahl. Agneta is a Swedish osteoarcheologist, novelist and member of the Fåröakademien. She has been awarded a scholarship by the Association of Friends of the Swedish Institute in Istanbul. Agneta is currently at SRII to gather precious information on the contacts between the Vikings and the Byzantines for the fourth chapter of her Vikingaserien (Viking Series), coming out in Spring 2023.

It’s hetic times at the SRII. Here is some snapshots from the week so far.

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Hey all, my name is Michele Erik Manni and I’m the currently spending the third semester of my MA in Middle Eastern Studies doing an internship at SRII. I’ve been here for a month now and I can’t really put into words how much I’m enjoying being here at the Institute! As an intern I get to experience so many things, from working in an international environment with a highly prepared and fun team to meeting and chatting with excellent scholars. I even got to have my own office! Moreover, I have the opportunity to fully enjoy the amazing city of Istanbul! What more could I ask for?!

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Our intern Erik was going through our publications archive this week when he stumbled upon a veritable treasure trove of old slides in the basement of the Dragoman building. It includes photos from the Labraunda excavations in the 1960s, interiors of the institute through the ages, and official information about Sweden in the 1970s!

For the past days the two Swedish missions to Turkey (Ankara and Istanbul) meet for staff training days in Bulo. It was a humbling experience with so much knowledge in one room. Naturally, it was very rewarding to meet our colleagues from Ankara and share experiences. We at SRII hope to see you again soon!

Finally a big thanks to the organizers!

Last weekend the fantastic SRII board visited Istanbul for meetings, lectures and city tours. The board consists of a chairperson (Christer Asp, Swedish former ambassador) and eight board members who are selected for three years at a time. The Swedish government selects the chairperson. Six of the members are selected by the collegium of scholars, and two are selected by the board itself.

It was very was hectic days but productive. Thank you so much for the visit!

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In Search for Troy: Between Myth and History - a lecture by !

On the occasion of a new Swedish book about Troy by and , Professor Barry Strauss, Cornell University, gave a talk at the SRII on Homer and the stories about the Trojan War. Listen to it on https://srii.org/pages/hubbub and check out the book at www.smb.nu/pennanochsvardet/pennanochsvardets-bocker

For the last few days the SRII has had the pleasure to visit Swedens second largest city Gothenburg, home of Volvo and fantastic seafood, for a meeting with USI steering committee.

USI is a cross-disciplinary network that promotes the internationalization of Swedish research and education. Five Swedish universities and the Swedish Mediterranean Institutes work together to be able to offer international research seminars and master’s courses that include fieldwork in the Mediterranean region.

Exciting things are in the making!

This week the autumn lecture series "Searching for the Sacred" starts. We are really excited about the line up and the subjects. Thanks to all the speakers!

More information on srii.org.

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