Irfan Orga was born into a prosperous family in the twilight of the Ottoman Empire. His mother was a beauty, married at thirteen, who lived in the seclusion of the harem, as befitted a Turkish woman o...
Throughout the 1960s, John Freely explored the alleys, hidden corners and monuments of Istanbul, in between teaching, to create a legendary guidebook with Hilary Sumner-Boyd. But all the passages that...
Evliya Celebi was the Orhan Pamuk of the 17th century, the Pepys of the Ottoman world - a diligent, adventurous and honest recorder with a puckish wit and humour. He is in the pantheon of the great tr...