Exhibition marks World War I anniversary

ISTANBUL

The exhibition ‘Propaganda and War I’ features innumerable historical documents and a wide range of objects such as posters, postcards, flags, awards and medals.

Koç University’s Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (RCAC) has opened a new exhibition, “Propaganda and War, The Allied Front During The First World War,” to mark the 100th anniversary of the Great War.

The exhibition displays selected historical objects and archival documents of Ottoman artifacts and memorabilia from World War I from the Ömer M. Koç Collection.

Organized to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I, the exhibition explores the evolution of the Ottoman Empire’s relations with other Central Powers. One particular focus of the exhibition is material culture related to the manner in which the war was familiarized to the public as a public relations process, and the evolution of the propaganda campaigns that were conducted by the Central Powers.

The exhibition features innumerable historical documents and a wide range of objects, including commemorative posters and postcards, flags, ceramics, symbols of honor, awards and medals, as well as documentation of activities carried out by the states to marshal the support of the people by the Ottoman Empire and the other Central Power countries.

The exhibition provides insight into the cultural exchanges that transpired during the war, including artistic activities, reciprocal visits, educational cooperation and the coordination and production of propaganda tools carried out by the members of the grouping, Germany, Austro-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire, while also offering important clues to understanding present-day international relations.

Also on display is a rare album of plates titled “Paintings and Drawings from Turkey;” all of the images in the volume were painted in Turkey by Wilhelm Viktor Krausz between 1915 and 1916 during the war. The first known portrait of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is contained within the volume.

Conference with history professors

The exhibition was designed by Yeşim Demir, while the accompanying exhibition catalogue, with articles by curator Bahattin Öztuncay, Edhem Eldem and Sinan Kuneralp, who worked carefully on selecting the works and documents for the exhibition, will be published by the Vehbi Koç Foundation.

Additionally, a conference is set to be organized with history professors such as Eldem, Ayhan Aktar, Sinan Kuneralp, Nazan Maksudyan, Yiğit Akın, Sinan Niyazioğlu, Erol Köroğlu, Benjamin Fortna and Eugene Rogan as speakers. The conference, “World War: Ideology and Propaganda,” will be held at the RCAC on Jan. 10, 2015. The event will be open to the public.

Curated by Öztuncay, “Propaganda and War,” will be open through March 22, 2015.