Istanbul’s Greeks open publishing house

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The founders of the ISTOS Publishing house say they will publish books in both Turkish and Greek, and particularly focus on history and literature books. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL

The Greek minority in Istanbul’s Karaköy has established a new publishing house 50 years after the community last published a book.

“We will publish books in both Turkish and Greek, but most of them will be in Turkish. We will try to introduce Greek translations first hand,” Haris Rigas, one of editors at ISTOS publishing house, recently told the Hürriyet Daily News.

Greeks used to publish books, but they stopped doing so in the 1960s when relations between Turkey and Greece soured over the Cyprus problem, said Rigas and Seçkin Erdi, ISTOS’ other editor.

“Many Greeks left Turkey at the time; the number of Greeks declined and so did the cultural and social life,” said Rigas. “The last book was published in Istanbul 50 years ago. Our first book will be Fener Greek Patriarchate Press Secretaries Dosiethos Anagnastopulos’ book, which is on the trauma of immigrants who went to Greece because of the political tension.”

Rigas said they were taking weekly Agos and Aras Publishing House, which are both operated by the Armenian community, as examples.

“On one hand we will have to fight against nationalism, on the other hand, we will have translating and editing problems, as well economical difficulties, but we will not hesitate,” he said.