Presentation of the book "Turkish artefacts converted into churches" held at YTB

At the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), the book titled "Turkish Monuments Converted into Churches", which describes the monuments in 19 countries that were originally Turkish works and later converted into churches, was introduced.

The presentation hosted by YTB President Abdullah Eren was attended by the owner of the work, high architect Mehmet Emin Yılmaz, YTB officials, academicians, representatives of non-governmental organisations and many guests.

In his speech here, Eren referred to the works carried out in "cognate geographies" and said, "We carry out many different studies in order to support the works that bring to light the architectural works and relics in our cognate and relative geography, especially to carry out oral history studies in the areas where our ancestors were displaced by forced migrations and exiles in their time, and to remind and commemorate these pains."

Speaking about the activities carried out by YTB and the activities to be carried out in the future, Eren noted that lessons should be learnt from the pain experienced in the past.

Eren pointed out that the sufferings should be remembered in order not to repeat them again and said, "We are carrying out these activities so that they will strengthen our will to live together in the future."

Emphasising that the scope, content and impact of the studies of the institutions in Türkiye have increased, Eren said, "I hope that the study of Turkish Works of Art Converted into Churches will undoubtedly shed light on other studies to be carried out there tomorrow, one day, with the classification and description of the works included in it."

Yılmaz, the author of the work, also made a presentation in which he gave information about the book.

The presentation ended with the presentation of a gift by Eren to Yılmaz and the visit of the exhibition consisting of the photographs in the work.

"Turkish artefacts converted into churches"

The second edition of the study titled "Turkish Works Translated into Churches" was published in Turkish and English by YTB.

The work, which is the 13-year work of Master Architect Mehmet Emin Yılmaz, consists of three volumes and 1425 pages in total, and deals with the buildings converted into churches among the Turkish heritage monuments in 19 countries.

The first volume of the study covers buildings in Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Algeria, Armenia, Southern Cyprus, Georgia, Croatia, Montenegro, Kosovo and North Macedonia, while the second volume focuses on buildings in Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.

The third volume of the study focuses only on the buildings in Greece.

AA