Following Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s taking the Best Director award at last month’s Cannes Film Festival, Turkey received further international recognition last week when author-lecturer Aslı Sancar’s book “Ottoman Women: Myth and Reality” won an award at the US’s Benjamin Franklin Awards.
 
 
“Ottoman Women,” a detailed exploration of Ottoman harem life, was announced the winner in the […]

Guided by the accounts of such female travelers as Lady Montagu, Julia Pardoe, and Lucy Garnett, all of whom lived in Ottoman lands for significant periods of time, this beautifully illustrated book explores—and hopes to overturn—the 19th-century stereotypes of Ottoman women.
Both Eastern and Western accounts of Turkish society during that time made much […]

‘Ottoman Women: Myth and Reality’
by KATHARINE BRANNIG*
 
There is a wonderful expression in Turkish, “Osmanlı kadını” (Ottoman woman), used to praise a woman of extraordinary bearing and conviction, strong in her opinions and her influence. 
 It would appear that author Aslı Sancar has taken this expression to heart, for she has written a book, “Ottoman Women: Myth […]

Aişe Aslı Sancar: in search of reality surrounding Ottoman women
by BETÜL AKKAYA  
Aişe Aslı Sancar, a renowned writer and lecturer on women’s issues and the author of “Ottoman Women: Myth and Reality,” has said when she began investigating the subject of Ottoman women, she realized that they were much more complex and multifaceted than they are […]