These photos are from a visit ten years ago to the ruins of al-Zeeb, a Palestinian village on the shores on the Mediterranean, north of Acre and very close to the border with Lebanon. For #NakbaDay, here’s a bit of al-Zeeb’s history 1/10 In the #Ottoman period al-Zeeb pops up in a few archival records. Tax documents from the 16th century show a typical northern Palestinian village growing various grains, its fields ploughed by water buffalo, and a variety of other produce like fruit and honey 2/10

Wishing #Ramadan mubarak to all those observing the holy month/ Ramazan ayınız mübarek olsun

In 1896 the #Ottoman newspaper Servet-i Fünun featured a drawing of a mosque adorned with illuminations spelling ‘merhaba’ (hello) to greet Ramadan. But the picture came with a story... Inside is a piece by the newspaper’s editor, Ahmed İhsan. He loved the atmosphere and meaning of Ramadan, so he decided to write a reflection on the holy month in his newspaper. I’ll let him tell his own (slightly edited for space) story:

Here’s a little thread with a poem by the early 19th century #Ottoman poet Moralızade Leyla Hanım for #LesbianVisibilityWeek

Many of Leyla Hanım’s love verses were unambiguously about women, and her witty and joyful poems meant she was an admired figure in later Ottoman poetry

İç badeyi gülşende ne derlerse desinler
Alemde sen eğlen de ne derlerse desinler

Drink wine in the rose garden, no matter what they say!
Enjoy yourself in this world, no matter what they say!

Need something to occupy you or your kids? Why not learn (or practice) the #Ottoman Turkish alphabet!

Over the next week I’ll be tweeting the letters of the alphabet from one of my Ottoman school books. If you want to play along, tweet me your writing or drawing masterpieces A little intro first in case you’re interested. The book is called ‘Renkli ve Resimli Elifba-yı Tefeyyüz’ / ‘’The Coloured and Illustrated Tefeyyüz Alphabet’ named for its Istanbul publisher, Tefeyyüz Kitabhanesi. It was written by Hüseyin Hüsnü in 1910

This is a page from Enderunlu Fazıl’s ‘Zenanname’ (Book of Women, David Collection) a late C18th #Ottoman work in verse discussing the beauty & desirability of women from around the world. The pictures get lots of attention but here’s a thread on desire & sexuality using the text The page has two elements, a sexualised image of an Ethiopian woman, and the start of a rather cruel poem about Yemeni women. Fazıl had strong opinions on what made women beautiful & desirable – or not – and why. Here’s what he had to say about Yemeni women:

Noémi Lévy Aksu is a historian & one of the Academics for Peace. A Turkish court has sentenced her to 30 months imprisonment for signing a petition.

The following thread is a translation of the powerful speech she made to the court in November. 1/19

m.bianet.org/english/freedo… “First of all, I want to make clear that I didn’t sign the petition ‘We Will Not Be Complicit In This Crime’ as a citizen of the Republic of Turkey. I moved to Turkey at the age of 23. I don’t have Turkish roots.” 2/19

In May 1911, the #Ottoman parliament debated the issue of Zionism in Palestine. One of the MPs, the Armenian deputy for Erzurum, Ohannes Varteks Efendi, made a speech calling for tolerance & forcefully arguing against sectarian violence. Heckled by other MPs as he spoke, he said: ‘When we say things here [about the Jews], the ill-educated people out there, coming across a Jew, will say, “The Jews are traitors!” They used to say this about the Armenians.’

The people will learn by example from your words, he warned- a warning all too relevant today.