The 24th Byzantine congress, known as the Academic Crusade, was held in Italy. Communiques from Turkey such as the restoration project of Byzantine buildings in Çeşme, Ani Ruins, Byzantine structures in Fatih and Byzantine palace ruins in Edirne attracted attention. ‘Byzantine Geography Digital Mapping System Tabula’ was one of the most important presentations that attracted attention.
PRESENTATION OF THE BYZANTINE HERITAGE PRESERVATION
Turkish academics Ayşe Ercan and Barış Altan gave information about the Zeyrek Mosque (Pantocrator Monastery), the underground church in Saraçhane, the Küçükyalı and Aydos archaeological excavation sites in their paper titled “Exploring and Preserving Byzantine Constantinople: Archeology and Heritage Policies in Istanbul”. They emphasized the contribution of archaeological excavations to Byzantine activities. In addition, Barış Altan cited the restoration of the Basilica Cistern and the Byzantine Bukaleon Palace as an example.
DIGITAL OCCUPATION SYSTEM; TABULA
Prof. Dr. Andreas Külzer gave important information on ‘The Digital Mapping System of Byzantine Geography Tabula’. Stating that they have reconstructed the Byzantine architecture in accordance with the original by the service offered on Google Earth and Zoom Earth, Külzer saying, “We enable the discovery of new lands, hidden ruins and castles with satellite vehicles. But the reconstruction of a landscape is a model. It may not be 100 percent true. Costs also depend on the slope of the land. In the difficult region, the cost increases because the topography of the land is also entered into the system. Trees and rivers are ignored in the drawings. Digital mapping is of great benefit in archaeological excavations. Geographic conditions still need to be confirmed. ‘Byzantine Geography Digital Mapping System Tabula’ is of great importance for observing ancient roads. Up to now, 950 regions have been mapped in Anatolia. The place we focus on right now is the Çeşme region. This is the story of our fairy tale”, pointed out to the preparation of a digital invasion. Külzer also emphasized that the 'ANAVATHMIS' project integrated with Tabula was funded by the EU between 2014-2020 in Greece.
DEMOGRAPHIC MANIPULATION IN ANATOLIA
Greek academic Konstantinos Moustakas, in his presentation titled ‘The Remains of the Byzantine Population of Asia Minor (Anatolia)’, showed the settlement of the Christian population in Anatolia in the 16th century with paintings. According to the presentation of Moustakas, often citing data from Ord. Prof. Dr. Ömer Lütfi Barkan, there were 517,813 Muslim households in Anatolia between 1520 and 1535, while there were 8,511 Christian households. While there were 134,452 Muslim households in Karaman, the number of Christian households was only 3,127. It has been claimed that there are 51,662 Christians in comparison to 116,772 thousand Muslims in Tokat, Amasya and Sivas, which are referred to as Greek provinces. Moustakas claimed that some people are also afraid to reveal their religion, so the exact figures are not known.
UNENDED GRUDGE: 1453
Elena Boeck from DePaul University, in her presentation titled ‘1453 as an Emerging Troubled Frontier,’ quoted the following from Russian sources: “The Orthodox world is crying for Istanbul. What happened to our Chargrad? One day we will raise divine saints again. Because we derive our strength from the Church of Wisdom, Hagia Sophia and Orthodoxy...” Later, showing examples from the Bulgarian archives, Boeck talked about the weaknesses of Byzantium in the Conquest of Istanbul. Boeck, who said that there was no one to send to the metropolitans, stated that the Byzantine emperor distracted the people by philosophizing and as a result the city fell.
LOCAL BYZANTINISTS
It was one of the organizations introduced at the congress bizantolog.org, where the Byzantine activities in Turkey were announced online. Speaking on behalf of the Byzantologist team, Görkem Günay shared many activities such as Greek summer courses, book reading camps on Byzantine history, and online conferences. Established on November 27, 2019 with the initiative of a group of graduate students, Bizantolog's supporters are at three centers: Koç University, Vehbi Koç Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Late Antique Center for Age and Byzantine Studies (GABAM).