YILLIK: Annual of Istanbul Studies 7 (2025)

The seventh volume of YILLIK: Annual of Istanbul Studies features eight peer-reviewed research articles delving deep into Istanbul's historical, social, and cultural fabric. Yavuz Aykan examines the microhistory of information exchange and narrative construction between Istanbul and Paris surrounding the 1730 Patrona Halil Rebellion. Utku Can Akın and Mustafa Türkan, recipients of the Early Career Article Prize, innovatively reconstruct one of the most famous maritime accidents on the Bosporus—the collision between the ships Petar Zoranić and World Harmony. Gökay Kanmazalp explores how members of the Galatasaray High School community constructed urban memory and identity in the mid-twentieth century. Akgün İlhan's article discusses how Istanbul's water transfer projects reshape urban and rural lives. Working with literary-historical materials, Fatih Altuğ reads Safiye Erol's Kadıköyü'nün Romanı (Kadıköy's Novel) through the lens of assemblage and affect theories. Two complementary articles invite us to critically approach visual materials: Gizem Aslan and Ezgi Yavuz explore the 1961 film Otobüs Yolcuları (Bus Passengers) for its potential in writing architectural history, and Dilara Ulu analyzes Vladimir Zender's photographs of early republican Istanbul. Finally, İhsan Sefa Özer rigorously documents the nineteenth-century biography of a property in Ayazma Kapı, receiving an Honorable Mention for the Early Career Article Prize.

In the Cabinet section, Yavuz Selim Güler delves into a special series of early twentieth-century Kütahya ceramics by Minas Avramidis. In the Meclis section, Deniz Türker, author of the most recent and comprehensive monograph on Yıldız Palace, revisits the site to examine the outcome of its recent restoration. Muratcan Zorcu presents an 1828-30 narrative as a source for Istanbul's climate history. Buket Coşkuner shares her insights from organizing the Palestine from Above exhibition in Istanbul while a genocide was unfolding in Gaza. From a double piece by advisory board member Paolo Girardelli and Andrea Savorani Neri, we learn that the Bolulu Habip Bey Mansion, more famously known as Bulgur Palas (recently renovated and opened to the public by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality), was designed by Alessandro Valeri, whose family history reflects the entangled universe of the late nineteenth-century Levantine Mediterranean. Our thirteen book and exhibition reviews, commissioned and edited by Nurçin İleri, Jessica Varsallona, and Ulya Soley, range from studies of Byzantine monuments and Islamic neighborhoods to an introductory survey of Ottoman history and a critique of the Venice Architecture Biennale, and include Nicholas Melvani's featured review of Studies in Byzantine History and Culture: A Festschrift for Paul Magdalino. As always, the volume concludes with the Istanbul Bibliography 2025, compiling the latest research on Istanbul. 

Istanbul Research Institute Publications 54
Periodicals 14
Istanbul, December 2025
ISSN: 2687-5012