A conference organized by the Turkey Studies Network in the Low Countries (TSN) & the Amsterdam Centre for European Studies (ACES)

University of Amsterdam – November 11-12, 2021

Exile and flight, forced or voluntary, recurrently and perennially affects societies and peoples across Europe and the Middle East. Through the window of exile, however, we can also recognize the shared, if painful histories that connect these different but contiguous geographies. From Sephardim fleeing Christian purges in their Iberian homelands to settle in Salonika, over Young Turks escaping imprisonment and travelling to Paris and London, to Armenian refugees fleeing sectarian violence and genocide, exile has been a defining thread of modern history. The aftermaths of historical refugee flows continue to influence international politics and domestic debates up to this day, while Europe’s modern-day ‘refugee crisis’ cannot be understood in isolation from the colonial division of the post-Ottoman lands after WWI. Exile, indeed, remains endemic to modern-day geopolitics. Traumatic and deadly, exile can also mean reinvention: of means and worldviews in new societies. Refugees, in addition, influence the societies of their host countries in ways that are still not fully appreciated in the scholarship.

The panelists and keynotes will investigate these themes in the two-day conference ‘Narrating Exile in and Between Europe and the Ottoman Empire/Modern Turkey’, a cooperation between the Turkey Studies Network in the Low Countries and the Amsterdam Centre for European Studies. The full programme is included in the conference flyer (see below).

The public keynotes by Edhem Eldem (11.11, 17.00 CET) and Christine Philliou (12.11 16.30 CET) can both be attended online through registering with the link below. The keynote lecture by Edhem Eldem on 11.11 can be attended on-site at Spui25 Debate Centre, Spui 25 Amsterdam. Registration is mandatory and proceeds through Spui25, please follow the link below. For on-site participation to the conference limited seating is available for external participants, registration via the link below is mandatory.

The conference and public keynote lectures at the Allard Pierson Museum and Spui25 are open to visitors. Please note there is limited seating capacity, registration is mandatory and all attendees are required to present their EU Digital COVID Certificate upon entry.