Ebru, reflets de la diversité culturelle en Turquie,

To the opponents of its entry to Europe, Turkey is a Muslim monolith. History has taught us that it was not so, as Istanbul was for a long time the most cosmopolitan city in the world. By leafing through this volume – the result of years of research by photographer Attila Durak – one is convinced that contemporary Turkey remains a true patchwork. We see side by side representatives from ancient minorities –Armenians, Jews, Roms – who undoubtedly have seen their numbers dwindle, as well as communities lesser-known in the Western world – the Lazes, the Circassians, the Pomaks, the Syriacs, the Zazas, the Molokans – up to the Muslim Greeks, the Greek-speaking Muslims and the Sunni nomads… Individuals of all ages, photographed in documentary poses, intend to leave a testimony of this diversity, which the title synthesizes: ebru is the name of the marbled paper on which forms and colors are placed side by side. One could simply regret that there is not a clear synthesis of the specificities of each « nation » in the various introduction texts.

• Ebru, reflets de la diversité culturelle en Turquie, photographs by Attila Durak, texts by some twenty authors, Actes Sud, 2009, 368 p., 49 €, ISBN : 978-2-7427-8422-6