In collaboration with the National Hellenic Research Institute, the Consulate General of Greece in Istanbul and the Orient-Institute will host a joint series of lectures, "Remembering the Ottoman Past in the Eastern Mediterranean," organized by Sismanoglio Megaro, until May 2016. Aiming to shed light on various aspects of the communal past of today's residents of the Eastern Mediterranean region, the talk series focuses on a large number of sources beyond the standard rules of history writing with the participation of both Greek and Turkish speakers.The lectures introduce the work of international researchers from different academic disciplines specialized in the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Eastern Mediterranean region. This area has in any case been closely interconnected since antiquity. The lectures discuss how the Ottoman Empire is portrayed with an enormously wide range of sources. The invited speakers illustrate how this memory has been expressed in popular music, film and photography, and last but not least, food. They also share their personal experiences with the audience. Sismanoglio Megaro underlined the need for exploring the Eastern Mediterranean region under Ottoman rule. "With the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire into more than a dozen new nation states as a consequence of the political developments following the Balkan Wars and World War I, the awareness of a shared past in the Eastern Mediterranean under the shadow of Ottoman rule had until recently been inevitably ignored as far as the official history textbooks of the successor nation states are concerned," Megaro said.On Monday, the series started with a talk by Sinan Kuneralp and Maria-Christina Chatziioannou from Athens. While Kuneralp gave insight into the lives of Ottoman diplomats of Greek ethnicity in Tanzimat and post-Tanzimat periods, Chatziioannou focused on Greek trade networks in the 19th century. Next month, the series will draw attention to the Ottoman past in Crete and Macedonia with two speakers - Eleutheria Zei and Heath Lowry. The program will continue with the subject "Picturing Ottoman Life in Photography." During the session, the speakers will discuss vernacular photography and photography in the late-Ottoman period. Aside from historical issues, the audience will also have the chance to learn more about the food and social life in the Eastern Mediterranean region with Marianna Yerasimou and Takuhi Tovmasyan. Yerasimou will give a session called "The Time of Cookies, or Cookies from the Past." Another session "Homeland and Orientalism - Ottoman Cities in 20th Century Greek Popular Song" will take place in February. The talk series will end with Nezih Erdoğan's talk on "Disremembering the Ottoman Past: Problems of Turkish Film Historiography." This joint series of lectures are organized by Evangelia Balta of the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens and Richard Wittmann. All lectures will be uploaded to the Bodossaki Foundation's digital platform and entrance is free.