Hagop Vartovyan ( hy, Յակոբ Վարդովեան), better known as Güllü Agop ( hy, Կիւլլիւ Յակոբ), (took later the name Yakub because converted to Islam), (1840 in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

– 1902 in Istanbul) was an

Ottoman Armenian Armenians in the Ottoman Empire (or Ottoman Armenians) mostly belonged to either the Armenian Apostolic Church or the Armenian Catholic Church. They were part of the Armenian millet until the Tanzimat reforms in the nineteenth century equaliz ...

theatre director as well as an occasional

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. He is widely credited with having laid the bases for Turkey's modern and nationally renowned

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

institution that became the

Istanbul City Theatres Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Theatre ( Turkish: ''Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi Şehir Tiyatroları''; Ottoman Turkish: Darülbedayi) The theater was founded in 1934 in the Ottoman Empire period (1914) as Dârülbedayi. It was a ...

( tr, İstanbul Şehir Tiyatroları). In his qualities of organizer, sponsor and figure of support for writers and spectators, Güllü Agop is one of the 19th century pioneers of the

Turkish Theatre Turkish theatre refers to theater activities in Turkey that emerged as a unique and complex blend of theater traditions in the country and Western influences. There are four major theatrical traditions that had greatly influenced each other: ...

art as a whole. He was accepted as the founder of the modern Turkish Theatre. As an Ottoman Armenian, Güllü Agop was regularly showing Armenian shows in his theatre; after 1868, he decided to provide regular Turkish shows

Biography

Vartovyan was born in 1840 in Istanbul with the name Agop Vartovyan to Armenian parents. "Güllü Agop" (literally ''Jacob the Rosy'') was the name under which he had come to be known in the world of theatre. He converted to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

in his forties and took the name "Yakub". He is the father of Necip Yakup Aşkın, considered as one of the most prominent

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

masters Turkey produced and his grandson, Yücel Aşkın, was the rector of

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

's Yüzüncü Yıl University. He works an academician in the university and is chairman of Environmental Engineering. Güllü Agop had another son called İhsan Aşkın. After retiring from the army where he served as colonel, he became an actor and took part in around 50 movies.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Agop, Gullu 1840 births Male actors from Istanbul Armenians from the Ottoman Empire Ethnic Armenian male actors Male stage actors from the Ottoman Empire Theatre directors from the Ottoman Empire 1902 deaths People from Istanbul Ethnic Armenian Muslims Converts to Islam 19th-century male actors from the Ottoman Empire 19th-century Armenian people