The Turkey themed semester events are well under way; last week a video presentation, Istanbul Unveiled, documented the discovery of the city by a young American tourist. For those who have never been to Turkey, this first event in Corley Auditorium was a splendid introduction to the city and culture of Istanbul.

World traveler Gary Wintz also presented a lecture in Corley Auditorium, sharing the history of the Turkic language as well as the reasons Turkey is one of the top 10 tourist destinations today.

The “Traveling Turkey” exhibition in the Spiva Gallery at Missouri Southern ends today.

“We’ve had several people from the community come in,” said Joan Kearney, art department secretary. “I had two ladies here for probably two hours yesterday looking at everything.”

Dr. Paul Kaldjian, an associate professor of geology at the University of Wisconsin, will present a series on the geography of Istanbul and all of Turkey in Corley Auditorium today with three separate presentations, beginning at 9 a.m. with another at 11 a.m. and finally rounding out the series at 1 p.m.

The Turkish Film Festival begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9, with the showing of Vizontele Tuuba. New films will be presented each Tuesday (except for the fall break) through Nov. 18.

“Tango in Turkey: Investigating the Intrigue of Istanbul” is a discussion, video and slide presentation offered by Christine Bentley, Missouri Southern art department head, and Eric Rasheed. The presentation is at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, in Corley Auditorium.

One of the videos explores the vilification of Islam in American culture. Bentley said she feels it is very important to show how American film and television depict Muslims as villains or dark characters.

The photographic tour of Istanbul explores the art, culture and architecture of the region and demonstrates the culture differences from and similarities to our own.

 “It shows the humanity to a part of the world that people aren’t familiar with, and also part of the world that people might see as darker than it is,” said Bentley. “So I think through the photos you see a beauty that you might not realize is there and then also just a familiarity through the photographs that sort of resonates that’s very similar to life here in the states.”