The Royal Academy of Arts
22 January - 12 April 2005

Once a part of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey became a republic in l923. It then had a keen desire to distance itself from Ottoman history, one considered by the rest of Europe to be only a monument to corruption. To northern Europeans, Turkey represented an exotic, fascinating world, still teeming with memories of harems and atrocities, backed by a language that was indecipherable to all but a few. To the Viennese, whose city the Turks had actually advanced towards until held back at the very gates, the 'Turks' remained a reminder of an ancient threat to security. Eighty years after becoming a republic, the Turks are again firmly at the gates of Europe.

More so than most European aspirants, the Turks reveal in their history a remarkable amalgam, from Christian influences, to civilisations of Buddhist, Hellenistic, Chinese and Turkic origins. By the l6th century, Islam was at its cultural summit. In this remarkable and scholarly exhibition, superbly crafted and printed books, dazzling apparel, and even the stands set up to hold the Koran vie with each other to confirm the redolence of these ancient, intermixed cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean. There are some 350 treasures on display. Ranging from ceramics to calligraphy, it is notable that this is the first primarily Islamic show that has taken place at the Royal Academy since l931. As Norman Rosenthal, the Exhibition Secretary of the Royal Academy, has claimed, 'This is a complicated story. Of small tribes that became huge Empires, but we're telling it with great works of art, things of incredible beauty.' The director of Istanbul's Sakip Sabanci Museum, Nazan Olcer has, together with his colleagues at the Topkapi Saray Museum, expressed his pleasure that the exhibition was superlative. A wide range of countries, 11 in number, have lent works, including the Hermitage State Museum in St Petersburg, the Louvre, and the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

The lives of the nomadic communities of the l5th century are depicted in paintings attributed to Muhammad Siyah Qalam, who became renowned as the Muhammad of the Black Pen. It could be argued that the exhibition is not really a Turkish show. The basis for a cultural definition here emerges when we realise that Christians, Buddhists, Jews and also pagans, shamanists, Seljuks, Artuqids and Timurids also contributed. This definition reveals, among other things, that the exhibition is part of an intelligent cultural onslaught on the European Union, at whose gates Turkey now awaits for entry.

A crucial time frame along the journey of the Turks begins with the 11th century Seljuks, whose art, in fact, transforms the nomadic presence. Furthermore, the Seljuks were Muslims. It is a curious paradox, significant of the confused times we live in, that painting figures has today somehow been perceived as being 'un-Islamic'. Yet, this exhibition reveals how warrior tribes extended the Turkish domain from China to the shores of the Mediterranean. Essentially, the treasures were developed by the ruling elites - the Seljuks. They reigned for almost 200 years (1040-ll94), developing a dynasty that stretched from Arabia to the border with India. Under the Seljuk sway, a remarkable literary culture also developed, together with a distinct focus on figurative art. It is now believed that the rise of the human image was encouraged by a climate of humanism that emerged from the expanding culture, which led to a new curiosity about the role of man in the universe.

There comes a different perspective on Suleyman the Magnificent's expansion in the l6th century, leaving them holed up in Malta, raising many questions as to what actually stalled this seemingly unstoppable wave of conquest. Why was Islam overtaken - scientifically, militarily, economically and culturally - by Christian Europe?

One cannot leave this remarkable exhibition without viewing the current geopolitical impasse that threatens Turkey. It has a population just short of 60 million (not including Turks working in Germany especially). Today, Turks show a good propensity to integrate with their host nations. There are top-notch European footballers and prominent European parliamentarians. Conflicts of the past half-century have served to strengthen the military reputation of the Turks. As part of the United Nations' effort in Korea, their courage and loyalty to their United Nations' partners was legendary. But there is the longstanding coolness to Greece, not helped by the stalemate in Cyprus. So the underlying worry in Europe remains the fact that the Turks, for the most part, are Muslim. Turkey remains a rarity: a democratic Muslim state, where Ataturk's legacy persists.

This exhibition is an achievement of great diplomatic skill, chiefly led at the cultural level by the Royal Academy's Secretary Norman Rosenthal. It had to be defended against the sceptics, but it will now prove to be one of the Royal Academy's triumphs in 2005.