Agop Vartovyan, better known as Güllü Agop, (took later the name Yakub), (1840, Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

 - 1902, Istanbul) was an Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 theatre director as well as an occasional actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

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

Performing arts

The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...

 institution that became İstanbul City Theatres (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

The theatre of Turkey encompasses the traditional theatre practice of the Ottoman period and the modern Turkish theatre. In Turkey, theatre acts are performed by numerous private theatre companies and subsidized companies such as the general directorate of Turkish State Theatres or Istanbul...

 art as a whole. He was accepted founder of modern Turkish Theatre.

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

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

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

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

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

Van, Turkey

Van is a city in southeastern Turkey and the seat of the Kurdish-majority Van Province, and is located on the eastern shore of Lake Van. The city's official population in 2010 was 367,419, but many estimates put this as much higher with a 1996 estimate stating 500,000 and former Mayor Burhan...

's Yüzüncü Yıl University

Van Yüzüncü Yil Üniversitesi

Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi is a large university, run by the Turkish State, situated within an extensive campus, located on the outskirts of the city of Van. It was established in 1982....

. He works an academician in the university and is chairman of Environmental Engineering.

Footnotes