An invitation to participate in a group research project
We are expanding our body of knowledge through various activities, including videoing personal testimonies, rediscovering and documenting the locations of historical buildings and communities and tracing family connections. We plan to hold more conferences in the Levant, collaborating with local academic and other institutions that share our interest in discovering the region’s past. We welcome your proposals for research papers, informal contributions, events, interviews and any other suggestions that add to our network of information and contacts.
We sponsor researchers either individually or working on teams to gather, analyse and present the information to ensure the survival of artifacts, knowledge and elements of the culture for future generations.
The current executive committee
Quentin Compton-Bishop - Chairman | I am a former diplomat, Middle East specialist and now company director whose family originates in part from Smyrna and Beirut. Researching my family background brought me to the Levantine Heritage interest group and the immense satisfaction of meeting like-minded amateur and academic researchers (as well as several cousins) who are committed to recording and sharing the rich heritage of the Levant region. I am delighted to support the Levantine Heritage Charitable Foundation and its mission to develop, preserve and communicate research into the Levant for the benefit of all peoples and future generations. |  |
Craig Encer - Secretary | Having spent half my life in Istanbul and seeing the rapid waning of the wonderful multicultural nature of the city as a child left an indelible mark on me. Later, in the late 1990s with the urging of friends I started on a quest to record some of this unique richness with interviews with elders that grew into a body that spawned a web site in 2004, which then built a community of supporters in an organic way around it, culminating in Symposium in Izmir in 2010. I still believe all culture is precious, needs to be nurtured and studied to survive and is only meaningful when it is shared; this to me is the spirit of Levantine Heritage. I am grateful for all your support in this celebration. |  |
George Vassiadis - Trustee | I am an independent historian and genealogist. The political and cultural history of Greece and the Greek diaspora provides the framework for the main focus of my research: the individuals and families, predominantly but not exclusively of Greek and Levantine origin, who formed a vast entrepreneurial, intellectual and social network linking East and West. I am also interested in recording and preserving the historical urban environment and cosmopolitan atmosphere of the places where these people lived, cities like Istanbul, Izmir, Thessaloniki, Alexandria and Cairo, to name but a few. |  |
Philip Mansel - Trustee | Dr Philip Mansel FRHS is a historian of France and the Middle East, particularly interested in the Levant. His books include Constantinople: city of the World’s Desire (1995), Paris between Empires (2001) and Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean (2010), the first history in English of Smyrna, Alexandria and Beirut in the modern age. One of its themes is how Muslims, Christians and Jews have lived together in cities. He has lived in Paris, Istanbul and Beirut, lectures widely in the UK and abroad and is currently writing a life of Louis XIV. For further information see www.philipmansel.com |  |
Jonathan Beard - Trustee | I live in Istanbul with my family and currently hold the position of Chairman of the Catoni Group and British Chamber of Commerce of Turkey. My family came to Turkey in 1846 to start a trading business, the business as established in what is today Iskenderun. Licorice, cotton and tobacco form the main commodities. Today 6 generation’s later I continue to expand the Catoni business in trading and transport logistics. As is dictated by our family rules I look forward to the day my eldest daughter Natalie takes over the business to become the 7th generation. I am proud to be referred to as a Levantine, I received my education in Arabic, Turkish, English and French and indulge in these cultures without hesitation. I look forward to returning to England one day but realize it shall not be permanent as the Levant and its beauty and intrigue is our natural home. |  |