TCF provided a major grant to underwrite The Golden Age of King Midas, a world premier exhibition at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, which will run between February and November 2016. Through a special agreement signed between the Republic of Turkey and the University of Pennsylvania, Turkey will lend the Penn Museum much of the material unearthed in the main Gordion tumulus, as well as a number of important objects from the tumuli in Lydia and Lycia. These pieces will appear alongside select examples from the Penn Museum's own collections. Archaeologists from Penn have been excavating and conducting research at Gordion since 1950. In 2009-2010, TCF underwrote another major exhibition on Gordion at Penn Museum entitled  His Golden Touch: The Gordion Drawings by Piet de Jong, showcased illustrations about the site made by Piet de Jong in 1957.

On October 24-25, the TCF Culinary Arts Center-YESAM took a group of food enthusiasts and journalists to Safranbolu on a cultural tour to participate in the saffron harvest and to explore the culinary culture of  Safranbolu.  The tour was guided by architect and food culture researcher İbrahim Canbulat, a local of Safranbolu. Tour participants had a chance to visit the historical villages, museums, marketplaces and saffron fields to learn about saffron production and its uses.

The next TCF-YESAM culinary tour will take place on November 13-15, 2015. Guided by Nedim Atilla, food culture researcher, it will coincide with the olive harvest and visit various destinations in the Ayvalik region on the northeast Aegean coast of Turkey. For more information and to register, please visit here.

Dr. Arberto Boralevi, architect, collector and famous scholar on antique classical carpets and textiles, presented a lecture on "Classical Ottoman Rugs, Textiles and Other Objects from Italian Public and Private Collections" on October 27. On November 17, Dr.Ayla Ersoy, professor of Art History at Yeditepe University, will present a lecture on the history of Turkish painting, titled "Turkish Art of Painting: From Military Painters to Today."

For more information on upcoming TCF Lecture Series in Turkish Culture and Art, visit here. All TCF Istanbul lectures are recorded and may be watched online on the TCF Video Gallery.

Dr. Recep Karadağ and Ms. Emine Torgan of the TCF Cultural Preservation and Natural Dyes Laboratory-DATU participated in the DHA 34 Dyes in History & Archaeology meeting at the University Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki-Greece on October 21-24. Dr. Karadağ  gave an oral presentation entitled “Dye and Metal Thread Analyses of some Tomb Covers in the Istanbul Fatih Mosque Complex” and Ms. Torgan gave two poster presentations entitled “Antimicrobial Activity and Chemical Properties of Silk Fabrics With Madder (Rubia tinctorium L.) and Gall Oak (Quercus infectoria Olivier) Dyed” and “Examination of Dyed Silk Fabrics with Dyer’s Sumac (Cotinus coggygria Scop.) according to Different Mordants”.

In addition, Dr. Recep Karadağ participated in the Green Conservation of Cultural Heritage at the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Rome, Italy on October 27 and 28.  He gave a presentation entitled “Advantages and Important of Natural Dyes in the Restoration of Textile Cultural Heritage”.

On October 8th, YESAM hosted Ömür Tufan, The Director of Topkapı Palace Museum’s Kitchen Section, who presented a seminar on "The Serving Platters and Utensils Used in Ottoman Palace Kitchens: Copper and Silver." This seminar discussed the different types of silver and copper dishes used in the Topkapı Palace and their uses around the palace. Past YESAM lectures are periodically uploaded for online viewing on the TCF Video Gallery.

Turkish cooking traditions are highlighted every month with the YESAM Recipe of the Month, which currently features “Fish Soup with Saffron.” An Ottoman recipe from the 18^th Century, it is one of the rare ones that uses saffron.

Ayşe Ören (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2015), a designer, attended the New Worlds 2015 conference organized by New Worlds Institute to give a speech on space settlement.

Bora Yılmaz (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2015), singer and composer of traditional Turkish music, and harpist Şirin Pancaroğlu (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2013 and 2014) attended the residency program at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA from September 21 to October 6. They gave lectures, concerts and conducted scholarly research on intercultural topics involving Turkish music.

Corinne Beardsley (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2015), a sculptor, attended the Artist-in-Residency program at Babayan Culture House Air, Cappadocia, Turkey, from September 10 to October 8. She created artworks inspired by the landscape and culture and exhibited the sculptures and installations to the community.

Nicolas Danforth (TCF Academic Fellow-2012), a Ph.D. candidate, gave a lecture entitled "A History of the Ottoman Empire from 1923 to Today" at the American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT) in Istanbul on October 26.