A. Peter Dore

1 week ago | dailysabah.com | A. Peter Dore

Although China is the second most powerful country on earth, I think it is true to say that, in general, except for by specialists, little is known about it outside of East Asia. Yet, more should be known, and I think especially by Turks and Turkophiles. For the Turkic peoples of the Eurasian Steppe, the ancestors of the Turks in the West today, were and are the neighbors of the Chinese, and the two peoples have influenced each other’s histories.

1 month ago | dailysabah.com | A. Peter Dore

The conclusion to a work is especially significant in that it is supposed to sum up the whole. In the Netflix docuseries "Turning Point: The Vietnam War," which is directed by Brian Knappenberger and has clearly just been released to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, as the final episode draws to a close, we hear what the American ex-serviceman C. Jack Ellis has to say about the war: We can’t forget about the effect that it had on the Vietnamese people, the young children.

2 months ago | dailysabah.com | A. Peter Dore

The Harvard Gazette has not been alone this year in noting that “The Odyssey is having a moment. Again.” It is right, of course. Last year saw the release of the film "The Return" based upon the Odyssey and another film adaptation, one receiving particular hype due to its being directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Matt Damon, is currently in the making. There have also been new adaptations of the work on stage and in print.

Mar 24, 2025 | dailysabah.com | A. Peter Dore

At the fountainhead of Italian vernacular literature and, indeed, post-Medieval European literature stands three great Florentines – Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) and Giovanni Boccaccio. However, by the time of Italian reunification, over half a millennium later, the status of Italian literature had declined from its great height. I think that in that period and its wake, Italy once again produced three standout literary figures who all shared a common geographical origin.

Mar 19, 2025 | dailysabah.com | A. Peter Dore

In my last piece for this newspaper, I wrote on the Ottoman minaret. I pointed out in that piece, that this is the standard minaret design found in Türkiye and throughout the ex-Ottoman lands of the Balkans, which were brought into the fold of Islam by Ottoman expansion. However, I also noted that the minarets of Türkiye are not exclusively of one design. In this piece, focusing on just one walk that I took through the city of Konya, I wish to illustrate that fact.