Güllü Agop

Agop Vartovyan, better known as Güllü Agop, (took later the name Mehmet Yakup), (1840, Istanbul - 1902, Istanbul) was a Turkish-Armenian theatre director as well as occasional actor. He is widely credited with having laid the bases for Turkey's modern and nationally renowned performing arts 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 art as a whole. He was accepted founder of modern Turkish Theatre.

He was born in 1840 in İstanbul 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 adopted Islam in his forties and took the name "Mehmet Yakup". He is the father of Necip Yakup Aşkın, considered as one of the most prominent violin masters Turkey produced and his grandson, Yücel Aşkın, was the rector of Van's Yüzüncü Yıl University. He works an academician in the university and is chairman of Environmental Engineering. [ cite web | url = http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/6595538.asp?gid=180 Interview with Yücel Aşkın:| title = Dedem Ermeni'ydi, ben Türk'üm ("My grandfather was Armenian, I am Turkish")|author=|publisher=Hürriyet| accessdate=2007-05-28 |language=Turkish]

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