SOFIA - A total of 1500 photographs showing the daily life in Palestine and Jerusalem during the last period of Ottoman Empire, started to be displayed in Bulgarian National Culture Palace on Wednesday.
Oznur Ozkan, the third secretary of Turkish Embassy in Sofia told A.A correspondent that the exhibition was opened by cooperation of Turkish Consulate General in Jerusalem, Turkish Embassy in Sofia and a foundation called Liberal Integration.
Ozkan noted that the aim of the exhibition was to show that Muslim and Christian Arabs, Jewish, Serbian, Turkish, Russian and many ethnic groups had lived in peace in Palestine at those times.
The exhibition which had three parts namely ''City Planning,'' ''Public, Religious and Political Life,'' and ''Second World War'' included pictures that were taken between the years 1850-1917.
The pictures which were kept in the archives of Turkish Consulate General in Jerusalem show the harmony among many ethnic and religious groups in Palestine, which was a cosmopolitan centre.
The collection which was prepared by Turkish Consul General Huseyin Avni Býcaklý in Jerusalem by taking the copies of the original pictures from the archives of Arabic research centre namely ''Orient House,'' shows the culture, traditions and customs of the people at those times from a chronological perspective.
Turkish Embassy officials in Sofia said that the exhibition which would remain open until August 16, would later be opened in New Zealand, the U.S., Germany, Pakistan, Syria, and Iran.
(ÖÞ-AÖ) 13.08.2003