ISTANBUL, March 10 (A.A) - Photograph exhibition of Joel Meyerowitz, an internationally known photographer, was opened in Istanbul's Topkapi Palace on Saturday.
The exhibition is composed of photographs which were taken by Meyerowitz from the wreckage of the twin towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Patricia Harrison for Education and Culture, expressed her pleasure with being in Turkey and thanked Turkey for its solidarity with the United States.
Noting that Mererowitz's exhibition ''Images After September 11'' had been opened in 23 countries so far, Harrison said, ''these photographs do not only show the destruction created by terrorism. They also reflect painful but dynamic works in the wreckage. People from 80 countries lost their lives under the rubble of the twin towers. Therefore, these photographs also reflect the global dimension of terrorism. We aim at developing cooperation and dialogue in the whole world against terrorism with these fhotographs.''
Meanwhile, Robert Pearson, the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, said that terrorist attacks of September 11 hit New York, but their real target was democracy in the world.
Pearson thanked Turkish people for their sincere sorrow for loss of many lives in the terrorist attacks.
Noting that the photographs would be displayed in Ankara after Istanbul, Pearson stressed that the photographs helped people to understand fight of the United States and its allies against terrorism.
Joel Meyerowitz, the only photographer who entered the wreckage of the twin towers 12 days after the terrorist attacks, said, ''I have worked in the area for six months, and took more than 7 thousand photographs. Everyone working in the scene, have changed. I have changed. Previously, I wanted to take photographs of beautiful things. Now, I want my photographs to be useful and to reflect a social issue.''
Frank Urbancic, the U.S. Consul General in Istanbul; Sergey Velickhkin, the Russian Consul General in Istanbul; Search and Rescue Association AKUT Chairman Nasuh Mahruki and Federation of Turkish-American Associations Chairman Egemen Bagis were also in attendance at the opening ceremony.
The exhibition will remain open till March 19, 2002.