“My RC foundation helped me develop further respect for my ancestors.”
Nigar Nigar Alemdar’s latest book Üç İstanbullu Osmanlı Ailesi (Three Ottoman Families of Istanbul, Timaş Yayınları) is a feat of social history, chronicling generations of a single family amidst the backdrop of a changing nation.
Alemdar grew up listening to the saga of her illustrious ancestors and inherited a rich array of family albums: “On my father’s side there was Poetess Nigâr Hanım, on my mother’s side there was the journalist, writer, publisher, entrepreneur Ahmet Mithat Efendi. On my paternal grandmother Nebire Nigâr’s side there was the affiliation with Yahya Efendi Dergâhı and the Sultan’s Palace bureurocrats.”
Family relics fascinated Alemdar from a young age: “I inherited a rich archive from my grandmother and from Nigâr Hanım’s youngest son Keramet Nigâr. Then there was my father’s photo albums and files. Although I’ve always wanted to write about this personal background, due to my busy professional life, I never had the time until the 2019 Covid shutdown. That was when I had the opportunity to write and share my archive with social history buffs.”
Interestingly, though she has always loved writing, publishing books came later in Alemdar’s life: “I can’t really claim to have a writing career. What my alma mater gave me was a sound education in English and liberal arts. This foundation helped me develop further respect for my ancestors, their social environment, and family archive.”
Indeed, many of Alemdar’s ancestors were themselves fixtures of the RC community: “My grandfather Feridun Nigâr and his younger brother Keramet Nigâr joined the RC faculty in 1908 and both taught there for several decades. My father Fıtrat Nigâr RC 37, my uncles Metin Nigâr RC 36 and Vecdi Füsun Nigâr ex-RC 39, my brother Amil Kunt RC 52 are all alumni.
This deep-rooted affiliation has kept her close to the school throughout her life: “Teaching English there for five years (1969–1974), serving on the Board of Trustees for nine years (1978–1987), and acting as President of the Alumni Association (1982–1987) are all testaments to my enduring ties with my alma mater.”
