The Association of Turkish Women in Britain (ATWIB) held a conference titled "Turkish and Ottoman Public Bath Culture" hosted by the honorary president of the association, Sefire Esra Bilgiç. Overseen by ATWIB President Mavis Fuchs, Turkey's ambassador to the U.K., Abdurrahman Bilgiç, the representative of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Oya Tuncalı, and various representatives of other diplomatic missions in the U.K., the conference welcomed notable art historian Professor Nurhan Atasoy as the keynote speaker.
In the opening speech of the conference, Fuchs said they have been trying to persuade Atasoy for more than a year to speak at the conference. Before giving the stage to Atasoy, Fuchs said the revenue of the conference will be donated to the U.N.'s Global Migration Group and the Turkish Red Crescent's fund for humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees.
Atasoy said the Europeans adapted public bath culture from the Turks and built large public baths for health. Atasoy added that she is currently working on three different projects, one of which is the renovation of a 15th century Ottoman public bath. "Istanbul University owns an old Ottoman public bath that dates back to the 15th century. I knew the building from the time I was working as an academic at the university. It was old and left to rot," Atasoy said. Upon the request of the Istanbul University chancellor, she wrote a letter to the General Directorate for Foundations and initiated the restoration of the bath.
She also talked about how the British discovered Turkish baths: "In one of the studies, it was revealed that some of the internal diseases were never found in Ottoman society and it was associated with public bath culture. Discovering the potential, the British built public baths all over their country."
Although Turks originally adopted public bath culture from the Romans, public baths varied greatly between the two cultures. While the Romans emphasized the decoration and ornamentation of the baths, Turks saw public baths as a remedy and a place to socialize. "As women did not go out much in the Ottoman era, going to a public bath was a very important event. People always paid a visit to the baths before important occasions such as weddings, engagements or feasts of circumcision," Atasoy said. She underscored that baths were established in tents for the Ottoman sultans when they were away for military campaigns and these tents, which were carried on the backs of camels, weighed almost 300 kilograms.
