Güllü Agop

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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 considered to have laid the bases for today's nationally renowned İstanbul City Theatres (İstanbul Şehir Tiyatroları) institution. As such, in his qualities of organizer, sponsor and figure of support for writers and spectators, he is also undoubtedly one of the pioneers of the Turkish theatre art in the 19th century.

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", and his family became Turkified. He is the father of Necip Yakup Aşkın, who is still considered as one of the most prominent violin masters of Turkey since the foundation of the Republic. His grandson, Yücel Aşkın, is the rector of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University.