Savvas Alexandros Pavlidis studied at the department of Turkish And Mediterranean Studies, University of Cyprus. Having been awarded a J. F. Kostopoulos scholarship through the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), he went on to receive his MA in International Relations (with a focus on Turkish-Greek relations) from Istanbul Bilgi University. He is a founding member of the Rhodes Centre for History and Social Research SCE, and has participated in numerous of its research projects.

“I suffer from an affliction of sorts, a certain overstimulation of the imagination. When I look at an old building, a book, an artefact, I immediately start imagining the people who created them, their habits and customs, their way of thinking, their language and culture. In this specific part of the world, anyone thinking this way will inevitably be affected by a certain melancholy, a sense of void, because so much in our surroundings belongs to peoples that are no longer here. It is my belief that Tarık Tüten - as well as the common friend who introduced us, Prof. Ayhan Aktar - shares this malaise, but he also possesses the drive to act positively upon it. I thank him for the opportunity and impetus, through this book, to finally publish part of my family archive, something I have been putting off for a long time.”

Savvas A. Pavlidis