Zeynel Yeşilay

Zeynel was born in 1950 in Şanlıurfa Turkey. He graduated from the department of French Language and Literature at Gazi University in Ankara. His passion for photography started during his secondary school years when his father gave him a Kodak box camera which he still possesses. He started working at the Turkish Republic Tourism and Information Ministry in 1970, where he worked until 1982, and at this time he had the opportunity to tour Turkey extensively.

He travelled widely in Anatolia in the company of foreign professional photographers and film makers, benefiting from their expertise and guidance. His photo of the İshak Paşa Palace in Doğubetazıt was printed as a poster by the Ministry in 1978, and his photographs have been used in many books and prints in Turkey and abroad. He was posted to Cyprus in 1976, and the photos he took there with photographer Olgun Özer were used in the posters and brochures of North Cyprus.

During the time he worked for (TUTAV) Turkish Information Organisation a great many of Zeynel’s photos were featured in the magazine “Image of Turkey,” where he was the photographic adviser, and where he made multivision programmes. He has held joint and sole exhibitions, received more than twenty prizes at international and national competitions, and has won more than twenty awards.

He has worked at the Anatolia Handcraft Centre, presided over by Guran Erbek, where he worked with very valuable researchers and experts, took photos of Turkish Handcrafts and organised exhibitions and publications and multivision shows. He has worked with the best photographers in Turkey, Sami Güner, Sıtkı Fırat, Ozan Sağdıç, Haydar Volkan, and Mustafa Türkyılmaz.

Zeynel Yeşilay, who started working at the Turkish Republic Prime Ministry in 1993, became the secretary and chief advisor of the deputy Prime Ministers Necmettin Cevheri, Nahit Menteşe, Tansu Çiller and Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit.

His book “Turkey, An Endless Poem,” which comprises of photos he took in Turkey, was printed and published in December 2000 by the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

In November he was promoted to Expert Advisor at the Turkish Republic Embassy in Nicosia. He made great efforts to develop the two fields he was responsible for - tourism and further education - and helped to improve their infrastructure. In November 2003 he held an exhibition called “Turkey, An Endless Poem” which comprised of pictures of Turkey. In 2005, on the 22nd anniversary of the foundation of the TRNC, he held another exhibition called “North Cyprus, and Endless Poem” with 160 photos.

He also made multivision shows at the same exhibition. He has shown those multivision shows in the various universities of the island. He has been all around North Cyprus, which is highly photogenic, and has taken nearly 100,000 photos. His admiration of the natural environment is reflected in his photos.

Many of Zeynel’s pictures have been used as front covers of “Tourism Monthly,” the tourism publication of the Hotel Owners Union KITOB, and his writings about historical and touristic matters in Cyprus have been published in this magazine. He has taken part in the survey of villages and nature by the Photography Union, and he took photos with Cypriot photographers. He has taken part in exhibitions organized by FODER (Photography Union). He held a small exhibition called “North Cyprus, an Endless Poem”, on the 23rd Anniversary of the foundation of the TRNC organized by the TRNC Embassy in Ankara. His six photos were exhibited at an exhibition which took place both in north and south Cyprus where American and Cypriot photographers worked together.

8-10 September in Karachi- Pakistan he held an exhibition called Turkey An Endless Poem which comprised of 70 pictures of Turkey

Zeynel the artist is married to the poet and song writer İlter Yeşilay, and they have a son called Mesut Volkan who is a web-designer and musician.