The EÇR 2009 was an international venture whose core participants included Turkish horsemen and women, a Scottish Ottoman historian, an English botanist, two UK-based cultural and literary historians, a German photographic editor living in America, a French Canadian businesswoman, and an English writer on architectural history with a diplomatic background. Our interests were at once equestrian, archaeological, historical, cultural and botanical.

2009 Evliya Çelebi Expedition Riders

• Andrew Byfield, botanist, co-author of Türkiye’nin 122 Önemli Bitki Alanı [122 Important Plant Areas of Turkey] (2005)
• Patricia Daunt, Writer, wife of a former ambassador to Turkey; contributor to Cornucopia magazine.
• Ercihan Dilari, horseman, horse-breeder, and founder of The Akhal-Teke Riding Centre, Avanos, Cappadocia
• Pınar Durmaz, Trekkist and academic, Istanbul Kultur University
• Dr Caroline Finkel, Ottoman historian and author of Osman’s Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire (2005); published in Turkish as Rüya’dan İmparatorluğa Osmanlı: Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun Öyküsü (2007)
• Özcan Görürgöz, Entrepreneur, Hanedan Kervansaray Restaurant, Avanos, Cappadocia
• Alper Katrancı, Entrepreneur, Skyway Balloons, Cappadocia
• Professor Donna Landry, University of Kent, author of Noble Brutes: How Eastern Horses Transformed English Culture (2008); to be published in Turkish by E-Yayınları
• Professor Gerald MacLean, University of Exeter, author of Looking East (2007) and The Rise of Oriental Travel: English Visitors to the Ottoman Empire, 1580-1720 (2004); published in Turkish as Doğu’ya Yolculuğun Yükselişi: Osmanlı İmparatorluğun İngiliz Konukları (1580-1720) (2006) Doğu’ya Bakış,  Turkish translation by Sinan Akilli. Ankara: METU Press, April 2009.
• Thérèse Tardif, Advertising executive, formerly of Saatchi and Saatchi, Montreal, Canada
• Susan Wirth, Writer, photographic editor, Der Spiegel, New York
• Ayşe Yetiş, Veterinarian, Turkish Jockey Club, Istanbul
• Core Participant Non-riders in 2009
• Dr Leyla Neyzi, Sabanci University, Istanbul, anthropologist and oral historian, and author of Amele taburu: the military journal of a Jewish soldier in Turkey during the war of independence (2005) “Remembering Smyrna/Izmir: Shared History, Shared Trauma.” History and Memory 20, 2 (Fall/Winter 2008): 106-127. “Object or Subject? The Paradox of ‘Youth’ in Turkey.”  International Journal of Middle East Studies 33 (August 2001): 411-432.
• Emir Mahir Başdoğan, horseman and broadcaster of Adeta Dörtnala [Walk and Canter], Açık Radyo, Istanbul; contributor to Zeck magazine
• Metin Aker and Sedat Varış, support staff
• Mehmet and Mehmet from Ajans21 documentary film company, Istanbul: https://www.xing.com/profile/MEHMET_CAM