The “13th Sille Art Palace Members Meeting” held in Konya was held with the participation of 94 members from all over Turkey and abroad. As part of the event, Near East University Faculty of Communication Lecturer Gazi Yüksel was awarded the “World Photographer of the Year Honorary Award” for his important contributions to the art of photography in the international arena. Gazi Yüksel was presented with the award by İbrahim Zaman, one of the important names in Turkish photography, and was presented with an honorary membership certificate by Sille Art Palace President Reha Bilir.

Sille Art Palace (SSS), which organizes various events every year in order to popularize the art of photography on national and international platforms and to support artists, contributes to the development of artists with photography workshops, exhibitions and educational programs.

Who is Gazi Yüksel?

Gazi Yüksel was born in Lefkoşa in 1963. After graduating from Haydarpaşa Commercial High School, Gazi Yüksel stepped into journalism in 1981 and worked as a photojournalist for Birlik and Halkın Sesi newspapers and Türk Ajansı-Kıbrıs for 20 years.

Gazi Yüksel, who won nearly 40 awards in national and international competitions, founded the Northern Cyprus Photojournalists Association in 1991 and served as its president. Gazi Yüksel, who has 12 personal exhibitions including news, sports, darkroom and art photographs, repeated some of these exhibitions in various cities in Turkey. Gazi Yüksel published his VCD works containing photography-poetry-music content titled “Two Faces of Nicosia” in 2001, “Scarf from Cradle to Grave” in 2003 and “Fight for Peace” in 2004. Gazi Yüksel graduated from the Department of Plastic Arts-Painting of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design of Near East University in 2012 and completed his master’s degree in 2018. Gazi Yüksel has been teaching “Basic Photography”, “Press Photography”, “Studio Photography”, “Advertising Photography” and “Image Processing” at the Near East University since 1991. Yüksel has 7 published books on the history of photography and photography.