Turkish photographer Ara Guler dead at 90

ISTANBUL – Ara Guler, an acclaimed Turkish journalist and photographer known as “the Eye of Istanbul” for his iconic black-and-white pictures of the city and its residents, has died. He was 90.

The Florence Nightingale Hospital in Istanbul said that Guler died of heart and respiratory failure late Wednesday.

Guler, from Turkey’s minority Armenian community, was born in Istanbul in 1928. In a career that spanned several decades, he worked for Magnum Photos, Paris Match and Germany’s Stern among other organizations, interviewing and photographing politicians and artists, including Winston Churchill, Dali and Picasso.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Guler “one of the greatest names in the art of photography raised by Turkey.”

Erdogan said that “great artists continue to live through works they leave behind.”

His funeral was planned for Saturday.