Hagop Vartovyan (Armenian: Յակոբ Վարդովեան), better known as Güllü Agop (Armenian: Կիւլլիւ Յակոբ), (took later the name Yakub because converted to Islam), (1840 in Istanbul – 1902 in Istanbul) was an Ottoman Armenian theatre director as well as an occasional actor. He is widely credited with having laid the bases for Turkey's modern and nationally renowned performing arts institution that became the Istanbul City Theatres (Turkish: İstanbul Şehir Tiyatroları). In his qualities of organizer, sponsor and figure of support for writers and spectators, Güllü Agop is one of the 19th century pioneers of the Turkish Theatre art as a whole. He was accepted as the founder of the modern Turkish Theatre. As an Ottoman Armenian, Güllü Agop was regularly showing Armenian shows in his theatre; after 1868