An Account of a Pioneering Urban History: "The Erzincan Archive Museum"

by Günay Güner, March 2018

 

Human history is, above all, a history of human-to-human conflicts and contradictions. Every mode of production eventually reaches a deadlock, only to be re-established on a higher plane. No matter how much postmodernists may deny it, these stages consistently advance toward progress and relative liberation. In this context, industrialization, urbanization, and the formation of a working class dissolved feudal relations, creating the individual, the citizen. The individual, and increasingly the citizen, becomes synonymous with urban life. The individual is critical, and capable of making their own decisions to the greatest extent possible.

 

Turkey is a country of both unhealthy rural life and unhealthy urbanization. Unhealthy rural life, because the village has always been synonymous with poverty and desperation. Unhealthy urbanization, because cities lacked infrastructure. Worse still, they were encircled by squatter settlements. People failed to acquire a sense of civic responsibility and urban ethics; they became opportunistic. Life was devalued in every sense. The resulting social ills were turned into a political vote bank. The word "democracy" could no longer be written without a question mark.

 

The historical and universal accumulation of humanity places knowledge, virtue, and critical thinking at the forefront. Looking at philosophy, it is evident that even "morality" is tied to knowledge, that those who chase after self-interest are not called human, and that such a life is not considered "meaningful."

 

The period that most closely aligns with this philosophical approach (on a global scale as well) is the Turkish Revolution under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the republican era, which is Turkey's great and sole chance. Let's look at this from the perspective of the city: Our cities began to be planned. The identity of a citizen was an equalizing and liberating one, viewed as modern and developmental. Cities began to create their "memories." History, anthropology, urban studies, archaeology, and geography created the critical consciousness of the individual (yes, they did. There is no exaggeration in this statement. Despite every obstacle, the groundwork was laid and continues to develop).

 

As early as the 1920s, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations was established, and the Education Congress was held. Let's list what can be remembered at first glance: the Language Revolution, the Translation Bureau (translation of classical Eastern and Western works, and their distribution to even girls herding sheep in villages), modern universities, the Faculty of Language, History, and Geography, millet schools, educator courses, People's Houses, magazines, magazines..., polyphonic music, opera and ballet, village institutes, the Turkish Language Association, the Turkish Historical Society, the culture train initiative, the Anatolian painting tours for artists, the "Ideal Republican Village"... We have left aside the heavy industry institutions and related organizations that were founded; those who are interested can easily find them (in how much time were these enormous works done? Fifteen years!). It is important that one of the results of the cultural revolution was a significant increase in the country's literacy rate and a distinct desire to write and record.

 

The Republic's village institutes and the project called the "Ideal Republican Village" are of great importance to our topic.

 

Our topic is "The Erzincan Archive Museum", a pioneering historical accumulation.

 

Marco Polo. The world-renowned traveler. What does he talk about at the very beginning of his travelogue? Erzincan. He writes that it is a very important center. He will descend from Erzincan to the south, toward İskenderun, and from there he will head east.

 

The plan for the Erzincan Archive Museum (and my belief in its realization is complete) is based on the online publications of the magazines "ders BELGELİĞİ" and "Selüke Belgeliği." This project is pioneered by the Master Painter H. Avni Öztopçu, who has been working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Painting Education at Marmara University’s Atatürk Faculty of Education since 1991, and who is originally from Selüke village in Erzincan.

 

These magazines are extremely comprehensive, detailed, and rich. They feature writings by master names of Turkish thought and the accumulation of enlightenment, as well as photographs, letters, documents, and narratives specific to Erzincan that cannot be found in any other source.

 

Having said this, it is impossible to overlook without criticism some intellectuals; the publications of ders BELGELİĞİ and Selüke Belgeliği have been successfully running for decades, but are there any intellectuals or writers who have taken notice, drawn attention to this success, or been influenced by this rare cultural event? The answer is doubtful. And yet, some intellectuals say they attach great importance to "oral history" and "local history"...

 

Let's return to the Erzincan Archive Museum. According to the archive’s detailed explanation, which includes sketches and plans:

"The Erzincan Archive Museum will not limit itself to being just a museum; it will provide opportunities and education to the people living in the region, and it aims to contribute to art education through the workshops and institutes it will establish. The campus for this museum will be in SELÜKE village. It will contribute to Selüke becoming a model village by preserving its traditional structure.

 

The museum will be established on 60 acres of non-agricultural land. An arboretum will be created, taking into account the region's plant cover and tree diversity. Graduates of ders BELGELİĞİ will work on the arboretum. They will produce local saplings from the region and distribute them for free.

 

Workshops for painting, drawing, sculpture, metalwork, ceramics, and textiles will be established. Talented students studying art at universities will be able to work in these workshops. A collaborative environment will be provided with invited artists and art educators from within Turkey and abroad. Special work programs will be created for talented students from the region.

 

The Erzincan Archive Research Institute and the Art Education Research Institute will be founded."

 

The archive focuses on people educating themselves, putting effort into their essence (even university is only a tool, a launching pad in this regard), being intertwined with the public, developing solidarity and a spirit of cooperation. These are the foundations of a very meaningful and profound approach. They are also lost values. The revival of these lost but ever-important values, while keeping in mind the needs of the modern world, is a great necessity for the Turkish nation. More than a necessity, it is an obligation.

 

The Erzincan Archive Museum is in direct harmony with the education system of the Turkish Revolution, which set enlightenment as its primary goal. The Archive Museum plan carries the belief, knowledge, and practical understanding, as well as the spirit of collective self-sacrifice and success from the 1920s and 1930s. In this context, it can be said that there is a strong parallel with the world-renowned village institutes and the "Ideal Republican Village" initiative.

 

One cannot expect success or development from an education and school system where philosophy, art, and writing (literature) are not strongly present or are not given the importance they deserve. Furthermore, in today's world of speed and change, built on technology, cybernetics, and computer science, there is hardly any difference between being merely literate and illiterate. It is necessary to understand what is read in a deep, multi-dimensional way, to know philosophy and art, and to acquire the information technology skills of the era at least to a certain level. This can only be achieved through a coherent, meaningful, rational, and scientific education and culture as a whole, based on the historical accumulation of humanity. Without this, or with contrary applications, there is not the slightest chance of success. This is a definitive fact. One cannot say, "Let's have a little of this, and a little of that."

 

We usually remember the history of Erzincan with the pain of earthquakes. Erzincan is like a Phoenix; it is reborn from its ashes every time. Erzincan, embraced by the magnificent beauty of Mount Kazankaya, whose peak is often in the clouds, is a historical city with its own unique qualities. The philosophy embodied in the Archive plan is very fitting for Erzincan, for the people of Erzincan, and for its land, which has raised many writers and artists and published magazines and books.

 

The "Erzincan Archive Museum" project, as an exemplary cultural and artistic initiative, will become a reality and take its place in our history, growing and developing.

 

I wholeheartedly congratulate and respectfully salute my teacher H. Avni Öztopçu, who wisely continues his scientific and artistic work, and his esteemed students, who are role models for Turkish and global youth. May they thrive.

 

Source: http://www.sanattanyansimalar.com/yazarlar/gunay-guner/bir-oncu-kent-tarihi-birikimi-erzincan-belgeligi-muzesi/1717/