Turkey’s first forced-migration museum set to open in November

Now, the witnesses and their memories have a new way of sharing their stories with the world. The İstanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency (ECOC) Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, in cooperation with the Lozan Mübadiller Vakfı (Foundation of Lausanne Treaty Emigrants) and the Municipality of Çatalca, will open Turkey’s first museum based on the concept of immigration to and from İstanbul’s Çatalca district.

The Mübadele Müzesi (Museum of Population Exchange) will open its doors to visitors in November, and it has already aroused the interest and curiosity of historians and relatives of those subjected to the exchange.

A first in Turkey

“The first time we saw the project we were deeply impressed and very excited about it,” says the ECOC’s cultural heritage and museums director, Suay Aksoy, while explaining that the project immediately captured the agency’s interest when presented to the agency by the treaty emigrants’ foundation. “There is no such thing in Turkey yet,” says Aksoy. “Whereas the phenomenon is very important for Turkey, as our lands have been a stage for mass immigrations throughout history, in Greece, there are already many museums about the population exchange. It’s already too late to begin dealing with this issue.”

The Foundation of Lausanne Treaty Emigrants presents the museum project in its nearly complete form. “We have had the idea of a museum since the establishment of our foundation in 2001,” says Atilla Karaelmas, the president of the foundation. “At that time, we believed that such a museum was necessary, particularly in Çatalca, and we longed for the building that we’re going to use today. All has been made possible only after nine years.”

“The foundation had actually prepared almost everything,” confirms Aksoy. “There was little left for us to contribute. This foundation is quite professional about realizing projects in cooperation with the European Union. Besides, they possess the entirety of the museum’s holdings. They really do know what they’re doing.”

“And even though they have not had a museum up until now, they have very serious publications at an equal level with those of a museum,” notes Afşin Altaylı, a specialist at the ECOC Cultural Heritage and Museums Directorate. “They have been publishing very significant reports about the holdings they possess.”

“The foundation has been working on the inventory for quite a long time,” says Karaelmas. “We have a very broad study of oral and visual history, and we have a very rich archive. We obtained a huge mass of material from the history of population exchange, the witnesses of the population exchange and some documentary studies that we made. In addition the musical part of the project provides it with an audio aspect.”

Indicating that there will be a big exhibition at Santralİstanbul in September, and under the name “İstanbul 1910:2010,” Aksoy adds that one of the themes of the exhibition will inevitably be immigration. “These are very important steps for the foundation of a city museum,” says Aksoy. “We specified in the contracts that all materials from the exhibitions would be delivered to us in order to hand them over to a city museum in the future. When you focus on the objective, you begin to observe the social relations. This also has to do with the emergence of the concept of ‘urban’.”

“We believe this project is a part of a whole entity,” confirms Altaylı. “We aimed to help new museums get founded and to help increase the variety of the museums while making this heritage permanent and sustainable.”

Why Çatalca?

While the population exchange had been realized all over the country, the choice of the museum’s location is also significant. “During the compulsory population exchange, a large population had been settled in Çatalca,” explains Aksoy. “There had been a Greek population living there. They left behind the buildings they had lived in. Today there are still people from the exchange living there. Now that Ertuğrul Ölçer and his family have donated a house to the foundation in order for it to be turned into a museum, the project is becoming real.” For Aksoy, another important aspect of the museum is that it could turn the area into a totally new center of attraction. “What is also important is that this doesn’t occur in the middle of İstanbul, but in Çatalca, which is on the city’s periphery,” says Aksoy. “We believe that this is going to be a good start for the area. There are a lot of things there that are protected and that have to be protected.”

“First of all, everybody living around Çatalca would visit the museum. Secondly, anybody who has had any relationship with ‘exchangees’ would want to visit the museum,” indicates Aksoy. “One of the objectives of the foundation is to provide an ambiance that will keep visitors content for a whole day or two - through little workshops and shops. There are also very high expectations about the visits of Greek tourists, because Greeks still come to see Çatalca in buses – while those visiting İstanbul also visit Çatalca. The museum will be a remarkable center, proving the reality of the historical facts to students who learn about, for example, the Treaty of Lausanne at school. So, this museum can be the engine for a serious transformation there.”

“After all, it will simultaneously be a very somber and a very joyful place,” says Aksoy, “and maybe sometimes it will make people cry.”

Wistful memories

As well being as being a matter of scientific research, studies conducted for the compilation of the inventory have revealed many untold and maybe forgotten stories from the exchange, most of which are tragic.

“We carried out a broad study of oral history in Greece, as well as benefiting from previously made studies there,” explains Karaelmas. “The second and third generation relatives of the ‘exchangees’ were deeply interested in what we were doing. We have had some very emotional moments, we still do. We heard many beautiful stories along with many tragic ones.”

Karaelmas himself also has some memories related to the exchange process. “My parents and my grandparents used to speak Greek when discussing things that they didn’t want us to understand,” says Karaelmas. “At home we used to eat meals that were not cooked in other houses. And we began to realize this as we grew up.”