Koçzadeler, Aktarzadeler, Kütükçüzadeler, Müderriszadeler.

Koçzadeler[1], Aktarzadeler, Kütükçüzadeler, Müderriszadeler...

Necibe Kadın, the granddaughter of Mustafa bin Salih Baba, who was also the head of the İnayetler branch of the Hacı Bayram lineage, married Koçzade Mehmet Efendi. Mehmet Efendi and Necibe's son, [Hacı] Mustafa Efendi, is the father of Vehbi Koç. Vehbi Koç's wife, Aktarzade Sadberk Hanım, is the daughter of Attarbaşızade Sadullah, who is the son of Attarbaşızade Emin Efendi, who married Necide Kadın, the daughter of Sadullah İzzet from the Müderriszadeler branch of the Hacı Bayram lineage.

The three brothers from the Aktarzadeler family are Sadullah, Hacı Kerim, and Rasim. Sadullah married Nadire, the daughter of Hacı Rıfat from the Kütükçüzadeler family, and Hacı Kerim married Halime, the daughter of Mustafa Kazım from the Çubukçuzadeler family... Sadullah's son Emin married Hüsniye, the daughter of Koçzade Mustafa, and his daughter Sadberk married Vehbi (Koç), meaning two siblings married two siblings, and they are cousins. Sadullah's wife Nadire's sister Fatma (Koç) is the mother of Koçzade Hüsniye and Vehbi.

 Dost Bookstore Publications, Ankara, 2005, p. 299:

Suavi Aydın et al., One Face of Asia Minor: Ankara, Dost Bookstore Publications, Ankara, 2005, p. 299

Suavi Aydın vö, Küçük Asya’nın Bir Yüzü: Ankara, Dost Kitabevi Yayınları, Ankara, 2005, s. 299

[1] The Koç Family is an entrepreneurial and philanthropic family that has played a major role in the development of trade and industry in Turkey, starting from the first quarter of the 20th century.

The family's history is rooted in prominent families of Ankara, such as the Koçzade, Kütükçüzade, Aktarzade, and Müderriszade families. The founder of the Koç Family is Vehbi Koç, who established his first company in 1926.  Vehbi Koç and Sadberk Koç's children, Semahat Arsel, Rahmi M. Koç, Sevgi Gönül, and Suna Kıraç, continued their father's entrepreneurial and philanthropic approach. This tradition of entrepreneurship and philanthropy continues with the third generation of grandchildren, Mustafa V. Koç, Ömer M. Koç, Ali Y. Koç, and İpek Kıraç, who are involved in the management of Koç Group companies.

Source

NOTES

It is stated that Vehbi Koç, born in Ankara in 1901, came from a 250-year-old Ankara family on his father's side, Koçzade Mustafa Efendi, and from a 600-year-old Ankara family on his mother's side, Fatma Hanım, the daughter of Kütükçüzade Hacı Rıfat Efendi, and that his lineage extends back to Hacı Bayram-ı Velî.

According to the genealogy presented in Fuat Bayramoğlu's work "Hacı Bayram-ı Velî: His Life, Lineage, and Foundation" (1983. Turkish Historical Society Printing House. Volume 1. Pages: 112, 113), the lineage of Vehbi Koç and his wife Sadberk Koç is connected to Hacı Bayram-ı Velî as follows:

- SADBERK KOÇ'S GENEALOGY: Hacı Bayram-ı Velî – Sheikh Ahmed Baba – Sheikh Edhem Baba – Sheikh Tayyib Baba – Sheikh Salih Baba – Tâci Hacı – Fatma Hatun – Saime Hatun – Müderriszâde Sheikh Mustafa – Abdülkerim Efendi – Sadullah İzzet – Necib Bey – Sadullah Aktaş – Sadberk Koç.

- VEHBİ KOÇ'S GENEALOGY: Hacı Bayram-ı Velî – Sheikh Ahmed Baba – Sheikh Edhem Baba – Sheikh Tayyib Baba – Sheikh Salih Baba – Sheikh Mehmed Baba – Sheikh Ahmed Baba – Sheikh Kasım Baba – Sheikh Tayyib Baba – Sheikh Ahmed Muhlis Baba – Sheikh Mehmed Tayyib Baba – Sheikh Şemseddin Bayramoğlu – Sheikh Mustafa Baba – Sheikh Salih Baba – Haydar Baba – Mustafa Bey – Ahmed Bey – Necibe Hanım – Vehbi Koç.

Mustafa Baba. Mustafa Baba, the grandson of Salih Baba III, who was the son of Mustafa bin Salih Baba II, the head of the Inayetler branch, is the head of a lineage that continues to this day. ​​In particular, his granddaughter Necibe Kadın married Mehmed Efendi, from the prominent Koç family of Ankara, and their son Mustafa Koç is the ancestor of Vehbi Koç, one of Ankara's and Turkey's most famous businessmen. The life story of Vehbi Koç, born in Ankara in 1901, can be found in his autobiography, "Hayat Hikâyem" ​​(My Life Story), published in Istanbul in 1973, and its English translation, "The Autobiography of a Turkish Businessman – My Life Story," published in Istanbul in 1977.

Vehbi Koç's wife, Sadberk Hanım (1908-1973), was the daughter of Sadullah Aktar, who was the son of Necibe Kadın, daughter of Sadullah İzzet Efendi (see No. 10 below), from one of the branches of the Hacı Bayram-ı Veli lineage known as the Müderriszade family, and Emin Efendi from the Serattar or Attarbaşı family of Ankara. Sadberk Hanım, who took the Koç surname after marrying Vehbi Koç, has her life story described in the brochure of the Sadberk Hanım Museum, a private museum established in her name in Büyükdere, Istanbul, by her daughter Sevgi Gönül, who is responsible for the museum's management, as follows:

Bernar Nahum and Haim Nahum are not related. Bernar Nahum is not Haim Nahum's son, nor do they have any family ties. Only their surnames are the same.

Bernar Nahum, who was born in Istanbul in 1911 to a Sephardic Jewish family, could not have participated in the peace treaty negotiations in Lausanne in 1922, as some believe.

In his book "My 44 Years at Koç – The Establishment of an Automotive Industry" (1988, Milliyet), Bernar Nahum detailed his partnership with Vehbi Koç. Bernar Nahum is the father of Jan Nahum, who held senior management positions in companies such as Otokar, Tofaş, Fiat, Petrol Ofisi, and Karsan, and of businessman Klod Nahum and Michelle Tazartes.

Haim Nahum, who was born on December 23, 1873, in Manisa, as the son of Bohor Josef Nahum, an employee of the Manisa Municipality, and Kaden Franko Grasya, died in Cairo in 1960. There is also no evidence that Haim Nahum stole the gold of the Ottoman Bank.

Murat Bardakçı asked Haim Nahum and his son Jojo Nahum, whom he met, "Do you know who Mustafa Koç's 20th-generation ancestor is? Hacı Bayram-ı Velî!" In his article dated January 25, 2016, he mentioned the following:

“Chief Rabbi Haim Nahum was not a Zionist; on the contrary, he was an anti-Zionist, and almost everyone who seriously studies the recent history of Turkey knows this!  Because Nahum Effendi was among the leading figures who opposed the efforts to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, he was considered an enemy by the Zionists, and everything possible was done to undermine him. The publications of the societies the Chief Rabbi established to combat Zionism and the numerous writings he produced are readily available, but why would these pathetic individuals, who first believe their own lies and serve no purpose other than sowing seeds of enmity, bother to read them while they can make baseless claims and parade around as "masters"?

The reason why Nahum Effendi, one of the leading figures of anti-Zionism, was present at Lausanne as an "unofficial" advisor was not his alleged but non-existent Zionism, but rather his support for the National Struggle, his extensive network in Europe, and his excellent command of French.”

“I met Jojo Nahum, the real son of Chief Rabbi Haim Nahum, who was subjected to the lie that he was the father of Vehbi Koç and his partner Bernar Nahum, years ago in Paris. Mr. Jojo, who is now deceased, was not a French or Jewish gentleman, but an Ottoman gentleman, and he possessed the complete, unpublished text of his father's memoirs, written in French. Hopefully, these memoirs, which are very important for the last years of the Empire, will be published one day…”

The story of Ottoman Athos

 

Extract

The Holy Mountain

The story of Ottoman Athos

by Anthony Bryer (1937–2016)

For more than a millennium Ayanoros, better known to the West as Mount Athos, has been a spiritual beacon to Orthodox believers. Yet the world’s oldest political entity flourished most brilliantly under Ottoman rule. Two scholars who have had a lifelong interest in this jealously isolated community give a unique insider’s view. Anthony Bryer, the eminent Byzantanist, who visited Mount Athos for the first time 40 years ago and found this extraordinary community on the brink of the 20th century, gives a personal account. Graham Speake, as secretary of the Friends of Mount Athos, has been in a privileged position to take the photographs

• • 
  Balconies projecting from the upper storeys of the monastery of Xeropotamou give it the appearance of a grand Ottoman country house

• • 
  Looking south across the Athos peninsula. Rising out of the Aegean to a height of 6,000 feet, this has long been a place of refuge for hermits, ascetics, monks and sundry silentiaries. This view is from Stavrokikita, the last of the 20 ruling monasteries, founded in 1541

• • 
  In Ottoman times, the monastery of Stavronikita relied for its income on the empire;s Danube principalities

Mount Athos is a peninsula east of Salonica cloaked in forests of oak and topped by a cloud-wreathed marble peak rising 2,033 metres out of the Aegean Sea. Since the tenth century, hermits and communities of monks have settled here. It is not the stunning beauty of the place that has attracted them, so much as the ascetic convenience of the Holy Mountain. A safe haven from the world, and the home since the 14th century of the influential Quietist movement, Athos has been a spiritual exemplar for the Byzantine and all Orthodox churches.

In 1958 I wanted to get to Byzantium: very fast. Between laying down pen as a National Serviceman and taking up arms as an undergraduate, there was not time to visit Turkey or Greece, but just enough to grow a beard and get to Athos.

Here was living Byzantium, where distances were measured in hours along ribbed mule tracks, where the hours of night were anyway only approximate at the solstices, where all clocks were wrong and the sure time was sunset, when the gates of the miniature walled towns called monasteries shut, leaving you out for the night on a bare mountain. So on August 19, AM 7466 of the Byzantine calendar, I presented myself to the Holy Fathers, who affixed a four-part seal to my visa to Athos, only the 748th issued that year.

I had spent the previous night (being September 1, 1958 AD, secular time) in the tower of Andronikos II at Prosphori. The difference of date (which is why the Russian October Revolution actually happened in November) gave just enough time to grow a beard out of which a comb kept falling, to demonstrate my gender, for women and eunuchs do not cross the border at Prosphori…

Here was living Byzantium, where distances were measured in hours along ribbed mule tracks, where the hours of night and day were anyway only approximate at the solstices, where all clocks were wrong and the only sure time was sunset, when the gates of the miniature walled towns called monasteries shut, leaving you out for the night on a bare mountain…

İstanΠόλις

Mavi Boncuk |

www.istanpolis.org

(link is external)) collaborative lead by Christine Philliou

This is a platform and network hub for historical studies about the Greek Orthodox communities of late Ottoman Istanbul/Constantinople (c. 1821-1923). Here you will find links to the latest scholarship, memoirs, and primary source documents, as well as discussion and emerging scholarship about the many layers of community--legal, administrative, and ecclesiastical, but also social, cultural, and political--in which the Greek Orthodox of The City of the long nineteenth century were involved. Data projects about the historical demography, residential and migration patterns, and professional and class identities of Rum residents will be displayed here. While this site serves as a clearinghouse and an incubator for data, mapping, and other Digital Humanities and conventional scholarly projects related to the Greek Orthodox of Istanbul, it is meant to connect up to the many other projects underway that map the many other communities in the same urban space. It is also meant to make accessible the wealth of knowledge in Greek-language histories of the constituent parish and neighborhood communities of the city, and to bring those together with Ottoman state archival materials, to work toward a three-dimensional understanding of what community meant, and how it worked, and changed, for Greek Orthodox Christians in the final century of the Ottoman Empire. We are open to considering new proposals for subgroups/research teams on relevant topics, so please contact us with your ideas!

Further Resources for Research on Constantinopolitan Greeks 

Christine Philliou

Christine Philliou, Professor in the Department of History at University of California Berkeley and Director of the Modern Greek/Hellenic Studies and Turkish, Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Studies (TOPOS) programs there, specializes in the connected histories of the Balkans and Middle East since the 17th century, focusing particularly on the emergence of the Greek and Turkish nation-states out of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries. She has worked, and is interested more broadly in comparative empires and in interfaces between cultures and histories in Europe and the Middle East. Her books, Biography of an Empire: Governing Ottomans in an Age of Revolution (2011), and Turkey: A Past Against History (2021), have been translated into both Greek and Turkish, and she has published widely in scholarly journals as well as in broader forums such as PublicBooks and Jadaliyya. 

Firuzan Melike Sümertaş

Firuzan Melike Sümertaş is currently a lecturer in the Department of History at University of California Berkeley and Assist. Prof. in the Department of Interior Design at Istanbul Kent University. Her research focuses on the urban/architectural/visual culture of the late Ottoman Empire and its capital city Istanbul, with a particular interest in the Greek-Orthodox community. She holds a PhD. in History from Boğaziçi University, Istanbul and B.Arch and M.A degrees from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Department of Architecture, and Program in Architectural History. Besides IstanΠόλις, she collaborates with Namık Erkal, Haris Theodorelis Rigas and ANAMED at Koç University, Istanbul under the project entitled “Phanariot Materialities.”

Panagiotis Poulos

Panagiotis C. Poulos is Assistant Professor in Ethnomusicology at the Department of Music Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He studied ethnomusicology with a focus on the musical traditions of the Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), where he also completed his doctoral dissertation on Ottoman classical music, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board. His research centers on the musical traditions of the Islamic world, the cultural history of late Ottoman and Turkish music and arts, and the history of everyday life in Ottoman cities. Panagiotis C. Poulos is one of the founding members of the research team sonorCities, which has been funded by the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation for the project Learning Culture through City Soundscapes. He is co-editor of Ottoman Intimacies, Balkan Musical Realities (2013, Finnish Institute at Athens) and author of Music in the Islamic World: Sources, Perspectives, Practices (e-book, 2015, Hellenic Academic Libraries Link). In 2013 he was awarded an honorable mention Ömer Lütfi Barkan Award by the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association for his article Rethinking Orality in Turkish Classical Music: A Genealogy of Contemporary Musical Assemblages (MEJC 4, 2011). His current research project is entitled Intercommunal musical geographies of late Ottoman Istanbul, funded by the Hellenic Foundation of Research and Innovation.

Reşad Ekrem Koçu | İstanbul Ansiklopedisi ve Arşivi

GÜRBEY HİZ - FİRUZAN MELİKE SÜMERTAŞ [1]

Article | Reşad Ekrem Koçu, | İstanbul Ansiklopedisi ve Arşivi 

Reşad Ekrem Koçu. | Emre Ayvaz Arşivi 

Reşad Ekrem Koçu’nun (1905-1975) İstanbul Ansiklopedisi, 1944 yılından 1974 yılına ka-dar arada duraklamalarla beraber fasikül-ler halinde yayınlanmış ve bilindiği üzereKoçu’nun ölümü nedeniyle G harfi tamamlanama-dan yarıda kalmıştır. Maddelerin yazım sürecindeKoçu tarafından derlenen malzemelerden oluşanve yayınlananların yanı sıra, ansiklopediye dahilolma fırsatı bulamamış maddelere dair belgeleri deiçeren bir arşivin varlığı uzun zamandır kamuoyun-da bilinmektedir. Bu arşiv, 2018 yılında Kadir HasÜniversitesi tarafından satın alınmış ve akabindeÜniversite ve SALT arasındaki ortak protokole daya-nan bir proje ile dijital ortama aktarılmasına başlan-mıştır.

Bu sürecin çıktıları yakında kamuya açılacakve araştırmacılar, hem ansiklopedi malzemesine hemde Koçu’nun ansiklopediye dair biriktirdiği arşivine istanbulansiklopedisi.org adresinde erişim sağlayabileceklerdir.Arşivin dijitalleştirme çalışmaları devam ederkenbir yandan da İstanbul Ansiklopedisi’ne olan ilgiyiarttırmak için Kadir Has Üniversitesi ve SALT bir-likte çeşitli etkinlikler düzenledi. Sergi, sunumlar, atölyeler, lisans ve lisansüstü dersler ile beraberansiklopedinin farklı yönlerini tartışmak, olanakları-nı incelemek ve İstanbul’daki sosyal yaşama katkısı-nı keşfetmek mümkün oldu. Bu etkinliklerin bazılarıansiklopediyi daha geniş kesimler etrafında tartışmaimkanı sunarken bazıları ise daha derin incelemelereönayak oldu.

Bu çerçevede biz de, Koçu’ya ve onun İstanbulu’nadair yeni ufuklara kapı aralayacağını düşündüğü-müz bu dosyayı, proje sürecinin önemli başka bir adı-mı olarak öngördük. Dosyayı, hem arşivin kamuya< kazandırılmasından başlayarak proje sürecini tarihenot düşmek için hem de proje dahilinde beraber ça-lışma ve Koçu üzerine tartışma olanağı bulduğumuzbazı araştırmacıların Koçu’ya, Koçu’nun tarihçiliği-ne ve arşive yönelik yaklaşımlarını aktaracak şekil-de kurguladık. Bu kapsamda Arzu Erdem, İstanbulAnsiklopedisi Arşivi’nin Kadir Has Üniversitesi ta-rafından satın alınması ve akabinde başlayan projesürecinin niyetlerini anlatırken, Meriç Öner, SALT’tadevam eden dijitalleştirme sürecini hedeeri ve yön-temi üzerinden tartışıyor. Emre Ayvaz, yazısındaKoçu’nun nasıl çalıştığını ve ansiklopedisini nasıl tasarladığını arşivdeki farklı aşamalardan malzeme-lerin yardımıyla izini sürerken, Selim Kuru, Koçu’yuçevreleyen erkek yazarlar topluluğunun Koçu’yuanlamak üzere araçsallaştırılmasını öne çıkarıyor.Edhem Eldem, İstanbul Ansiklopedisi üzerindenKoçu'nun tarihçiliğini tartışmaya açarken, MehmetKentel, yazısında yine ansiklopedi aracılığıyla Beyoğ-lu ve Galata’ya dair üretilen anlatıların dönüşümünüirdeliyor.Umuyoruz ki, projenin sonuç ürünü kamuya açıl-dığında Koçu’nun zihin dünyası ve deneyimlediğiİstanbul’un yansımalarını içeren ansiklopedisi ve ar-şivinde etraıca dolaşmak mümkün olacak. Bu dos-yanın ise Koçu’nun evrenine seyahate yönelik adım-lara ilham vermesini diliyoruz.

[1] GÜRBEY HİZ - KADİR HAS ÜNİVERSİTESİ; UNIVERSITY OFWASHINGTON, SEATTLE 

FİRUZAN MELİKE SÜMERTAŞ - İSTANBUL KENTÜNİVERSİTESİ; BRANDENBURG TEKNİK ÜNİVERSİTESİ

Firuzan Melike Sümertaş's research is on the urban/architectural/visual culture of the late Ottoman Empire and its capital city Istanbul, with a particular interest in the Greek-Orthodox community. She currently focuses on digital humanities methods. Sümertaş holds a PhD. in History from Boğaziçi University, Istanbul and B.Arch and M.A degrees from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Department of Architecture, and Program in Architectural History. Besides IstanΠόλις (www.istanpolis.org(link is external)) collaborative lead by Christine Philliou, she collaborates with Namık Erkal, Haris Theodorelis Rigas and ANAMED at Koç University, Istanbul under the project entitled “Phanariot Materialities.” 

Dosya hazırlık sürecindeki yardımlarından dolayı Toplumsal Tarih dergisi çalışanlarına, yazarlarımızave Lorans Tanatar Baruh’a teşekkür ederiz.

1 “Reşad Ekrem Koçu: Tamamlanmamış bir İstanbul Ansiklopedisi ” araştırma projesi, 2018 - 2021yılları arasında Kadir Has Üniversitesi tarafından2018-BAP-19 proje kodu ile desteklenmiştir.Arzu Erdem’in koordinatörlüğünde Kadir HasÜniversitesi bünyesinde yürütülen projede,Gürbey Hiz, Firuzan Melike Sümertaş, AybikeBatuk, Ezgi Tuncer, Saitali Köknar, MehmetManyas, Serap Özyurt araştırmacı olarak;Bülent Tanju, Emre Ayvaz danışman olarak;Dilay Dik, Mehtap Kuru, Derya Dertli, YağmurTorun, Ayşe Buluş ise bursiyer öğrenciler olarakgörev almıştır. SALT ve Kadir Has Üniversitesiarasında imzalanan protokol ve gerçekleştirilenişbirliği çerçevesinde, SALT bünyesinde Meriç Öner,Lorans Tanatar Baruh, Cansu Yapıcı, Masum Yıldız,Sinan Çetin, Esra Nalbant, Tuğba Silahtar, ÖzgeErtem, Yonca Güneş Yücel, Elif Başgöl, Digilogueadına Lalin Akalan görev almıştır. Ayrıca dosyaeditörlerinden Gürbey Hiz, TÜBİTAK 2219 YurtDışı Doktora Sonrası Araştırma Burs Programıile desteklenen “Fragmanlaşan İstanbul: Reşad Ekrem Koçu’nun Ansiklopedi Öncesi Sözlüğü”başlıklı çalışmasını University of Washington’da gerçekleştirmektedir. Hiz, çalışmasında Koçu’nun ansiklopedi öncesi İstanbul hakkındaki çalışmalarını incelerken bahsi geçen arşiv projesinden de yararlanmaktadır.

2 15 Ocak - 16 Haziran 2019 tarihleri arasındaSALT Beyoğlu’nda gerçekleşen İstasyon: İstanbul Ansiklopedisi adlı sergi, ziyaretçilere hem basılmış ansiklopedi fasiküllerinde gezinmeye olanak sağladı hem de maddelerin dijital verilerini girmeye teşvik etti.

3 Sergi süresince gerçekleşen sunumlar sırasıyla;Arzu Erdem ve Meriç Öner, “İstasyon Programları”;Erdem Yücel, “Tanıklık”; Edhem Eldem, “Tarihçi Gözüyle Reşad Ekrem Koçu’nun İstanbul Ansiklopedisi ”; Suraiya Faroqhi, “TarihçilerArasında Reşad Ekrem Koçu”; Mehmet Kentel,“Galata Kulesi Şeklinde Çubuk Lülesi”; UğurTanyeli, “Koçu, İstanbul Ansiklopedisi ve ErkenModern İstanbul Popüler Kültürü.” Ayrıca 2021yılında Kadir Has Üniversitesi Mimarlık Bölümü İstanbul Konuşmaları kapsamında Firuzan Melike Sümertaş moderatörlüğünde gerçekleşen “ İstanbul Ansiklopedisi : Writing on People and their Place”başlıklı panele Cemal Kafadar, Shirine Hamadeh ve Çiğdem Kafescioğlu katıldılar.

4 Sergi süresince gerçekleşen atölyelerin yürütücüleriyle bilgisi sırasıyla; Meriç Öner ve Cansu Yapıcı, “ İstanbul Ansiklopedisi ’nde Tekrarlarve Şaşırtmacalar”; Ali Paşaoğlu, “Koçu’nun Surnamesi”; Ada Tuncer, “Muhayyel Peyzajlar”;Esra Kahveci, “İndeksten Anlatıya İstanbullar”;Aslıhan Şenel, “Erkek Kızlar, Haşmetli Yosmalarve Falcı Bacılar”; Asya Ece Uzmay ve Murat Tülek “Ansiklopediden Haritaya”; Atıl Aggündüz ve Oğul Öztunç, “Günlük Hayat Dedektiferi: Üçüncü Sayfa Hikayeleri”; Aslıhan Demirtaş ve Ali Cindoruk,“Rastgele!”; Sinem Serap Duran, “Video/Kolaj - Belge:Yaşam Katmanları”; Osman Bozkurt, Hasan Denizve Cemre Yeşil Gönenli, “ İstanbul Ansiklopedisi ’niFotoğrala Yorumlamak”.

5 2019 Bahar döneminde Kadir Has ÜniversitesiTiyatro Bölümü Lisans programında Özlem Hemiş yürütücülüğündeki “Osmanlı’dan Günümüze Türkiye’de Tiyatro” dersi kapsamında öğrenciler, Koçu ve ansiklopedisi üzerine bkz. İstanbul ve İstanbul Ansiklopedisi başlıklı iki performans hazırlayıp SALT Beyoğlu’ndaAçık Sinema’da sahnelediler. Ayrıca, 2020 Güz döneminde Kadir Has Üniversitesi Mimarlık ve Kent Çalışmaları Yüksek Lisans programında Bülent Tanju yürütücülüğünde “Türkiye’deModernite, Mimari ve Kentsel Mekan” başlıklı ders, ansiklopedinin basılmış versiyonunu derinlemesine incelemeyi odağına aldı.

6 Bu kapsamda gerçekleşen bir başka etkinlik deprojenin 2020 yılı Ekim ayında 54. Middle EastStudies Association (MESA) Yıllık Konferansı kapsamında gerçekleştirilen “Reşad Ekrem Koçu’s İstanbul Ansiklopedisi and its Archive” başlıklı yuvarlak masa toplantısı oldu. Gürbey Hiz, Firuzan Melike Sümertaş ve Cansu Yapıcı’nın projeyi tanıttığı sunumlarının yanı sıra toplantıda Selim S. Kuru tartışmacı olarak yer aldı

No Further Records: Reşad Ekrem Koçu and Istanbul Encyclopedia Archive

Exhibition
No Further Records: Reşad Ekrem Koçu and Istanbul Encyclopedia Archive

Salt Galata | May 24 – October 29, 2023

Organized as part of Reşad Ekrem Koçu and Istanbul Encyclopedia Archive[1], a joint project of Salt and Kadir Has University initiated in 2018, the exhibition No Further Records: Reşad Ekrem Koçu and Istanbul Encyclopedia Archive sheds light on the unpublished sections of the Istanbul Encyclopedia to which historian and novelist Reşad Ekrem Koçu (1905-1975) devoted most of his life.

The exhibition focuses on the articles that had remained in the design stage, following the 11 volumes of the encyclopedia printed until the letter “G” during Koçu’s lifetime. The materials comprise drafts for the articles, clippings, collages, and drawings, revealing the privileged position of Koçu in historiography as he had set out to manifest, in his own words, the “grand register” of Istanbul. At the same time, the exhibition seeks to comprehend the idiosyncratic elements of the encyclopedia and what makes this work a grand register.

Spreading across Salt Galata, the exhibition takes the building’s location as an urban focal point and presents a selection of materials in a framework shaped around the neighborhood of Galata. It highlights the particular urban image that Koçu created about Galata, its immediate surroundings, and its inhabitants from the early 19th century to the mid-20th century. The “lowlives” who lived in the urban space surrounding the aforementioned building for a century and those who lived in a relatively more “unrestrained” manner outside the traditional neighborhood order of Istanbul are traced in the archive. This line of inquiry pursues the uncanny elements of the city under the guidance of Koçu rather than a repetition of narratives situated on the home-neighborhood-monument axis, which constitutes the majority of urban studies.

Koçu’s Istanbul Encyclopedia also includes “serious” topics of urban history. Yet, the historian does not bring a new approach to these topics; instead, he uses such issues to create a legitimate ground for Istanbul’s “grand register.” According to the art historian Semavi Eyice, Koçu had “sidestepped the gravity of the matter” and “glossed over important issues that need to be treated in detail with only a few lines.” However, this attitude is the foundation of Koçu’s unique perspective. Urban history studies focusing on streets, buildings, objects, or demographic movements gain components previously unrecorded within the framework Koçu constructed.

In particular, the statement “no further records have been found” at the end of some of the articles on certain characters points to how the claim to form a “grand register” exposes the weakness of “serious” historiography. Koçu often uses the expression vesile-i rahmet [a graceful occasion] to explain the reasoning for including urban inhabitants in the record, which posits his work outside the narrative of official history. No Further Records: Reşad Ekrem Koçu and Istanbul Encyclopedia Archive looks into the “strange” and “impertinent” city of those not on record, for a graceful occasion.

In parallel with the exhibition, the printed volumes of the Istanbul Encyclopedia and a collection of approximately 40,000 items have been digitized and will soon be accessible online. Offering a different perspective on 19th and 20th century Istanbul, the exhibition and the archive will be accompanied by an e-publication with contributions of researchers from diverse fields. Public programs accompanying the exhibition will be announced via saltonline.org and Salt’s social media channels.

About Reşad Ekrem Koçu

Reşad Ekrem Koçu was born in Istanbul in 1905. He graduated from the Bursa High School in 1921 and the Istanbul University Faculty of Literature History Department in 1931. He was the student and assistant of Ahmed Refik Altınay, and when Altınay was removed from his position in 1933, as the university reform went into effect, Koçu resigned from the newly established university. He taught history at the Kuleli Military High School, Vefa High School, and Pertevniyal High School. In addition to his experience as a history teacher, he made a living by contributing articles to newspapers such as Cumhuriyet, Yeni Sabah, Milliyet, Hergün, Yeni Tanin, and Tercüman and magazines including Hayat Tarih Mecmuası, Resimli Tarih Mecmuası, Tarih Dünyası, Hayat, Yeşilay, Büyük Doğu, Hafta, Türk Folklor Araştırmaları and İstanbul Enstitüsü Mecmuası. He published historical novels and novelized monographs on historical characters. In November 1944, he began publishing the fascicles of the Istanbul Encyclopedia, which he defined as the “grand register of the city,” focusing on historical, geographic, architectural, literary, folkloric, and cultural topics. He said of the encyclopedia: “As of now, I will squander my life on it,” and continued working on it until the end of his life. After 34 fascicles were published intermittently, he had to take a break in 1951 due to financial reasons. The encyclopedia was relaunched beginning with the first fascicle in 1958, and this adventure lasted 173 fascicles and 11 volumes. Ending on the article Gökçınar (Mehmed), the fascicle dated 1973 marked the end of the Istanbul Encyclopedia’s publishing life. Koçu passed away two years later, on July 6, 1975, and was buried in the Sahrayıcedid Cemetery. The historian lost the mansion he inherited from his father, his money, and his health to form Istanbul’s “grand register.” The location of his grave could never be determined.


Program: Bülent Tanju, Cansu Yapıcı, Gülce Özkara, Masum Yıldız
Design and Production: Emirhan Altuner
Project Team: Ahmet Metin Öztürk, Gül İçel, Mehtap Kuru, Mustafa Hazneci, Sinem Ayşe Gülmez Saydam
Illustration:Cem Dinlenmiş
Editor: Erman Ata Uncu, Ezgi Yurteri
Translation: Merve Ünsal
Installation: Eray Özcan, Fiksatif, 3T Reklam
Research and Digitization: Ayşe Buluş, Ayşe Tuğba Silahtar, Büşra İyibaş, Derya Dertli, Dilay Dik, Elif Başgöl, Emre Ayvaz, Esra Nalbant, Gelengül Erkara, Lorans Tanatar Baruh, Murat Tülek, Özge Ertem, Sinan Çetin, Yağmur Torun, Yonca Güneş Yücel
Kadir Has University: Aybike Batuk, Ezgi Tuncer, Gürbey Hiz, Mehmet Manyas, Serap Özyurt

Acknowledgments: Ada Tuncer, Ahmet Ersoy, Ali Cindoruk, Aslıhan Demirtaş, Aslıhan Şenel, Asya Ece Uzmay, Atıl Aggündüz, Cemal Kafadar, Cemre Yeşil Gönenli, Channel Studio, CLEVER°FRANKE, Çiğdem Kafesçioğlu, Eda Çağıl Çağlarırmak, Edhem Eldem, Elif Birdoğan, Emine Gönel, Enis Batur, Erdem Yücel, Esra Kahveci, Firuzan Melike Sümertaş, Genç Açı Proje Ofisi (GAPO), Gene Kogan, Hasan Deniz, Irvin Cemil Schick, Lalin Akalın, Mehmet Kentel, Nurtaç Buluç, Oğul Öztunç, Orhan Pamuk, Osman Bozkurt, Özlem Hemiş, Sait Ali Köknar, Selim S. Kuru, Sermet Tolan, Shirine Hamadeh, Sinem Serap Duran, Suraiya Faroqhi, Süleyman Şenel, Tan Morgül, Uğur Aktaş, Uğur Tanyeli, Vasıf Kortun

The archive and research project, conducted by Salt together with Kadir Has University on the Istanbul Encyclopedia, was initiated in 2018 by Meriç Öner, Former Director of Salt Research and Programs, and architect-academic Arzu Erdem.

The exhibition is realized with the support of Mey|Diageo (opening reception), STABILO (workshop space), and Yıldız Entegre (production). Eureko Sigorta (insurance) and Jotun Boya (paint) provide service support to Salt throughout the year.

In Collaboration with Kadir Has University

[1] Salt and Kadir Has University have launched a long-term archive and research project as part of the cooperation protocol signed by the two institutions to develop joint programs based on mutual learning. Following the three-year project, the printed volumes of historian and novelist Reşad Ekrem Koçu’s (1905-1975) unfinished Istanbul Encyclopedia, along with thousands of related documents, will be digitized and made publicly accessible.

Koçu began compiling “the grand register” of Istanbul in 1944 and continued his extensive research and writing until 1973. From streets to architectural structures, from important or common people and the customs of the city to historical events and urban legends, numerous subjects were recorded through story-like narratives and illustrations. A collaborative work of esteemed historians, literary scholars, academics, and artists of the period, Istanbul Encyclopedia presents a unique blend of the tezkire [biographical anthology] tradition and Western encyclopedism, shaped around Koçu’s personal interests. It is not merely a reference source, a compilation of testimonies, or a massive effort to include everything about Istanbul; it is an extraordinary work that constructs a unique idea or image of Istanbul by processing all the material through certain hierarchies of significance and strategies of inclusion/exclusion. The encyclopedia was only printed up to the letter G during Koçu’s lifetime, which makes up the first 11 volumes, and the fate of the documents constituting the basis for the subsequent volumes has always been a matter of curiosity and debate.

The Istanbul Encyclopedia Archive, acquired by Kadir Has University in 2018 as a collection of approximately 40,000 items, comprises 1,460 publications from Koçu’s personal library and an extensive body of materials compiled, edited, and written by Koçu for future volumes that remained unpublished. The joint project developed by Salt will provide online access to Istanbul Encyclopedia, aiming to shed light on this comprehensive archive and encourage original studies from various disciplines and perspectives.

The Istanbul Encyclopedia Archive is a kind of “media archaeology laboratory” considering the insight it provides into Koçu’s working methods and the production of a multi-volume and multi-authored publication with limited means in the second half of the 20th century. A diverse range of documents in the collection—from photographs, drawings, and excerpts to drafts of articles planned to be included in volumes G-Z, early versions of select articles in the published volumes, and independent texts suggesting that Koçu had also compiled articles based on the material—details the complex and multi-layered process of the encyclopedia’s formation. The joint project of Salt and Kadir Has University aims to pave the way for transdisciplinary research and work methods by bringing experts together with independent researchers. The resulting work, presented through online software, seeks to establish connections between the diverse content and inspire new research topics.

Petri's Karakoy

 

Petri's Galata

 

İlber Ortaylı | Üstadın mirası

İlber Ortaylı[1]

Üstadın mirası

29 Ağustos 2010

Reşad Ekrem Koçu’nun basılamayan notları acilen mirasçılarının ve “iş bitiricilerin” elinden kurtarılmalı, gerekirse kanun çıkarılmalı

Eski bir bürokrat aileden gelir; İstanbul çocuklarının çoğu önüne konan tahsili tamamlayıp baba mesleğine devam ederken, Reşat Ekrem yurdunun tarihine ve yaşadığı toplumun yapısına merakla yöneldi. Ona merak ettiği şeyleri öğretecek bir kurum yoktu. Tıpkı zamanının bir başka mütebahhiri Osman Nuri (Ergin) gibi zekası ve yönelimiyle yolunu buldu. Bu gençlerin merak ettikleri konular üzerinde daha evvel kaleme alınmış bir el kitabı veya telif eser yoktu. Mesela Mehmet Süreyya Bey mezarlıkları kendi gezdi. Hatta bazen oralarda gecelediği oldu ve de on binlerce mezar taşı içinden imparatorluk halkının geçmişini sergilemeye (“Sicill-i Osmanî”) adlı devasa kütükte çalıştı.

Darülfünun’da okudu; ünlü tarihçimiz Ahmet Refik’in (Altınay) asistanıydı. Ahmet Refik üniversiteden uzaklaştırılınca yeni gelen zümreyle tabiatlarının uyuşamadığı söylenir, doğrudur. Edip tarihçinin üslubu ve merakları dönemin tarihçileriyle uyumlu değildi. Lisede öğretmenliğe geçti. Vefa Lisesi’nde tarih öğretmeniydi. O dönemin gazetelerinin tarih ve edebiyat öğretimi gibi bir işlevi de vardı.

Reşat Ekrem bey Babıali’nin ünlü simalarından biri haline geldi. Bu imparatorluğun sadece padişahlarını, vezirlerini ve yüksek ricalini değil; esnafını, serserisini hatta hırsız ve fahişesini dahi merak etti. Hem de sırf 16’ncı asırdakiler değil; yaşadığı çağdakileri bile defter etti. 1950’li yılların insan manzaraları bugün için bulunmaz bir tarihi manzara; hem de Türk tarihinin akışı içindeki en ilginç tipler. Ansiklopedinin yazarları içinde Semavi Eyice hoca, Kevork Pamukçuyan gibi muhteremler var.

Hiçbir şehrin nüfus kütüğü İstanbul kadar ilginç olamaz

Ömrü boyunca bir İstanbul Ansiklopedisi meydana getirmek için didindi. Hiçbir şehrin kütüğü bu kadar ilginç olamaz. Büyük abideler yanında küçükleri, mezar taşları, güzel sokaklar, önemsiz sokaklar, ekabir ve zenginlerin yanı başında fakirler, haneberduşlar bir arada. Marjinal insanın hakkındaki kayıtlar ilk defa onun tarafından mahkeme kayıtlarından çıkartıldı, yetmedi; bazı polislerin özel defteri bile ele geçirilip bakıldı. Bunu gerçi bir Alman ve Fransız şehir tarihçisi de yapabilir, o daha fazlasını yaptı. O muhitlerdeki halk şairlerinin destanlarını ve şiirlerini topladı, hatta dedikodulara başvurdu. Üsküdarlı Razi veya Vasıf gibilerini bize tanıttı.

Bir gün Kumkapı’da bir meyhanede bir kocaman zarf unutmuş. Zarfı bulup getiren çocuk (Erhan Eskici) bugün artık rastlamadığımız bir tip, sokakta gazete satanlardan; getirdiği zarf tamamıyla “K” maddesiymiş. Sevinen üstat bu mühim dosyayı bulup muhafaza eden ve kendine kadar getiren küçüğün ismini büyük şehrin kütüğüne kaydediyor. Sonraki yıllarda da Almanya’ya işçi olarak gittiğini ilave ediyor.

Bilinen dedikodunun aksine üstadın ansiklopedisi yarım kalmadı, tamamdı;

“K” maddesi de hazırdı, başka maddeler de. Sevgili Murat Bardakçı’nın pazartesi günkü yazısında hüzünlü bir tasvirle belirttiği gibi “Para istemez, yeter ki şunu kaybolmadan basın” diye çaldığı kapılardan ret cevabı geldiği için ansiklopedi G’ye kadar basılabilmiş.

Murat Bardakçı’nın ikazları mutlaka göz önüne alınmalı

11 cildin hepsini tek tek okumuştum. Basılı olsa öbür ciltleri de okurdum. Şahsen çok şey öğrendiğim ve yeni alanlara yöneldiğim bir eserdir; herkes için bu geçerlidir. Reşad Ekrem Koçu eşi bulunmaz bir tarihçi tipidir. Dar bilgili veya amatör değildir, yazdıklarına da güvenilir. Hiç kuşkusuz hata yapmak veya noksanı olmak bütün tarihçilere özgüdür.

Murat Bardakçı’nın ikazını göze alınız. Basılamayan koliler bir akraba kalabalığının elinden birilerine geçmiş. Boğaz’ın en eski yalısı olan Amcazade Yalısı gibi Reşad Ekrem’in ansiklopedisini de veresesinin elinden kurtarmak dert olmalıdır. Bu gibi haller için hükümetin kanun dahilinde müdahaleci tedbirler alması şarttır.

Şimdi ise Murat’ın bahsettiği bir başka kalabalık var; her işten anlayanlar (!) ve iş bitiriciler... Bunlar eseri basması söz konusu olan kurumdan para koparmak için güya değişiklikler yaparlar. Bazısı üstelik alimane cevherler yumurtlar, dili ve üslubu değiştirir, olur olmaz resimler koyar. Oysa Reşat Ekrem mesela fotoğraf pek sevmezdi. Sabiha Bozcalı gibi ressamlara ve rölövelere müracaat etmişti. Redaksiyon heyetinin gerçekten ciddi ve iş bilir adamlar olması gerekir.

Görelim bakalım, üstadın köşelere tıkılıp kalan dosyalarını bunca yıldan sonra toparlayıp basabilecek miyiz? Bunun başarıldığını görürsek İstanbul için umutlarımız tazelenir.

[1] İlber Ortaylı born 21 May 1947) is a Turkish historian and professor of history of Crimean Tatar origin[1][2] at the MEF University, Galatasaray University in Istanbul and at Bilkent University in Ankara. In 2005, he was appointed as the director of the Topkapı Museum in Istanbul, until he retired in 2012.

İlber Ortaylı born 21 May 1947) is a Turkish historian and professor of history of Crimean Tatar origin  at the MEF University, Galatasaray University in Istanbul and at Bilkent University in Ankara. In 2005, he was appointed as the director of the Topkapı Museum in Istanbul, until he retired in 2012.