Mustafa Olpak

Mustafa Olpak (October 1953 in Ayvalık[1]) is an Afro-Turkish writer and activist. His book Kenya-Girit-İstanbul: Köle Kıyısından İnsan Biyografileri has been compared to Alex Haley's Roots.[1]

Contents

Biography

Olpak's ancestors, of Kikuyu ethnicity from today's Kenya,[2] were enslaved around the year 1890, brought to Crete and sold in Rethymno. Following the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the family settled in Ayvalık.[3] Olpak married a Turkish woman named Sevgi in İzmir after his military service.[4]

In 2006, Olpak founded the first officially recognised organisation of Afro-Turks, the Africans' Culture and Solidarity Society (Afrikalılar Kültür ve Dayanışma Derneği) in Ayvalık.[5] The opening ceremony was attended by Ali Moussa Iye, the Chief of UNESCO Slave Routes Project.[6][7] A principal aim of the association is to promote studies of oral history of Afro-Turks, a community history of whom was usually ignored by official historiography in Turkey.

The Turkish film Arap Kızı Camdan Bakıyor[8] (Baa Baa Black Girl)[9] discusses how his grandfather was purchased as a household slave by a Turkish family, but later moved to Istanbul after the Turkish Revolution.[10]

Bibliography

Filmography

Notes

  1. ^ a b Köklerini araştıran adam Mustafa Olpak, Hürriyet, 17 January 2005, retrieved 25 January 2009
  2. ^ Afrika'nın kapıları İzmir'e açılıyor, Yeni Asır, 21 November 2008, retrieved 25 January 2009
  3. ^ Şu bizim kara Afrikalılar, Taraf, 20 May 2008, retrieved 25 January 2009
  4. ^ Mustafa Olpak, Kenya-Girit-İstanbul: Köle Kıyısından İnsan Biyografileri, pp. 137-138, İstanbul, Ozan Yayıncılık, 2005 ISBN 975789180-0
  5. ^ Turks with African ancestors want their existence to be felt, Today's Zaman, 11 May 2008, Sunday, retrieved 28 August 2008
  6. ^ Mustafa Olpak’ın Kurduğu Dernek, UNESCO’nun Da Dikkatini Çekti: Hayallerinin ötesine geçti
  7. ^ Slave route project, no. 4; The Slave Route newsletter; Vol.:4; 2007
  8. ^ Kameradan Köleliğin Tarihine Bakış, retrieved 5 February 2009
  9. ^ ‘Breaking The Chains’ Prize, Zanzibar International Film Festival, July 5, 2007, retrieved 28 August 2008
  10. ^ Zanzibar Film Festival: Dealing with the Gruesome History of Slavery, retrieved 28 August 2008
  11. ^ Afrikalılar ve Kölelik, Emeğin Kurtuluşu, 20 July 2007, retrieved 8 March 2009
  12. ^ Gül Muyan retrieved 16 March 2011
  13. ^ Arap Kızı Camdan Bakıyor, retrieved 16 March 2011
  14. ^ 7. Alanya Belgesel Film Günleri Başlıyor, retrieved 5 February 2009

External links