Mustafa Olpak (October 1953 in Ayvalık[1] - 4 October 2016 in İzmir) was an Afro-Turkish writer and activist. His book Kenya-Girit-İstanbul: Köle Kıyısından İnsan Biyografileri has been compared to Alex Haley's Roots.[1]

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] ("The Arab Girl Looks from the Window," released with the English title of 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

  • Tariş Direnişleri ve 12 Eylül (Tariş Resistances and 12 September), with Sevgi Olpak[11]
  • Kölelikten Özgürlüğe: Arap Kadın Kemale (From Slavery to Freedom: "Arab" Woman Kemale) 2002
  • Kenya-Girit-İstanbul: Köle Kıyısından İnsan Biyografileri (Kenya-Crete-İstanbul: Human Biographies from the Slave Coast), İstanbul, Ozan Yayıncılık, 2005 ISBN 975-7891-80-0

Filmography

  • Arap Kızı Camdan Bakıyor ("The Arab Girl Looks from the Window," released in English as Baa Baa Black Girl), Director:,[12] Narrator: Mustafa Olpak,[13] 46', 2007, Turkey[14]

Notes

  1. 1 2 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 Archived 17 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  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 975-7891-80-0
  5. ↑ Turks with African ancestors want their existence to be felt, Today's Zaman, 11 May 2008, Sunday, retrieved 28 August 2008 Archived 14 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ "Mustafa Olpak'ın Kurduğu Dernek, UNESCO'nun Da Dikkatini Çekti: Hayallerinin ötesine geçti". Archived from the original on 2009-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-28.
  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". Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. 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". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  13. ↑ "Arap Kızı Camdan Bakıyor, retrieved 16 March 2011". Archived from the original on 18 March 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  14. ↑ 7. Alanya Belgesel Film Günleri Başlıyor, retrieved 5 February 2009
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