Sivas Memory Center returns 113-year-old wartime letters to families

The Sivas Memory Center, operating under the Sivas Governor's Office, has successfully identified and returned historical letters dating back 113 years to the families of soldiers captured during the Balkan Wars and World War I.

Through meticulous research in the Turkish Red Crescent Archives, researchers Yaşar Abanus, Ömer Gül, and Turgay Kural uncovered approximately 180 letters belonging to Sivaslı soldiers or their families. The team used population records and cemetery investigations to track down living descendants.

The first letter delivered was written in 1913 by Hacı Halil Efendi, who was inquiring about the fate of his son, Gazi Mehmed, after he was taken prisoner. Sivas Governor Yılmaz Şimşek personally delivered the century-old document to Gazi Mehmed’s surviving children, who are aged 103, 90, and 84. The project aims to reconnect families with their lost wartime histories, and the discovered letters have been compiled into a book.