[CLSTR]
< Back to situations

Monitor this situation.

[SITUATION] · [QUIET] · [CULTURE]

18 clusters · 40 sources · 56 days · First seen · Last updated

Preservation of traditional Turkish and regional crafts

Overview

Efforts to preserve traditional Turkish crafts and archaeological legacies are being led by veteran practitioners and new entrepreneurs. In Eskişehir, jeweler Hüseyin Altay maintains the Sivrihisar cebesi gold weaving tradition, noting its resistance to modern technology. Other long-standing trades include Mehmet Erdek’s excavation work in Çorum, Mehmet Başaran’s wooden clog making in Gaziantep, and Ali Karakaranfil’s tin plating in Tokat. In Manisa, 92-year-old Mehmet Ali Ağaçcı continues saddle making, while in Kilis, artisans Ahmet and Adil Özuslu maintain yemenicilik leather footwear craft.

Succession remains a critical challenge. In Mersin, Bahri Çelik fears grave digging may be forgotten as youth seek easier work. In Gaziantep, bag repairer Mehmet Uçar struggles to find apprentices. Similarly, in Burdur, 74-year-old master confectioner Orhan Leblebici notes that while he is passing his sweet-making business to his son, finding apprentices who are not solely focused on immediate earnings is difficult. In Samsun, 68-year-old Yakup Kunt operates an inherited grocery store using antique mechanical devices, such as a hand-cranked calculator and a 1960s mechanical scale, noting his children have not pursued the trade.

New models of continuity and female participation are emerging. In Rize, Ahmet Turan, a visually impaired artisan, has spent nearly fifty years preserving motif weaving. In Düzköy, Nezaket Kara Duman has practiced traditional weaving for 45 years. In Ankara’s Çubuk district, 18-year-old Fatma Sena Karaveli has worked as a welder for six years, while 70-year-old İsmail Demirci has practiced stove making and repair for approximately 50 years, adapting his craft to meet seasonal demand despite the rise of natural gas.

Other preservation efforts include Yaşar Elbir’s handmade kilims, Zekiye Eröz’s cloth dolls, and İrfan Uğurlu’s wooden toys. In Deir ez-Zor, Syria, 19-year-old Hamad Yahya Casım is working to restore the local pottery industry.

Entities

Gaziantep · Kütahya · Ministry of Culture and Tourism · Melih Hızlıkurt · Yakup Kunt

Claims

What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.

Timeline

  1. [CULTURE] 6 sources
    Traditional tradespeople in Turkey preserve ancestral crafts

    Artisans in Samsun and Ankara, Turkey, are preserving traditional family trades, such as grocery vending with antique mechanical tools and stove manufacturing, despite modern competition.

  2. [CULTURE] 2 sources
    Women in Turkey preserve traditional crafts and enter industrial trades

    Turkish women are preserving heritage and challenging norms through traditional weaving and industrial welding.

  3. [CULTURE] 4 sources
    Ahmet Turan preserves weaving craft in Rize despite visual impairment

    Visually impaired artisan Ahmet Turan has spent nearly 50 years weaving intricate carpet motifs in Rize, Turkey, by counting stitches with his fingertips.

  4. [CULTURE] 2 sources
    Veysel Karaşın preserves traditional weaving in Buldan

    Craftsman Veysel Karaşın uses a century-old handloom in Buldan, Turkey, to preserve traditional pre-1951 weaving techniques and cultural heritage.

  5. [CULTURE] 2 sources
    Turkish artisans preserve cultural heritage through traditional crafts

    Turkish artisans are preserving intangible cultural heritage by creating traditional cloth dolls in Kütahya and producing natural, handmade wooden toys to pass crafts to future generations.

  6. [CULTURE] 6 sources
    Yaşar Elbir preserves traditional kilim weaving in Gaziantep

    84-year-old master weaver Yaşar Elbir preserves the traditional art of hand-weaving kilims in a small Gaziantep workshop, exporting his unique designs to the US and Europe.

  7. [CULTURE] 2 sources
    Traditional crafts face continuity challenges in Turkey and Syria

    Traditional artisans in Turkey and Syria are working to preserve cultural heritage through confectionery and pottery, despite challenges in attracting younger generations to manual trades.

  8. [CULTURE] 6 sources
    Gaziantep artisans recycle Kutnu fabric scraps into handmade goods

    Artisan Dilara Sayın is recycling small scraps of traditional Kutnu fabric in Gaziantep to create handmade bags, wallets, and clothing, helping preserve the local craft.

  9. [CULTURE] 2 sources
    Gaziantep craftsman preserves leatherworking tradition with daughter

    Ekrem Yılmaz, a craftsman in Gaziantep, is preserving the traditional leatherworking trade by training his daughter in the family business, which exports goods to Turkey and Arab nations.

  10. [CULTURE] 3 sources
    Living Heritage Festival showcases traditional Turkish arts

    The Living Heritage Festival in Turkey showcased traditional crafts, including tile-decorated TOGG vehicles in Kütahya and ebru paper marbling demonstrations in Bilecik.

  11. [CULTURE] 12 sources
    Traditional trades face decline as Turkish youth seek new paths

    Turkish workers in Mersin and Gaziantep struggle to preserve traditional family trades, such as grave digging and bag repair, amid a shortage of young apprentices interested in manual crafts.

  12. [CULTURE] 5 sources
    Bursa saddler exports traditional handmade crafts to 10 countries

    Bursa-based master saddler Melih Hızlıkurt is preserving his family's traditional craft by exporting handmade leather goods to 10 countries via a new digital platform.

  13. [CULTURE] 2 sources
    Kilis artisans preserve traditional handmade leather footwear craft

    Traditional leather footwear artisans in Kilis, Turkey, struggle to pass down the manual craft of yemenicilik to younger generations.

  14. [CULTURE] 4 sources
    Artisans in Turkey preserve traditional crafts and local economies

    Artisans in Turkey are sustaining local traditions and economies through saddle making in Manisa and furniture restoration in Düzce.

  15. [CULTURE] 3 sources
    Ali Karakaranfil preserves traditional tin plating craft in Tokat

    An 80-year-old craftsman in Tokat, Turkey, has spent 70 years practicing the traditional art of tin plating to preserve the fading trade.

  16. [CULTURE] 3 sources
    Traditional artisans preserve heritage crafts in Turkey

    Traditional artisans in Turkey are preserving heritage crafts, from 82-year-old shoe repairer Memiş Ergin in Aksaray to weaver Ergül Küçüksipahioğlu in Kastamonu.

  17. [CULTURE] 4 sources
    Traditional Turkish crafts and archaeological legacies preserved by veteran masters

    Veteran craftsmen in Turkey are preserving cultural heritage, from 51 years of archaeological excavation at Hattuşa to the traditional hand-making of wooden clogs in Gaziantep.

  18. [CULTURE] 8 sources
    Sivrihisar cebesi: Preserving a 1,600-year-old gold weaving tradition

    Jeweler Hüseyin Altay is preserving the 1,600-year-old Sivrihisar cebesi tradition in Turkey, a handmade gold weaving art once used for armor that now produces jewelry valued up to 1 million Liras.

Sources

61saat.com · aksam.com.tr · aksiyon.com.tr · avrupagazete.co.uk · bursahakimiyet.com.tr · bursatv.com.tr · corumhakimiyet.net · cukurovagazetesi.com · dunya.com · ekonomist.com.tr · finans.mynet.com · gazetearena.com · gazetedamga.com.tr · gazeteekspres.com · gazeterize.com · gazeteyenisoz.com · gzt.com · haber16.com · haber3.com · haber7.com · haberdenizli.com · haberport.com · haberts.com · ilkhaber-gazetesi.com · karsmanset.com · kutahyaekspres.com · m.haber7.com · marasbugun.com.tr · medyagazete.com · merhabahaber.com · mersinhaber.com · milligazete.com.tr · saintsinner.com · sesimizgazetesi.com · sonbasin.com · sondakika.com · takagazete.com.tr · vanhabergazetesi.com · wanhaber.com · yenicaggazetesi.com.tr

This summary has been updated 16 times: see revision history