Ceremony for the Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum gathers 1,000 people in Izmir, Türkiye

The ceremony for the Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum, winner of a Europa Nostra Award 2022 in the category of Citizens’ Engagement and Awareness-Raising, took place on 1 February 2025 at the Ahmed Adnan Saygun Arts Centre in Izmir, Türkiye. The festive event brought together 1,000 people, including culture and heritage stakeholders, politicians, scientists and journalists.

Founded in 2012, the Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum aims to preserve and revive the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Bayburt and Anatolia by providing interactive experiences to its visitors that are designed and delivered in collaboration with the local community.

On behalf of both Europa Nostra and its Heritage Hub in Athens, Lydia Carras, President of the ELLINIKI ETAIRIA – Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage (ELLET), addressed the audience.

“We are all very impressed not only with the museum and its history, but also with all its programmes involving the people of the wider area, making the new generations aware of the value of heritage. We are also very impressed with the effort to revive the history and the names of villages of other nationalities like Armenians and Roum-Greeks who lived for many centuries in the region,” she stated.

Lydia Carras underlined the core values of Europa Nostra and its members: “In Europa Nostra we do believe that a real effort must be made by all of us to keep our memory alive, through proper history teaching based on the vital principle of multiperspectivity, as it will protect all of us from repeating the mistakes of the past. We also believe that the protection of cultural heritage and the environment is vital for the protection and the well-being of all peoples. It gives joy to all generations, it provides protection against climate crisis, it gives meaning to our lives. It is also a source of economic wealth especially thanks to cultural tourism.”

Concluding her speech, she reminded that ELLET has worked many times for the protection of Ottoman monuments in Greece and said: “Let us all unite in our shared noble cause and let us make the good use of our shared cultural heritage – tangible and intangible – for the benefit of us all. Let the cultural heritage of all countries be precious to us all.”

 

Meeting with cultural heritage stakeholders in Izmir, Turkiye

In the morning of the same day, Europa Nostra Turkey, which participates in the Europa Nostra Heritage Hub in Athens, gave the opportunity to groups and cultural organisations of the region to present their work to the representatives of the Athens Hub, namely Lydia Carras and Eleni Maistrou, Scientific Coordinator of the Athens Hub and Professor Emeritus of NTUA. Eleni Maistrou presented the objectives of the Athens Hub, which coordinates and brings together cultural heritage and environmental organisations in Southeastern Europe, Turkey and the Caucasus (Armenia and Georgia).

New and past projects aiming at the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage – tangible and intangible – were presented, offering scope for important cross-border cooperation.