Turkey collects historical records from 45 countries

Turkey inked cooperation protocols with 45 countries for mutual share of archived data, the head of Turkish state archives said on Thursday.

“We have signed cooperation protocols with 45 countries from different parts of the world to date to interchange data between the archives,” Ugur Unal told Anadolu Agency.

Unal said the efforts aimed at enriching Turkey with the historical memory abroad. “Turkish archives have an important place in the world.”

“[…] the power Turkey gained in the last years both in the political and economic aspects [in the Balkans] has made our work easier in record keeping,” he said.

Turkey is able to bring records related to its history from the Balkans today, Unal added.

Stating that the international cooperation efforts have gained momentum in the recent years, Unal said all of the documents bear great importance.

Some 700,000 digital images of documents were added to Turkish archives from countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Albania, and Serbia, according to the official.

“As part of the project completed in North Macedonia, images of 130,000 documents, which are directly related to the Turkish history, were obtained,” he said.

On a large number of documents which would shed light on economic, social, and cultural issues, Unal said: “What we need to do is to collect this historical memory and transfer it to next generations.”

He highlighted that Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and Foreign Ministry showed great support for the projects.

The countries which signed cooperation protocol with Turkey include Albania, Azerbaijan, Bahrein, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Algeria, China, Ethiopia, Morocco, Palestine, Georgia, Croatia, India, Iran, Italy, Montenegro, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Kosovo, Kuwait, Libya, Lebanon, Hungary, North Macedonia, Egypt, Moldova, Oman, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Sudan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Tatarstan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Jordan, and Yemen.