KENAN YAVUZ ETHNOGRAPHY MUSEUM

I am Kenan Yavuz, the founder of the museum. I was born in these lands in December 1959, I lived my youth in these lands. I worked as a shepherd and farmer. Now, in this area where the museum is located, I mowed the scythe and tied the vineyard with my grandfather and father. I worked by eating the ayran soup made by my mother and the kete made by my grandmother.

Like every child, my dream was to get away from this village!

There was no electricity, no water…

Production capabilities were self-sufficient and independent of cities. But we were poor…

Migration was inevitable…

The process of migration from village to city began in the 1960s. Millions of people left Anatolia both domestically and abroad. The technological revolution that has taken place since the 2000s has completely destroyed young people’s desire to live in the village.

We also left our village in 1982….

However, our hearts remained in these lands, we never left our village.

Roads came, water came, electricity came, the level of economic welfare increased, but MIGRATION never slowed down…

The decreasing and aging population brought about a rupture between the village and the city.

Our mansions, village houses, rugs, fairy tales, melodies, in short, our history and cultural heritage were disappearing.

Something had to be done, a resistance, something to tell people that this transformation was wrong…

We started with the story of our family… our story met with the story of all the families of Anatolia, and turned into the story of Bayburt and then of Anatolia…

It was my childhood dream to pay my debt to my land.

This museum you will visit is “a story of appropriation”…

It is the project of turning longing into reunion.

Societies that lose their ties with their roots lose their ability to be a nation and suffer from “social Alzheimer’s” disease. The main purpose of our museum is; Our aim is to carry our unforgettable beauties to the present and the future by establishing the time-space relationship. To raise awareness in order to have a sustainable and healthy ecosystem, to raise awareness by drawing attention to the main reasons that create the “food supply security” problem that humanity will experience much more severely in the future, and to raise awareness on the socio-economic issues that are experienced. While bringing economic and socio-cultural issues to our country’s agenda, our main mission is to lead the economic developments around us and bring production talents together with the market.

We had the honor of receiving this work, which we started with an amateur spirit, from our esteemed President, reaching the top of Europe and receiving the 2021 European Museum of the Year award, the European Union Cultural Heritage Award in 2022, and the special award of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey in 2023.

Welcome…