ATA members ‘step back in time’ at National Archives
TWENTY members of the Anglo Turkish Association (ATA) stepped “back in time” when they visited the National Archives in Girne on Wednesday.
The multinational group was shown round by assistant manager Ebru Bayazıtoğlu, who explained that the original archive centre had been set up in Lefkoşa in 1971, moving to Girne in 1975. The original building, once a private house, is now the administration centre and the complex now has four buildings, including a custom-built exhibition centre, set in extensive, mature gardens.
Archiving standards were upgraded in 2011 and the collection, which includes Ottoman texts, papers from the British Colonial era, Cypriot newspapers, official documents, maps and photographs, is now housed in 10km-worth of specially designed storage cabinets across 24 rooms. The oldest Ottoman exhibits are kept in climate-controlled conditions.
The group were fascinated to be shown sultan’s firmans (decrees), colonial birth certificates and early survey maps of Cyprus, some stored in a special cabinet that the ATA donated in 2003 to preserve the famous Kitchener map of Cyprus.
One member, Olcay Akdeniz, was delighted to see a particular framed picture, explaining: “My grandfather arrested these three; they were famous bandits.”
Several of the group, which rounded off the visit with a traditional Turkish Cypriot lunch, expressed interest in returning. Elizabeth MacLeod said she wanted to take her daughter along because “there is so much history here”.
The National Archives and its reading room are open to the public during government working hours on production of photographic identification. Items cannot be borrowed but digital copies can be made.