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Mustafa Olpak (October 1953 in Ayvalik
Ayvalik

Ayvalik is a seaside town on the northwestern Aegean Sea coast of Turkey. It is a district of the Balikesir Province. It was alternatively called by the town's formerly important Greek people population, although the use of the name Ayvalik was widespread for centuries among both the Turkish people and the Greeks ....
) is an Afro-Turkish
Afro-Turks

Afro-Turks, African Turks, or Turkish Africans are people of African people in Turkey. "Afro-Turk" is a neologism; they have been colloquially named as Arap in Turkish language, and are now also referred to as Afrika k?kenli T?rkler....
 writer and activist. His book Kenya-Girit-Istanbul: Köle Kiyisindan Insan Biyografileri has been compared to Alex Haley
Alex Haley

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was an United States writer. He is best known as the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and The Autobiography of Malcolm X ....
's Roots
Roots: The Saga of an American Family

Roots: The Saga of an American Family is a novel written by Alex Haley and first published in 1976. It was adapted into a hugely popular, 12-hour television miniseries, also called Roots , in 1977, and a 14-hour sequel, Roots: The Next Generations, in 1979....
.

Biography
Olpak's ancestors, of Kikuyu
Kikuyu

The Kikuyu are Kenya's most populous ethnic group. 'Kikuyu' is the anglicised form of the proper name and pronunciation of Gikuyu although they refer to themselves as the Agikuyu people....
 ethnicity from today's Kenya
Kenya

The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the northeast, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, and Sudan to the northwest, with the Indian Ocean running along the southeast border....
, were enslaved around the year 1890, brought to Crete
Crete

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the List of islands in the Mediterranean largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km? ....
 and sold in Rethymno
Rethymno

Rethymno , a city of approximately 40,000 people, is the capital of Rethymno Prefecture in the island of Crete. It was built in antiquity , even though was never a competitive Minoan center....
. Following the population exchange between Greece and Turkey
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey

The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey is the first large-scale Population transfer, or agreed mutual expulsion in the 20th century....
, the family settled in Ayvalik. Olpak married a white
White people

White people is a term which is usually used to refer to Human characterized, at least in part, by the light Human skin color. It often refers narrowly to people claiming ancestry exclusively from Europe....
 girl named Sevgi in Izmir
Izmir

Izmir, also once called Smyrna, is Turkey's third most populous city and the country's largest port after Istanbul. It is located along the outlying waters of the Gulf of Izmir, by the Aegean Sea....
 after his military service
Conscription in Turkey

In Turkey, compulsory military service applies to all male citizens from twenty to forty one years of age. Those who are engaged in higher education or vocational training programs prior to their military drafting are allowed to delay service until they have completed the programs or reach a certain age....
.

In 2006, Olpak founded the first officially recognised organisation of Afro-Turks, the Africans' Culture and Solidarity Society (Afrikalilar Kültür ve Dayanisma Dernegi) in Ayvalik.






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Mustafa Olpak (October 1953 in Ayvalik
Ayvalik

Ayvalik is a seaside town on the northwestern Aegean Sea coast of Turkey. It is a district of the Balikesir Province. It was alternatively called by the town's formerly important Greek people population, although the use of the name Ayvalik was widespread for centuries among both the Turkish people and the Greeks ....
) is an Afro-Turkish
Afro-Turks

Afro-Turks, African Turks, or Turkish Africans are people of African people in Turkey. "Afro-Turk" is a neologism; they have been colloquially named as Arap in Turkish language, and are now also referred to as Afrika k?kenli T?rkler....
 writer and activist. His book Kenya-Girit-Istanbul: Köle Kiyisindan Insan Biyografileri has been compared to Alex Haley
Alex Haley

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was an United States writer. He is best known as the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and The Autobiography of Malcolm X ....
's Roots
Roots: The Saga of an American Family

Roots: The Saga of an American Family is a novel written by Alex Haley and first published in 1976. It was adapted into a hugely popular, 12-hour television miniseries, also called Roots , in 1977, and a 14-hour sequel, Roots: The Next Generations, in 1979....
.

Biography


Olpak's ancestors, of Kikuyu
Kikuyu

The Kikuyu are Kenya's most populous ethnic group. 'Kikuyu' is the anglicised form of the proper name and pronunciation of Gikuyu although they refer to themselves as the Agikuyu people....
 ethnicity from today's Kenya
Kenya

The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the northeast, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, and Sudan to the northwest, with the Indian Ocean running along the southeast border....
, were enslaved around the year 1890, brought to Crete
Crete

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the List of islands in the Mediterranean largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km? ....
 and sold in Rethymno
Rethymno

Rethymno , a city of approximately 40,000 people, is the capital of Rethymno Prefecture in the island of Crete. It was built in antiquity , even though was never a competitive Minoan center....
. Following the population exchange between Greece and Turkey
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey

The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey is the first large-scale Population transfer, or agreed mutual expulsion in the 20th century....
, the family settled in Ayvalik. Olpak married a white
White people

White people is a term which is usually used to refer to Human characterized, at least in part, by the light Human skin color. It often refers narrowly to people claiming ancestry exclusively from Europe....
 girl named Sevgi in Izmir
Izmir

Izmir, also once called Smyrna, is Turkey's third most populous city and the country's largest port after Istanbul. It is located along the outlying waters of the Gulf of Izmir, by the Aegean Sea....
 after his military service
Conscription in Turkey

In Turkey, compulsory military service applies to all male citizens from twenty to forty one years of age. Those who are engaged in higher education or vocational training programs prior to their military drafting are allowed to delay service until they have completed the programs or reach a certain age....
.

In 2006, Olpak founded the first officially recognised organisation of Afro-Turks, the Africans' Culture and Solidarity Society (Afrikalilar Kültür ve Dayanisma Dernegi) in Ayvalik. The opening ceremony was attended by Ali Moussa Iye, the Chief of UNESCO
UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945....
 Slave Routes Project . A principal aim of the association is to promote studies of oral history
Oral history

Oral history can be defined as the recording, preservation and interpretation of history, based on the personal experiences and opinions of the speaker....
 of Afro-Turks, a community history of whom was usually ignored by official historiography in Turkey.

The Turkish film Arap Kizi Camdan Bakiyor (Baa Baa Black Girl) discusses how his grandfather was purchased as a household slave by a Turkish family, but later moved to Istanbul
Istanbul

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population, and List of cities proper by population in the world with a population of 12.6 million....
 after the Turkish Revolution
Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
.

Bibliography

  • Taris Direnisleri ve 12 Eylül (Taris Resistances and 12th September), with Sevgi Olpak
  • Kölelikten Özgürlüge: Arap Kadin Kemale (From Slavery to Freedom: "Arab" Woman Kemale) 2002
  • Kenya-Girit-Istanbul: Köle Kiyisindan Insan Biyografileri (Kenya-Crete-Istanbul: Human Biographies from the Slave Coast), Istanbul, Ozan Yayincilik, 2005 ISBN 975789180-0
    • , Paris, Librairie Özgül, 2006 ISBN 978-2910901028


Filmography

  • Arap Kizi Camdan Bakiyor (Baa Baa Black Girl), Director: Gül Muyan, Narrator: Mustafa Olpak, 46', 2007, Turkey


External links

Website of the Afro-Turks' association in Ayvalik , Today's Zaman
Today's Zaman

Today's Zaman is one of two major English-language daily newspapers circulating in Turkey. Established on January 16 2007, it is the third English-language daily newspaper in Turkey and its main competitor is the Turkish Daily News....
, 25 June 2008