Experts working for the restoration and digitalization of 140 thousand population registers containing 110 years of information of the citizens of the Republic of Turkey carry the "population memory" of the Turkish nation to future generations.
There are approximately 110 thousand population registers and 500 million population base documents in the Turkish Population Archive under the General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs under our Ministry.
The Digital Archive Project is being carried out in order to protect and save archive documents that have become worn out and damaged due to continuous use due to disasters such as fire, earthquake and flood.
29 restorers on duty here repair documents that have worn out over the years and need restoration. The repaired documents are then digitized. To date, approximately 470 million documents have been digitized.
Emin Kutluğ, Director of Archives Department of the General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs, said that there are millions of documents containing information such as identity, residence, family ties of the citizens of the Republic of Turkey from past to present in the archive warehouses of the General Directorate.
Pointing out the importance of preserving this archive and transferring it to future generations, Branch Manager Emin Kutluğ said, “Our archive contains legal documents that we call live recordings. So much so that when any record is lost, all legal and financial rights of that person are lost. Therefore, these documents should be kept very carefully.” said.
“Documents Are Both Restored and Bound”
Kutluğ stated that some of the single-copy identity documents have worn out and become damaged over the years and said, “These books and documents are first evaluated and combined in our classification group. Those who need restoration are forwarded to the restoration unit.” he said.
Documents Carry Records of 142 Years
Branch Manager Emin Kutluğ, who stated that the documents contain information covering 81 years on the inhabitants of 142 provinces, said, “The oldest of our population registers belongs to 1881. In 1881, the female population was registered and included in the census for the first time.” gave the information.
Branch Manager Emin Kutluğ explained that the identity documents that had worn out over the years were meticulously repaired by the restorers after they were classified by experts and continued as follows:
“We have completed the restoration of 1,5 million pages of documents so far. About 110 thousand of the 70 thousand volumes of population registers need restoration. Both the restoration and digital shooting of 40 thousand of our notebooks, which have been slightly damaged to date, have been completed. We are working to complete the classification and restoration of the remaining 70 notebooks as soon as possible and to convert them into digital archives as soon as possible.”
“Notebooks Will Be Saved From Wearing Out”
Saying that the information transferred to the digital environment will be easier to access and that the relevant document will not be required to be used again and again, Kutluğ said, “Within the scope of the e-Government application, images of these will be sent to the relevant places. Thus, our experts will only carry out their transactions at the computer and the ledgers will be saved from wear and tear.” used his statements.
Branch Manager Emin Kutluğ said, “The Turkish Population Archive is Turkey's national memory. We are working to preserve this memory and transfer it to future generations.” said.
Special Adhesives and Chemicals are Used
Restorer Gülsüm Özkan said that the documents came to them after they were classified in the classification section and said:
“In the restoration works, we first look at the general condition of the documents and start the cleaning works. If there are curled or torn documents, we continue with the first recovery phase. After performing the cleaning phase with brushes and erasers suitable for the paper, we carry out the strengthening works by using special adhesives and chemicals suitable for the paper.”
Restorator Gülsüm Özkan stated that they are also working on documents that became unreadable because they were deformed in the restoration department and continued as follows:
“We use special chemical solutions in order to strengthen the documents that are unreadable, and we provide the opening of the pages and the corrections on them. Then, we apply special processes such as finishing and gluing with acid-free papers on the missing and torn parts.”
“It Is Sustainable For At Least 100-150 Years”
Stating that the documents are sent to the digital archive section after the restoration works are completed, Restorator Gülsüm Özkan said, “The documents scanned in the digital archive are then sent to the binding section for binding. Documents bound there are put in archive sections in special boxes for later archiving.” he said.
Restorer Gülsüm Özkan pointed out that the restoration processes ensure the preservation of documents as well as their repair and said, “In the digital archive section, the documents transferred to the digital environment can be accessed indefinitely. We have special archive rooms where the originals of the documents are kept. Since the documents in these areas are kept under special conditions, their sustainability is ensured for at least 100-150 years.” said.
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