Traces of our work.
Year by year.

The AYEV library developed as a resource for local research at Ayvalık Evi in Parmak Çeşme. A press visit in February 2020 documents the sharing of history and archaeology sources with researchers. Donated books, journals and material on Ayvalık formed a shared collection. Later AYEV posts record further additions to the library.

We encourage young people to investigate the city they live in. AYEV’s educational work includes supporting secondary school students as they turn a local question into a project idea, search for sources and prepare applications. Heritage, science and art provide starting points for their work. Erasmus+ preparations build on this local learning experience.

Hasan Sercan Sağlam authored the fourth book in Ayvalık Municipality's Cultural Publications series. Berrin Akın Akbüber edited it; Taylan Köken and Turgut Baygın contributed to preparation for publication. Drawing on archival records, trade yearbooks and consular reports, the book examines production from the early 1800s to the 1940s, connecting olive oil, soap and leather manufacturing with the city's development.

A joint AYEV and Atölye Ayvada announcement brought Kemal Anadol’s Hoşça Kal Midilli to the programme, guided by Kenan Mortan. The announced discussion concerned İzzet Kapakçı’s story, Lesvos and documentary approaches to fiction. Literature provided a way to approach the two shores of the Aegean.

Sociologist Şükrü Bilgiç addressed the effects and social consequences of substance use. The programme included addiction, prevention, treatment and recovery. Professional experience was shared with participants to support public awareness.

Zehra Esra Balkan explored the changing story of time through clocks. The conversation considered clock towers and their connections with sultans and Istanbul. An everyday object became a starting point for reading the history and culture of the region.

Özlem Abut Otluoğlu joined the programme for a shared reading of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The session explored close reading and the construction beneath a story. It formed part of the association’s encounters devoted to less immediately visible layers of a novel.

Forest engineer Vehbi Tutmaz drew on field experience to discuss causes of fires and common misconceptions about prevention. The conversation considered protective actions citizens should know and questions about firefighting. Concrete questions connected the discussion with responsibility for Ayvalık’s natural environment.

History writer Önder Kaya shared his research and observations on Mount Athos. Monastic life, the Middle Ages, religious history and liturgy were among the subjects discussed. First-hand experience of the region was considered alongside historical research.

Murat Solmaz joined AYEV with his encyclopaedia bringing together research on Dikili. The book presentation and signing drew attention to historical connections between Dikili and Ayvalık. Taylan Köken and Turgut Baygın contributed to the preparation of this sixth book from Ayvada Publications.

Mustafa Koç’s announced presentation followed performing traditions from shadow theatre, orta oyunu and meddah storytelling to improvisational theatre. The shift towards modern theatre and early cinema formed its focus. The programme also referred to a lost Muhsin Ertuğrul film and Yakup Kadri’s novel Nur Baba.

Agricultural engineer Aylin Baydar examined common assumptions about agriculture. The discussion covered agricultural products, food and olive-related questions in particular. Knowledge about production in Ayvalık’s everyday life came into conversation with professional experience.

Zehra Esra Balkan and Ufuk Kırca brought archaeology and astronomy into the same conversation. Topics included artificial lighting and the loss of darkness, sky observation and astronomy tourism. Examples from Ayvalık, Turkey and elsewhere offered ways to reconsider our relationship with the natural environment.

Young writer Can Elbir explored the emergence of science fiction and narratives shaped by scientific developments. The discussion considered post-war writing, philosophical currents in art and relationships between science fiction and reality. Welcoming a university student as a speaker also made young people visible as contributors to the city’s cultural conversations.

Arzu Süzmen Yalçınkaya’s book provided the starting point for a discussion of social messages in fashion. The programme considered brands’ political positions, activist messages and relationships with current issues. Fashion, music and literary discussion came together, followed by a book signing.

Özlem Abut Otluoğlu joined AYEV for a close reading of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. The encounter focused on the construction beneath the story. Participants shared an approach to reading closely, recognising less visible layers and considering the structure the author creates.

The Bağımsızlar programme introduced Atölye Ayvada’s story and AYEV’s cultural heritage work. Its published description highlights space for local specialists to share knowledge, contributions to Ayvalık’s cultural life and encounters around shared interests. The programme can be accessed on the broadcaster’s page.

Canan Mamak’s announced presentation approached Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon through its narrative structure. Its subjects included different perspectives on an event, perceptions of reality and connections between Cubist thought and cinematic language. An art history perspective informed the question of how to read the film.

Mustafa Koç shared methods of urban history research through his work on Revnakoğlu’s Istanbul. The discussion considered layers of a city, traces of everyday life and ways to follow memory through sources. Istanbul offered a case through which researchers interested in Ayvalık could discuss their own methods.

Berrin Akın Akbüber and Hakan Dinç revisited the making of Kentli Ayvalık, published in 2004. The conversation focused on architecture, impressions of the city and the relationship between photography and writing. It followed the book’s research journey towards later academic work.

AYEV hosted research encounters with visitors working on Ayvalık. A meeting with Ayşem Ela Kaçel and Apostolis Makaratzis provided an occasion to share their work. Area Management's report from the same period places them in a team investigating the city's historic water system. Visitors from a university in Germany were also introduced to Ayvalık and the association's activities in 2025. On 8 April 2024, Taylan Köken and Berrin Akın Akbüber joined a meeting at Area Management about planned Ayvalık activities for the Learning from Memoryscapes course.

Canan Mamak and Nail Pelivan approached Un Chien Andalou through art history and cinema. A screening was followed by a discussion of Surrealism and the artistic approaches of Buñuel and Dalí. Questions from two disciplines opened the viewing experience to shared interpretation.

Cartoonist Kemal Ürgenç reflected on his relationship with art through his personal journey. The conversation explored humour as a way of reading society and its time, alongside Turkey’s humour magazines. The encounter continued with the artist signing his books.

Aysun Kara spoke about Ayvalık through the traces of childhood, place and geography in her writing. The conversation explored her relationship with the city through her stories and novels. Streets, personal memory and literature were approached through the writer’s experience.

Dr. Suzan Kantarcı Savaş joined the programme to examine common beliefs about olive oil. In a city where olive oil is part of everyday life, the encounter focused on getting to know it more closely. Specialist knowledge met everyday questions arising from local production culture.

Archaeologist Işık Şahin and musician-archaeologist Esra Kayıkçı explored women, music and archaeology through their book. Guided by Berrin Akın Akbüber, the conversation considered research and writing processes. Questions from the audience developed the discussion, followed by a book signing.

Pınar Kür’s Woman to Be Hanged was announced as the subject of an analytical reading with Özlem Abut Otluoğlu. The programme description focused on narrative strategies, character depth and writing techniques. Its starting point was a shared examination of the structure beneath the story.

The announced presentation by Gülbün Tuncel Keçeli introduced glass mosaic and Tiffany stained glass. Topics included glass cutting, copper foiling and soldering. The programme planned an encounter with the artist’s work, design processes and the relationship between glass and light.

An AYEV encounter with poet Turgut Baygın turned towards feelings left by time and personal memory. Poetry offered a shared space for reflecting on the traces of our own lives.

AYEV representative Taylan Köken moderated the Local History Research group at the Ayvalık Industrial Landscape SWOT workshop. Berrin Akın Akbüber served as group secretary. Discussions covered a city archive, places of memory, historical awareness and research needs. Transcripts, notes and recommendations were delivered to Area Management in January 2024 as a contribution to the wider heritage discussion.

Taylan Köken's research compilation, Earthquakes in and around Ayvalık, appears in Area Management's 2024 activity report. It examines historical earthquakes affecting the city, including the 1919 Soma earthquake and the earthquake of 1944. The work brings the city's experience of past disasters into local historical research.

Taylan Köken supplied the 1926 Balıkesir Chamber of Commerce Yearbook for Area Management's digital archive. The Ottoman Turkish source was translated at the office. The report credits the work to Taylan Köken and N. Öykü Güren. It provides period data on Ayvalık's factories, merchants, olive production, exports and port activity.

A city walk during the 18th International Olive Harvest and Tourism Festival brought Ayvalık’s history into the streets. Residents, visitors and participants from neighbouring towns explored the city together. Buildings and everyday places connected local history with direct observation. The walk belongs to AYEV’s work before formal registration as an association.

Taylan Köken shared records found through an Ottoman archive search for Ayvalık with the Area Management team. His document list provided a starting point for further research. The January–February 2023 report records that translation had begun on ten selected documents. It explicitly describes AYEV as a research collective meeting in Parmak Çeşme.

Archival records provided a starting point for questions about Ayvalık’s origins. Eğribucak documents classified by Taylan Köken were discussed with Deniz Armağan Akto. At a meeting at AYEV, sources were shared with the Site Management Directorate. Information about historic buildings, fountains, thermal sites and mounds informed discussions about a cultural inventory.

Prepared for publication by Berrin Akın Akbüber, Taylan Köken and Turgut Baygın, this book brings Önder Aksoy’s life together with his photographs of the city. Images selected from his personal archive document everyday life, people and change in Ayvalık. Published in the municipality’s cultural series, it reflects the team’s work before AYEV became a registered association.

Field notes on AYEV’s account draw attention to small details of the built environment. Examples include Keremköy’s Gümüşlü Factory, the Pateriça villages, doors and fountain inscriptions in Küçükköy, Cunda’s stone quarries and an old saltworks at Kumru Bay. Photographs appear with short observations. Nearby fortified settlements and ancient sites extend the geographical scope of this curiosity.

Berrin Akın Akbüber and Taylan Köken examined the deepening of Dalyan and Dolap Straits in a joint paper. Ottoman archival specifications and an agreement provided evidence for studying how the port opened to larger ships. The paper connects maritime trade with Ayvalık's economy and urban fabric. Its abstract appeared in the 2022 international cultural heritage symposium proceedings.

The municipality’s second cultural publication brought together academic studies on Ayvalık’s history. Edited by Berrin Akın Akbüber, it was announced on AYEV’s account in 2022. The book is one example of the team’s work to turn research into a lasting reference before the association was formally registered.

Özkan Arıkantürk, one of the people behind AYEV’s original formation, connects regional coins from his collection with historical information in Sikkeler Işığında Antik Kentler. The book focuses on cities of Troas, Mysia and Aeolis. Published by the Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality City Archive series, it was introduced on AYEV’s account.

In AYEV’s earlier encounters, visitors shared their knowledge of Ayvalık. Ömer Özyiğit and Suzan Özyiğit discussed the city. Hümeyra Gücük’s visit became a conversation about Ayvalık. Akın Güre joined a discussion of nostalgia groups on social media. These small encounters formed part of a research environment working with documents and personal memory.

AYEV’s visual documentation work recorded personal accounts alongside old photographs. Çınar Gündüz brought photographs to a recording session for the Ayvalık Visual Archive. Conversations with Behiç Babadostu concerned old city photographs; Ali Mas recalled childhood, youth and experiences abroad. A visit by Suat Taş brought football and earlier life in Ayvalık into discussion.

Filmed at AYEV in 2020, Ayvalık Notes shared local research through video. Prepared and presented by Taylan Köken and directed by Nail Pelivan, the work reached audiences with the municipality’s support. Episode eighteen focused on Chalcolithic settlements in north-western Anatolia. This production is distinct from the A to Z presentation series that began in 2025.

Berrin Akın Akbüber presented a paper on the Bosniaks of Küçükköy at the symposium marking the centenary of the Ayvalık Front. The paper addressed the migrant community's place in the front's history. This individual contribution to the academic meeting in Cunda forms part of the team's earlier work in local history.

Taylan Köken served as secretary to the organising committee for Feyza Hepçilingirler Days, held within the Ayvalıklı Yazarlar Dermesi programme. Sessions explored the Turkish language, children's literature and the author's memories of Ayvalık. Book signings and children's activities brought the programme into local libraries. This contribution predates the association's formal establishment.

Taylan Köken and Lütfi Zafer Demirer guided a walk through Sakarya organised by the Ayvalık branch of the Republican Women's Association. Participants explored the neighbourhood's past through Yorgola Han, Hamidiye Mosque, former factories, churches and the water system. The walk forms part of the team's experience in sharing local history before AYEV became a registered association.