Mustafa Olpak, author of Kenya-Crete-Istanbul: Human Biographies from the Slave Coast, a family history of African slaves in the Ottoman Empire and their descendants in the Turkish Republic, as well as founder of the Africans Culture and Solidarity Association, died of heart failure on 3 October 2016. He was 63 years old.
Mustafa was born the fifth child of Kemale and Mehmet in the Aegean town of Ayvalık. His first job following primary school was in a lathe workshop. Not long after, Mustafa also became involved in the labor movement.
In 1978 he married his first wife Sevgi and had two children, Özgür and Zeynep (he and Sevgi later divorced). Around the time of the coup d'etat of 1980, Mustafa was arrested and imprisoned for a brief period. Following his release, Mustafa found employment as a marble worker.
What differentiates Mustafa from others with a similar trajectory is that, beginning in the 1990s, he put pen to paper to understand and explain his experiences. Mustafa began to follow the trail of stories his grandparents had told him. As he explored his family's history he discovered its connection to slavery.
In 2002 he published a volume entitled Kemale, which recounted his mother's life story. Following subsequent research, it evolved into his masterpiece, Kenya-Crete-Istanbul: Human Biographies from the Slave Coast in 2005 (in Turkish). In it, he provides a personal story of the relatively little understood history of African Slavery in the Ottoman Empire. As such, Mustafa single-handedly raised the profile of people of African descent in Turkey.
The success of this book enabled Mustafa to organize the Afro-Turk community. On 18 November 2006, the Afro-Turk Association held its inaugural meeting. The event was attended by the head of the UNESCO Slave Route Project as well as prominent academics and journalists.
The centerpiece of the organization is the Calf Festival, modeled on a festival that enslaved African communities celebrated in the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth-century. Olpak's new festival became an annual gathering place for people of African descent in Turkey and their allies.
In 2007, Turkish state television produced a documentary on his book entitled Arap Kızı Camdan Bakıyor (translated in English as Baa Baa Black Girl), featuring interviews with Olpak, and preeminent historians of slavery in the Ottoman Empire, Y. Hakan Erdem and Ehud R. Toledano.
On learning of Mustafa's passing, Toledano offered these words:
“It is on very rare occasions that historians get to have a real impact in the life of actual historical actors. The creative and inquisitive personality of Mustafa Olpak enabled Professor Hakan Erdem and myself, through our books on the enslavement of Africans in the Ottoman Empire, to touch his life and motivate him to explore his family roots. He thus became aware of the enslaved past of Afro-Turks, which then led to a lifetime of activism in support of his marginalized community, organizing, raising consciousness, and forging their group identity.”
In 2008, Mustafa and the Turkish Historical Foundation undertook an oral history project to record the stories of Afro-Turks across Turkey. That same year, Mustafa met Güler who later become his second wife. Güler was his partner and ally, equally active in supporting the marginalized and oppressed.
2016 marked the tenth anniversary of the Calf Festival. It was in many ways a celebration of Mustafa himself who, had guided this movement for over 10 years. Sema Pekdaş, the mayor of Konak (Izmir) gave a speech supporting the Afro-Turk organization.
Reflecting on Mustafa's life, the mayor offered these words:
“. . .I know that those who follow will continue to build connections on the road that Mustafa opened. I know that the Association over which he presided will continue the struggle with the same beliefs moving forward. As Konak Municipality, we too will continue to celebrate the Calf Festival with great excitement and joy with our fellow citizens. With this occasion, we remember dear Mustafa Olpak once again with mercy and gratitude. I offer my condolences to his friends and family in mourning.”
As Mustafa wrote: “The first generation experiences. . .The second generation denies. . . The third generation researches.” His efforts to bring the Afro-Turk community together and research the history of his ancestors continues on in the next generations.
