Şakir Doğuluer (English text: Sakir Doguluer)
Interview recorded in March 2019
Interviewer: Almila Kütük
Şakir Doğuluer was born in Hasköy, a small village outside of Izmir in 1955. He has four siblings, and his oldest sister is Mesure, who is also featured on this website. In this interview, Doğuluer talks about his life and work in Izmir. His parents were farmers who depended heavily on the children for labor to keep the farm going. The small community of Hasköy was tight-knit, and Doğuluer remembers a peaceful and happy childhood. After he finished high school in the 1970s, Doğuluer trained as a lathe operator in a factory. He retired in the early 200os. Doğuluer has spent his entire adult life in Izmir. The interview was conducted in his home in Izmir.
Doğuluer also talks about race and ethnicity in Turkey. His parents believed that they descended from enslaved people from the Sudan region in eastern Africa in the late 19th century. He gathered much of this information from the research and writing of Mustafa Olpak, the late president of the Afro-Turk Association. Doğuluer speaks at length about Olpak; the two men worked closely together organizing conferences and the annual Calf Festival for many years. At the time of the interview, Doğuluer was the president of the Association.
Interview notes – The only transcription of the interview is in English, and its translation is available on this page. The primary video runs about 40 minutes. The additional recordings below show the same interview, but from a different camera angle.
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