THE 2ND INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVE CONGRESS ON OTTOMAN LANDS
"Our Archives in Rewriting the History"
November 20 to 24, 2017, Istanbul
The Ottoman Empire managed to put forth an opulent archival heritage in a way to cover all the lands it had ruled over an extensive period of time that was tantamount to more than six hundred years, and helped this heritage kept intact to make it to the modern times. The majority of this heritage is displayed in Turkey's archives while the remaining part is featured in the archives of the countries detached from the Ottoman lands after gaining independence.
Gathering the countries, which gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, on a joint ground of culture, history and civilization, can only be achieved by unearthing the archival treasures inherited from the Ottomans and combining the pieces carved out by the same cultural and historical grounds.
Such convergence and integration along with the cooperation of organizations and universities with capability to take joint actions will enable to thoroughly rewrite and reassess the global history.
In addition, the development of a shared policy for the analysis, follow-up and implementation of physical and electronic archiving, paper restoration and other technological advances will provide major inputs for the improvement of both our organizations and the archives in other countries. In the same vein, it will help to take steps for joint initiatives in education, technological advances and archival practices as a part of cooperation.
The first edition of the congress was organized in 2012 under the title of "the International Congress on the Management of the Ottoman's Cultural Archive Heritage and the Role of Land Registry Archives" in an attempt to offer a scientific perspective on the Ottoman archive heritage as our common ground, and put forth unique knowledge produced by new documents, and engage in various collaborations.
The congress was attended by academics, presidents, heads of organizations/institutes and general directors of 32 countries ranging from Japan, Pakistan, Hungary and the United Kingdom to the Netherlands, Germany, Qatar, Yemen, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Lebanon and Egypt. Apart from 78 academic papers, more than 2000 participants took part in the Congress that offered specific sessions, as well. Having earned credits for the scientific topics and the entire organization, the Congress was covered by domestic and international press members for the content and outputs, thus making a great contribution to the promotion of our archives.
The 2nd edition of the congress is due to be held under the main theme of "Our Archives in Rewriting the History" in cooperation with the General Directorate of State Archives affiliated to the Prime Minister's Office, and the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre and other agencies.
As it is always the case, some specific sessions are going to be held for the scientists to discuss over the issues that occupy the agenda of Turkey and the Global Community under the title of Issues Inherited From Centuries Ago (Centuries-Old Problems) as well as the role played by our archives to rewrite the history and the analysis of resources in our archives.
As a part of the social responsibility, the Congress will unite college students majoring in archiving with the directors of the organizations that employ archivers, and provide a platform of discussions to offer solutions to occupational challenges. It is estimated that such discussions to be named as the Future Archivers will offer positive inputs for the archiving profession and help archivers prepare themselves for the employment in the business world.
In addition, the Congress is intended to gather states and institutions, which are equipped with the archives inherited from the Ottoman Empire, in line with the shared concepts of culture, history and civilization. This will be a major step to exchange and discuss our common values, and introduce them to the scientific world. The Congress will also assume a significant mission to cooperate with the attending states and organizations in joint training, technological development and archival practices, and launch a modern structure that meets the international standards for our authorities.
A particular workshop entitled "the Archive of My Dreams" will be organized to discuss storage conditions, digitalization, classification and access to archives in general, and reassess the definitions and standards. The resolutions to be taken by the end of this workshop will be shared with the global community under the title of "Istanbul Declaration".
Another particular workshop theme is the paper restoration. The best procedures, techniques and materials are designed to be discussed for paper restoration initiatives carried out through various means around the world and consequently, some international standards on restoration will be set.
The official languages of the congress are Turkish and English. Participation is free of charge. Any person with a paper to submit to the congress shall register his/her resume and an abstract in Turkish or English with 400 to 600 words that capture the subject, importance, methods and references in the paper management system on our website by no later than Thursday, October 05, 2017 . The transportation, accommodation and food expenses for those whose abstracts are approved and incorporated into the Scientific Program of the Congress shall be compensated by our organization.
For more information about the congress, please visit: tkgmkongre2017.org