The Village Institutes Research and Education Development Foundation

KAVEG

About us

WHEN WAS KAVEG FOUNDED?

First meetings stated on 1955.  The Village Institutes Research and Education Development Foundation (Köy Enstitülerini Araştırma ve Eğitimi Geliştirme Derneği) was founded in 2003 under the abbreviation KAVEG. Our headquarters are located in Istanbul along with representatives around Anatolia. The date which our foundation was founded was chosen with the suggestion of one of our country’s respected authors, Mehmet Başaran, as June 23  which is the date that we lost Ismail Hakkı Tonguç. The majority of our 25 founding members consist of artists and people who are invested in the field of education.

Devamini oku

“I have seen Ivriz Village Institutes Again” / İbrahim Şimşek

I have seen Ivriz Village Institute 60 years after that I graduated in 1947. It has been more than 60 years and it has changed a lot since then.

While we were visiting with my schoolmates Mehmet Karaman and Hasan Can, we deeply felt sad.

When the Village Institutes newly established, we as the village children, first set up our tents in an area North of the Taurus Mountains, then we built the buildings we needed by carrying the stones we broke out of quarries, burning lime at night…

Classes, dormitories, teachers’ lodgings, sports halls and many more buildings were built with enthusiasm with our labour as village children.

Not only buildings; We plotted 2.500 acres of land, planted thousand of trees, gardened, plowed fields, planted crops…We produced our own wheat, fruit and vegetables.

We had sheep, cows and mules in barns, we used to have eggs from our chickens, honey from our hives for our breakfast tables.

The test of cherries, apricots, apples and tomatoes from the gardens were amazing…

At the foot of Taurus Mountains, students were singing Agriculture Anthem while they were going to fields to work.

 

“Sürer, eker, biçeriz güvenip ötesine.
Milletin her kazancı, milletin kesesine,
Toplandık baş çiftçinin Atatürk’ün sesine,
Toprakla savaş için ziraat cephesine.

Biz ulusal varlığın temeliyiz, köküyüz,

Unfortunately when we tried to sing the Agriculture Anthem again with couple of my friends that you can see their photos, wasn’t resounding from the Taurus Mountains any more…Sounds were the same sounds, people were the same people. Although we were in 80’s, we had the same soul, same enthusiam…

However those enthusiastic voices hasn’t resounded again. Because the village institute system was destroyed by fanatic thoughts, those enthusiastic voices of villagers were silenced and the great power of the production was stopped.

Unfortunately, even today the world speaks about village institutes with phrase because it isn’t possible to replace the educational theories of them. Sadly, all the labour has been wasted, the trees that were planted dried, the buildings that were built you can see in the pictures became abandoned ruin.

When we were building İvriz Village Institute, I have never felt the pain of the weight of stones that I still have scars on my back.  However when I see the present condition of that legendary institution, could not only feel pain in my heart but also couldn’t stop the tears in my eyes.

What a waste it was for our country, what a waste it was for the Turkish Peasants…

30th April 2009
İbrahim Şimşek

“Aşık Veysel and Storks” / Hasan Ayhaner

The great minstrel Aşık Veysel’s early poems contain cranes, partridges, orange neck birds, flowers. But he doesn’t mention about storks. He was staying in the library’s special guest room between 1943-1944 when he was teaching music in Çifteler Village Institute.

The responsiblity of the room that Aşık Veysel and his assistant İbrahim Efendi were staying and taking care of them was given to the head teacher M. Rauf İNAN, other administrators  and me as I was the librarian.  Every time I meet Aşık Veysel and his assistant as well as having mutual converstaion on various topics, I was delighted to print the poems he had structured in his mind.

The end of April 1944 was cold, snowy, rainy and stormy. At the command of our head teacher Rauf İNAN, all the students brought storks to our cow barns that they were cold and wet on the edges of Seydi River in Hamidiye Village. I also participated in the process of collecting storks from beginning to end. We carried a stork in to the barn that was sick and unable to walk, with a friend along with the stork flock. We took care of the storks for a week until the cold was over. We watched them inside the bar almost everyday.

Aşık Veysel was influenced very much by storks caring. A few days after the storks, he called me to the library and said:

“My son I have never met with a stork in my life. I have imagination almost for every type of bird but not stork. Please take me to the cow barn where the storks are looked after. Grab one and put on my lap that, helps me to describe it in my mind.”

Bu merak ve isteğe ben de sevindim. Öğlen yemek arasında Aşık Veysel’in koluna girip leyleklerin barındığı ahıra geldik. Gözleri hiç görmeyen Aşık Veysel hiç tanımadığı leyleklere yakın olmanın heyacanını yaşıyor ve bunu çok belli ediyordu.

His curiosity and request made me very happy. In lunch break, I got in to Aşık Veysel’s arm and walked to the barn. He was significantly happy to be near the storks.

He sat on a chair. The storks were dry, well-fed and looked happy. I picked the most attractive stork of the flock and put onto Veysel’s lap. Despiste he was insighted he felt the weight of the stork and seemed feel strange at the beginning. He touched the stork with hesitation and started to stroke. He was like talking to it.  He grabbed the stork’s neck and he extended his palm to the stork’s beak like he was holding his “saz”. While he was measuring the stork’s neck and beak, he said:

 

 “Ule!… ule!… ule!…  how long its’ neck and beak?” “It’s a good one that I thought it is going to try to run away. Is this catching frogs, grasshoppers, cubs, water bugs with this long beak from lakes, swampes and meadows?”

He searched for stork’s legs while he was still sitting on the chair. He bended for touching it’s feet but he couldn’t reach them.

He said with a sense of humour

”Uleh uleh uleh, Hasan where is the end of this animal’s legs. Do I need to stand up to be able to reach it?” 

The collegues who were responsible of the stork’s care talked with laughing:

“Uncle Aşık, your arms are short and it’s legs are long. You cannot touch it’s legs while you were sitting on the chair.”

I took the stork, for Aşık Veysel not to fall while he was searching the animal’s legs.

 “Aşık Veysel Hodja, now you can touch the feet while it was on my lap” then he could eventually reach the feet.

Whie he was saying ”Breh! Breh! Breh! How long feet it has!.”he was also examining stork’s feet and nails by touching attentively.

“It is amazing how the got makes these animals fly with these long legs, beaks, heavy bodies. How do these storks live in our country in the spring and summer, how do they fly to the end of the other part of the world when the wetaher gets cold. Let me kiss them then they can  fly with our nice and warm kisses to the countries they go.”

After he stroked the stork’s head, body and wings, he put it back. Then he turned to us with happy, experienced and adviser fathery tone:

 “You made me so happy, you have placed this beautiful creature into my mind that I have never known before. Beyond everything, you prevented them from dying. You were saying; learning is seeing, touching, holding, hearing and thinking in your lessons. So I also learnt about storks that I have never known about them by the same method. In a same, I wiil keep the stork in my mind. From now on, in my poems, my words, in the strings of my reed and in my voice, you and the storks will be. Thanks to you.”

we waved to the storks in the barn and returned to the school library…

10.07.2005/ Hasan AYHANER/ Retired Teacher / Eskişehir

AŞIK VEYSEL

 

MY NOTES ABOUT AŞIK VEYSEL

Aşık VEYSEL who says “I see with my heart, not with my eyes”, has been one of the strongest unforgettable voices with the purity in his voice and notes, his strong words and great soul.

Aşık Veysel was the brightest light of the tradition of folk poetry. We had the pleasure of spending time with him even in a short time of period who is the best poet of our century.

In 1952 the great names of Turkish Literature, his friends and fans organized a jubilee for our folk poet Aşık VEYSEL. It was gathered to be taught those who don’t know his value and great personality and those who know and appreciate him. We commemorate him with proud and happiness.

In 1965 a special act was issued for Aşık Veysel by Turkish Parlament. He was awarded “Homeland Service Salary” and a medal for his contribution to Turkish Language and National Unity.

On Wednesday the 21st of March 1973, at dawn, great minstrel Veysel arrived to the end of long and narrow road at his 79.

His voice, as in  “I am on a long and narrow road” song at the end of the his life road, he said “my friends remeber me” and passed away on the Wednesday 21st March 1973.

On 28th March 1973, a week after his death, the students, teachers, administrators and parents of Eskişehir, Süleyman Çakır Teachers Girls School and Eskişehir Education Institute organized a memorial day at school hall. After meaningfull speeches, our teachers read poems of Aşık Veysel then school choir sang folk songs of Aşık Veysel.

From that day onwards, we have been proud of commemorating him.

16.05.2005

Hasan AYHANER

Retaired Teacher

Eskişehir

It cannot be cited, copied or published without permission.

“Aşık Veysel and Storks” / Hasan Ayhaner

“Two Memories” / Mehmet Ali Küçükkayıkçı

MY TWO MEMORIES ABOUT YÜCEL AND TONGUÇ

In 1945 we graduated from “Hasanoğlan Village Institute”. We could reach our village only in November, due to economic reasons. In the period of waiting to returned to our village, we as three collegues, invited the Director of Primary Education İsmail Hakkı TONGUÇ to our class. One afternoon the General Director came suddenly in our class. We started to explain the difficulties that we would face when we arrived to the village. He listened what we all said carefully and answered as:

 “My sons, you will go to the village on horse, by car, plow or else. Yo will not have all these difficulties in life term. You must be a good example to the others with these modern vehicles. Although we keep telling our villagers to use modern agricultural vehicles, they will stil kepp using tumbrel, plow or else.”

We understood beter what our the General Director told when we got the results of the vehicles we had taken to the village. Before three months passe, the number of horses, cars and plows increased, and the car horns begun to heard on streets.

Everone in the village started to use plows instead of grubber. The statements in the document that I found in the local authorithy’s archive in the following years, were the proof of evidence what we had been through. In 1934 the villages’ headman was complained to Atatürk and Atatürk sent an inspector to investigate. As a result of this investigation the inspector recorded the social situation of the village in his report as follows:

“Since the republic is established, there has no improvement in the village. The agricultural tools that they use are stil very primitive such as oxx puller, plow and ox…”

When he was a student at the Village Institute, one of the istructor trainees İsa BAŞKAYA, caught malaria and passed away. The Minister of Education Hasan Ali YÜCEL immidiately came for burrial ceramony. YÜCEL gave a speech for the Village Institute at the ceremony:

My chilldren, the mosquito that carry Malaria Tropica Parasit, caused İsa Başkaya’s death, lives in swamps. You will settle in villages. You will dry these swamps that mosquitoes live in, with the cooperation with villagers. He said “you will save thousands of people like İsa Başkaya who left us in his most productive age from this disaster disease” and added: Once up on a time, Ferhat loves a girl called Şirin. He starts to digg a mountain with pickaxe and shovel which is impossible to cross over the mountain. People ask why he is digging the mountain. Ferhat answers as” to meet his loved one behind the mountain”. Then they tell him that his life won’t be long enough to digg a whole in to this mountain. Ferhat answers as My idealogy to die on this path. 

So Yücel said “Dear Children our idealogy also to die on this path.” The path meant the Turkish Republic.

I never forget these two memories about these great people.

Mehmet Ali KÜÇÜKKAYIKCI

Hasanoğlan Village Institute – Graduated 1945

It can not be cited, copied or published without permission.

“İki Anı” / Mehmet Ali Küçükkayıkçı