Why This Archive?
Forgetting is the second victory of oppression.
The first was closure. The second is acting as if the closed never existed. This archive was built against the second.
History is not only what the powerful write. This archive is what the living write.
Scale
The numbers are abstract. The people behind them are not.
The Problem
Closing was not enough. Memory was erased too.
Closing an institution is a legal act. But the silence that follows is a collective siege. Four forms of this erasure:
Physical erasure
Buildings are used for other purposes. Signs were taken down. Even the trees in the courtyard remain — but the institution's memory was extracted.
Historical erasure
Closed institutions were removed from official statistics. Not in textbooks. Academic citation banned. As if they never existed.
Identity erasure
Graduating from those institutions became a risk. Many removed it from their CV. The phrase "I studied there" had to be spoken like a confession.
Social silencing
Families do not tell their children. Friends do not share. Neighbourhood silence is a more effective censorship than official bans.
Why This Archive Exists
To remember, to remind, to tell.
This archive exists to carry a memory that was meant to be erased into the future.
These institutions were once a natural part of the daily life of cities and people.
In a school courtyard, the joyful sounds of children could be heard. In hospital corridors, healthcare workers dedicated to helping people worked tirelessly. In a newsroom, journalists chased the truth; in an aid organization, volunteers knocked on the doors of those in need.
In a foundation, people worked to bring together different segments of society and create islands of peace. In a dormitory, staff worked day and night to meet students' needs. In a reading hall, students experienced the joy of free education — the future teachers, doctors, engineers.
Then a heavy dark cloud descended upon the country. Doors were closed, signs were taken down, archives were silenced, names were meant to be erased. But closing an institution does not mean it never existed. Sealing a building does not erase the goodness, effort, knowledge, prayer, and hope that lived within it.
This archive exists to preserve the memory of institutions closed, seized, or silenced on the grounds of proximity to the Hizmet Movement. Because this story is not only the story of institutions. It is the story of teachers, doctors, businesspeople, journalists, students, families, volunteers, and people who believed in goodness.
There are people today who don't know about this. In Turkey, in Europe, in America, in Africa, in the most distant corners of the world... Those born later, those who grew up speaking another language, those who have not yet begun to ask: "What had happened?"
This archive was established to give that question an answer that puts human dignity at its center.
Turkish, English, German, French, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Greek and Russian... In ten languages, to tell the same truth:
They were the people of this country. They labored, multiplied goodness, left beautiful traces. Those closed institutions were the marks of the goodness they left behind. That is why this memory cannot be erased.
Making existence visible
There was a teacher there. A doctor, a nurse, a journalist, a student, a volunteer. Behind every closed institution remains a human story, a labor, a prayer, a memory. This archive exists to make that "erased" presence visible again.
Passing it to generations
There are people who don't know today. Tomorrow there will be children, grandchildren, students who want to know. "What was that place?", "Who was there?", "Why was it closed?" they will ask. These pages are being prepared so those questions don't go unanswered.
Telling the world in 10 languages
This pain did not stay within the borders of one country. Separated families, closed schools, silenced media outlets, seized foundations left a memory that stretches to every corner of the world. That's why this archive speaks in 10 languages: Turkish, English, German, French, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Greek and Russian.
Making it visible
Silence does not heal the wound. Naming what happened, recording the lost, remembering the people and institutions made invisible — this is part of healing. This archive exists not for revenge, but for memory, justice, and human dignity.
This archive is run by researchers, journalists, human rights activists, technology specialists, and volunteers who wish to contribute.
Our shared concern is not political, it is human: to prevent the erasure of memory. Everyone who stands against oppression has a place in this archive.