ABSTRACT
For anyone researching the history of modern Turkey since 1945, or the history of Turkish workers in western Europe, the essential starting point is in Amsterdam. The International Institute of Social History maintains an invaluable Turkish desk which now possesses a wealth of material on leftist Turkish political groups, trade unions, the peace movement and migrant organisations. Among materials from politicians, ambassadors and writers are papers concerning Ismail Hakki Arar (member of parliament, minister), Osman Olcay (minister, ambassador), Faik Türün (army captain, member of parliament) and Mahmut S¸erafettin Dikerdem (ambassador, writer, peace activist). For organisations and papers, the following outline is available in greater detail on the IISH website:
One of the most well-represented sections concerns Communism. There are around 40,000 documents on microfilm originating from the Comintern archives in Moscow and Baku; the rare publications from the Aydinlik (Enlightenment) group, active from 1922-25; part of the records of the Turkish Communist Party and the archives of the Türkiye Birlesik Kominist Partisi (TBKP), the result of a merger between TKP and the Turkish Labour Party (TIP). The major trade union federa-
tions, Türk-Is, founded in 1946 with support from the US, and the leftist DISK, which split off in 1967, are well-represented at the IISH. For the Turkish Labour Party, a large number of documents came with the archive of Kemal Sülker, journalist and trade union activist, acquired by the IISH in 1990. The papers of the socialist member of parliament, Yusuf Ziya Bahadinli, complete these collections.
