Team
Eylem Delikanlı
Museum Executive Director
Concept and theoretical framework designer of MMHJ. Directs, manages and implements day to day operations and conceptual work, Oral History and Mapping Torture collections.
Founding executive director, human rights advocate and an oral historian at the Memory Museum for Historical Justice. She holds an MA in Sociology (City University NY) and an MA in Oral History (Columbia University). She is the co-author of the books Keşke Bir Öpüp Koklasaydım (with Ozlem Delikanli in Turkish, Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları, September 2013) and Hiçbir Şey Aynı Olmayacak (with Ozlem Delikanli in Turkish, Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları, November 2019) Her oral history research covers the 1980 Coup D’État in Turkey. As a visiting scholar at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University AHDA program and a researcher at the Truth, Justice and Remembrance Program at Bosch Stiftung in Berlin, she developed the digital museum project focusing on the 1980 Coup. She is a member of Çocuklarız Bir Aradayız initiative – a group working towards building a collective memory of the Coup D’État in Turkey. As an oral historian, Eylem defines her work as oral history for historical justice and her research focuses on theories of post memory, collective memory, mass violence and silence.
Eylem Delikanlı
Museum Executive Director
Concept and theoretical framework designer of MMHJ. Directs, manages and implements day to day operations and conceptual work of the Museum, Oral History Collection and Mapping Torture collections.
Founding executive director, human rights advocate and an oral historian at the Memory Museum for Historical Justice. She holds an MA in Sociology (City University NY) and an MA in Oral History (Columbia University). She is the co-author of the books Keşke Bir Öpüp Koklasaydım (with Ozlem Delikanli in Turkish, Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları, September 2013) and Hiçbir Şey Aynı Olmayacak (with Ozlem Delikanli in Turkish, Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları, November 2019) Her oral history research covers the 1980 Coup D’État in Turkey. As a visiting scholar at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University AHDA program and a researcher at the Truth, Justice and Remembrance Program at Bosch Stiftung in Berlin, she developed the digital museum project focusing on the 1980 Coup. She is a member of Çocuklarız Bir Aradayız initiative – a group working towards building a collective memory of the Coup D’État in Turkey. As an oral historian, Eylem defines her work as oral history for historical justice and her research focuses on theories of post memory, collective memory, mass violence and silence.
Aylin Tekiner
Museum Director
Directs, manages and implements Defending Democracy Through Art workshop, Letters Archive and Court Files Archive.
Founding director of the Memory Museum for Historical Justice, an artist, and human rights advocate. In her artistic practice, she works on the concepts of collective memory and historical justice with a focus on mass violence and collective traumas. She received her PhD from The Faculty of Educational Sciences, The Department of Cultural Foundations of Education at Ankara University in Turkey in 2008. Aylin has a book titled “Atatürk Statues: Cult, Aesthetics, Politics”, which was published in 2010-2014-2021 by İletişim Yayınları (Turkey), based on her doctoral thesis. She worked on shadow theater techniques during her post-doc time at the Yale School of Drama between 2015-2016. Having held solo exhibitions and participating in group exhibitions in her country and abroad, Aylin is a member of Center for The Study of Social Difference at Columbia University as well as Çocuklarız Bir Aradayız initiative that focuses on the 1980 Coup D’état in Turkey.
Aylin Tekiner
Museum Director
Directs, manages and implements Defending Democracy Through Art workshop, Letters Archive and Court Files Archive.
Founding director of the Memory Museum for Historical Justice, an artist, and human rights advocate. In her artistic practice, she works on the concepts of collective memory and historical justice with a focus on mass violence and collective traumas. She received her PhD from The Faculty of Educational Sciences, The Department of Cultural Foundations of Education at Ankara University in Turkey in 2008. Aylin has a book titled “Atatürk Statues: Cult, Aesthetics, Politics”, which was published in 2010-2014-2021 by İletişim Yayınları (Turkey), based on her doctoral thesis. She worked on shadow theater techniques during her post-doc time at the Yale School of Drama between 2015-2016. Having held solo exhibitions and participating in group exhibitions in her country and abroad, Aylin is a member of Center for The Study of Social Difference at Columbia University as well as Çocuklarız Bir Aradayız initiative that focuses on the 1980 Coup D’état in Turkey.
Emel Ataktürk
Head Legal Advisor
Lawyer and human rights defender. In changing periods, she supported the work of various institutions in different fields such as freedom of expression and association, women’s rights, refugee rights. She has held various positions in non-governmental organizations such as the Human Rights Association, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, and bar associations. She currently works as the Director of Programs at Hafıza Merkezi and continues to work as a lawyer.
Hülya Deveci
Museum Director – Legal Research
Founding director of the Memory Museum for Historcial Justice, lawyer and human rights defender. She graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Law in 2001. Hülya, a member of the Istanbul Bar Association and the Contemporary Lawyers Association, is one of the executives and responsible lawyers of the main Hrant Dink case in which public officials are tried. She voluntarily followed various social cases and contributed to work in the field of law and human rights. She still continues to work as a freelance lawyer in Istanbul.
Özlem Delikanlı
Museum Director – Communication
Özlem graduated from Mimar Sinan University, Department of Sociology. After her graduation, she started her master’s degree in Ankara University Communication Faculty Radio, Television and Cinema and completed the New York Film Academy Digital Filmmaking program. She is the founding member of the “We are the Children Are Together Initiative” and the communication advisor of the Museum of Historical Justice and Memory. She works at the Memory Museum leading the communication campaigns and continues her oral history-oriented memory research about the September 12 Coup d’État. She is the co-author of two books, “Keşke Bir Öpüp Koklasaydım” and “Hiçbir Şey Aynı Olmayacak”.
Emel Ataktürk
Head Legal Advisor
Lawyer and human rights defender. In changing periods, she supported the work of various institutions in different fields such as freedom of expression and association, women’s rights, refugee rights. She has held various positions in non-governmental organizations such as the Human Rights Association, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, and bar associations. She currently works as the Director of Programs at Hafıza Merkezi and continues to work as a lawyer.
Hülya Deveci
Museum Director – Legal Research
Founding director of the Memory Museum for Historcial Justice, lawyer and human rights defender. She graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Law in 2001. Hülya, a member of the Istanbul Bar Association and the Contemporary Lawyers Association, is one of the executives and responsible lawyers of the main Hrant Dink case in which public officials are tried. She voluntarily followed various social cases and contributed to work in the field of law and human rights. She still continues to work as a freelance lawyer in Istanbul.
Özlem Delikanlı
Museum Director – Communication
Özlem graduated from Mimar Sinan University, Department of Sociology. After her graduation, she started her master’s degree in Ankara University Communication Faculty Radio, Television and Cinema and completed the New York Film Academy Digital Filmmaking program. She is the founding member of the “We are the Children Are Together Initiative” and the communication advisor of the Museum of Historical Justice and Memory. She works at the Memory Museum leading the communication campaigns and continues her oral history-oriented memory research about the September 12 Coup d’État. She is the co-author of two books, “Keşke Bir Öpüp Koklasaydım” and “Hiçbir Şey Aynı Olmayacak”.
İsmet Akça
Head Academic Advisor
İsmet Akça was an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Yıldız Technical University in İstanbul, Turkey, until his suspension in 2017 due to the Academics for Peace petition of which he was a signatory. He is an OSUN-TSI (Open Society University Network – Threatened Scholars Integration Initiative) fellow at SOAS, Department of Politics and International Relations for the 2022-2023 academic year. He has published in different journals and books, both in English and Turkish, on Turkish military-industrial complex, the military and politics in Turkey, political sociology of Turkey, Justice and Development Party, neoliberal hegemony etc. Some of his publications include the following:
– Türkiye Savunma Sanayiinin Ekonomi-Politik Haritası (A Political-Economic Map of the Turkish Defense Industry), Yurttaşlık Derneği & Heinrich Böll Stiftung Derneği Türkiye Temsilciliği, 2021. (Co-author Barış Alp Özden)
– “The Restructuring of Civil-Military Relations During the AKP Period”, Confluences Méditerranée, 107 Hiver 2018-2019, pp. 59-71.
– “Antinomies of Authoritarian Neoliberalism in Turkey: The Justice and Development Party Era” in Cemal Burak Tansel (ed.), States of Discipline. Authoritarian Neoliberalism and the Contested Reproduction of Capitalist Order, Rowman & Littlefield, London and New York, 2017. (Co-authors Barış Alp Özden and Ahmet Bekmen)
– “The Conglomerate of the Turkish Military (OYAK) and the Dynamics of Turkish Capitalism” in Zeinab Abul-Magd, Elke Grawert (eds.), Businessmen in Arms.How the Military and Other Armed Groups Porift in the MENA Region, Rowman&Littlefield, Lahman, 2016;
– Turkey Reframed. Constituting Neoliberal Hegemony, İsmet Akça, Ahmet Bekmen and Barış Alp Özden (eds.), Pluto Press, London and New York, 2014;
İsmet Akça
Head Academic Advisor
İsmet Akça was an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Yıldız Technical University in İstanbul, Turkey, until his suspension in 2017 due to the Academics for Peace petition of which he was a signatory. He is an OSUN-TSI (Open Society University Network – Threatened Scholars Integration Initiative) fellow at SOAS, Department of Politics and International Relations for the 2022-2023 academic year. He has published in different journals and books, both in English and Turkish, on Turkish military-industrial complex, the military and politics in Turkey, political sociology of Turkey, Justice and Development Party, neoliberal hegemony etc. Some of his publications include the following:
– Türkiye Savunma Sanayiinin Ekonomi-Politik Haritası (A Political-Economic Map of the Turkish Defense Industry), Yurttaşlık Derneği & Heinrich Böll Stiftung Derneği Türkiye Temsilciliği, 2021. (Co-author Barış Alp Özden)
– “The Restructuring of Civil-Military Relations During the AKP Period”, Confluences Méditerranée, 107 Hiver 2018-2019, pp. 59-71.
– “Antinomies of Authoritarian Neoliberalism in Turkey: The Justice and Development Party Era” in Cemal Burak Tansel (ed.), States of Discipline. Authoritarian Neoliberalism and the Contested Reproduction of Capitalist Order, Rowman & Littlefield, London and New York, 2017. (Co-authors Barış Alp Özden and Ahmet Bekmen)
– “The Conglomerate of the Turkish Military (OYAK) and the Dynamics of Turkish Capitalism” in Zeinab Abul-Magd, Elke Grawert (eds.), Businessmen in Arms.How the Military and Other Armed Groups Porift in the MENA Region, Rowman&Littlefield, Lahman, 2016;
– Turkey Reframed. Constituting Neoliberal Hegemony, İsmet Akça, Ahmet Bekmen and Barış Alp Özden (eds.), Pluto Press, London and New York, 2014;
Çağrı İşbilir
Recording /Editing/Photography
Çağrı was born in Istanbul and still lives in Istanbul. He graduated from the Beykent University Faculty of Fine Arts, Cinema and TV Department in 2015. He completed his undergraduate education at Marmara University in 2021 Fine Arts Faculty Photography Department and continues his educational life in the Photography Department Master’s program in the same institution. Since 2015, he has been working on films and photography in the form of documentaries and fiction.
Recording /Editing/Photography
Çağrı was born in Istanbul and still lives in Istanbul. He graduated from the Beykent University Faculty of Fine Arts, Cinema and TV Department in 2015. He completed his undergraduate education at Marmara University in 2021 Fine Arts Faculty Photography Department and continues his educational life in the Photography Department Master’s program in the same institution. Since 2015, he has been working on films and photography in the form of documentaries and fiction.
Koray Doyran
Project Design Director
Since 2004, he has been working as an art director and design director at agencies such as Alametifarika, Manajans JWT, TBWA\Istanbul, Medina Turgul DDB and Rafineri. He is currently the design director at 4129 Grey advertising agency. He received several awards in Turkey and abroad.
Koray Doyran
Project Design Director
Since 2004, he has been working as an art director and design director at agencies such as Alametifarika, Manajans JWT, TBWA\Istanbul, Medina Turgul DDB and Rafineri. He is currently the design director at 4129 Grey advertising agency. He received several awards in Turkey and abroad.
Defending Democracy Through Arts Program
Tülin Sağlam
Tülin completed her undergraduate, graduate and doctorate studies at Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography, Department of Theater. For her doctoral thesis, she conducted research on drama in education at the Department of Theater at Manchester University (1992-1994). She worked as a faculty member and department head at Ankara University until February 2017, when she was expelled with the Presidential Decree No. 686 for signing the Peace Declaration. In addition to her articles, she wrote two books called “Create Your Own Play” and “Drama for High Schools” and was among the authors of the book “Drama Workshops for the Enthusiast”. She directed the plays “You Are Not Gara”, “The Wasps”, “A Child’s Education Incident”, “The Threepenny Opera”, “Chameleons”, “The Most Beautiful Thing in the World (children’s play)”, “The Smallest Story in the World (children’s play) and “The Garden (children’s play)”. She continued her research on theater history and theory, criticism, children’s theatre, educational drama, and theater anthropology. As a member of Assitej (International Union of Children’s and Youth Theaters) Turkey Center, KUKSADER (Association of Puppet, Karagöz and Performance Arts) and Learning Enthusiasts Cooperative, Sağlam has worked as a secretary and president at Assitej Turkey Center since 1990. In 2002, she served on the International Assitej Board of Directors for 6 years, one term each as a consultant and a member of the board of directors. Sağlam, who is a founding member and board member of ITYARN (International Theater for Young Audiences Research Network), which started his work within the body of Assitej in 2006, was elected as an honorary member of Assitej in 2021.
Cevdet Bayram
Cevdet is a classroom teacher, theater artist and theater instructor. Bayram, who is a primary school teacher at Beyoğlu Private Zapyon Greek Primary School, is one of the authors of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade editions of the book series “Istanbul Lesson”. He has also written a children’s book called “Patazor”. He served as the vice president and member of the board of directors of the Contemporary Drama Association Istanbul Branch, where he has been working as an instructor/workshop leader for 15 years. He organized various workshops at the Istanbul, Adana and Burdur meetings of the “Conferences on Good Practices in Education” and worked as a workshop director in seminars of various institutions. Cevdet Bayram, works as a writer, editor and director of theatrical plays and he is among the directors of the “Su Performance Arts Stage” and the writers of the Tiyatro Gazetesi (Theater Newspaper).
Canan Su Vardal
Canan studied painting at Mimar Sinan Academy of Fine Arts. During this period, she worked as an illustrator for publications such as Bant mag and Sanatatak, published a fanzine called Arabesk and compiled all of its issues into a book. She completed her master’s degree in Basic Art in Academy. In the same year, she was selected to the IKSV (Istanbul Foundation of Culture and Arts) Work and Research Program and conducted studies under the consultancy of Zeyno Pekünlü and Zeynep Dadak. She worked as a court illustrator with the Memory Center and continues to work as an illustrator in various projects with the Center for Spatial Justice. She took part as both a writer and an illustrator in publications such as Beyoğlu Cinema Magazine, Bant Mag, Calling Mag, Rağmen Literature series, and Cumartesi Ertesi, an Instagram magazine she published on immune system support with her two friends in order to make the feeling of the pandemic period memorable.
Defending Democracy Through Arts Program
Tülin Sağlam
Tülin completed her undergraduate, graduate and doctorate studies at Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography, Department of Theater. For her doctoral thesis, she conducted research on drama in education at the Department of Theater at Manchester University (1992-1994). She worked as a faculty member and department head at Ankara University until February 2017, when she was expelled with the Presidential Decree No. 686 for signing the Peace Declaration. In addition to her articles, she wrote two books called “Create Your Own Play” and “Drama for High Schools” and was among the authors of the book “Drama Workshops for the Enthusiast”. She directed the plays “You Are Not Gara”, “The Wasps”, “A Child’s Education Incident”, “The Threepenny Opera”, “Chameleons”, “The Most Beautiful Thing in the World (children’s play)”, “The Smallest Story in the World (children’s play) and “The Garden (children’s play)”. She continued her research on theater history and theory, criticism, children’s theatre, educational drama, and theater anthropology. As a member of Assitej (International Union of Children’s and Youth Theaters) Turkey Center, KUKSADER (Association of Puppet, Karagöz and Performance Arts) and Learning Enthusiasts Cooperative, Sağlam has worked as a secretary and president at Assitej Turkey Center since 1990. In 2002, she served on the International Assitej Board of Directors for 6 years, one term each as a consultant and a member of the board of directors. Sağlam, who is a founding member and board member of ITYARN (International Theater for Young Audiences Research Network), which started his work within the body of Assitej in 2006, was elected as an honorary member of Assitej in 2021.
Cevdet Bayram
Cevdet is a classroom teacher, theater artist and theater instructor. Bayram, who is a primary school teacher at Beyoğlu Private Zapyon Greek Primary School, is one of the authors of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade editions of the book series “Istanbul Lesson”. He has also written a children’s book called “Patazor”. He served as the vice president and member of the board of directors of the Contemporary Drama Association Istanbul Branch, where he has been working as an instructor/workshop leader for 15 years. He organized various workshops at the Istanbul, Adana and Burdur meetings of the “Conferences on Good Practices in Education” and worked as a workshop director in seminars of various institutions. Cevdet Bayram, works as a writer, editor and director of theatrical plays and he is among the directors of the “Su Performance Arts Stage” and the writers of the Tiyatro Gazetesi (Theater Newspaper).
Canan Su Vardal
Canan studied painting at Mimar Sinan Academy of Fine Arts. During this period, she worked as an illustrator for publications such as Bant mag and Sanatatak, published a fanzine called Arabesk and compiled all of its issues into a book. She completed her master’s degree in Basic Art in Academy. In the same year, she was selected to the IKSV (Istanbul Foundation of Culture and Arts) Work and Research Program and conducted studies under the consultancy of Zeyno Pekünlü and Zeynep Dadak. She worked as a court illustrator with the Memory Center and continues to work as an illustrator in various projects with the Center for Spatial Justice. She took part as both a writer and an illustrator in publications such as Beyoğlu Cinema Magazine, Bant Mag, Calling Mag, Rağmen Literature series, and Cumartesi Ertesi, an Instagram magazine she published on immune system support with her two friends in order to make the feeling of the pandemic period memorable.