Ayvalik, a city located in northwest Anatolia, has been at the forefront of olive-based industries since the 1880s which was an important Greek settlement under Ottoman rule. The city experienced a major turning point with the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923, an event that caused dramatic changes in the political, demographic, and economic structure of all of Anatolia. The cultural diversity of different ethnic societies living together in the Ottoman State have a major impact on many Anatolian cities, and Ayvalik is one of the important ones in which the Rums[1]  were dominant just before the 1923’s agreement (Ari, 1995; Cengizkan, 2004). Nonetheless, Ayvalik has maintained its importance through its ongoing olive-based industries and well-preserved historical urban fabric, the likes of which represents one of an exceptional example of living testimony of continuing land-use by Turks (Yildiz, 2017; Yildiz and Sahin Guchan, 2019). Even though the industrial activities that held in 19th century traditional buildings within the city center were terminated in compliance with the environmental law, the olive oil production and olive-oil culture of the city continues outside the city center through modern processing technics. In parallel to these, industrial landscape of Ayvalik is accepted on the tentative list of UNESCO in April, 2017 as an outstanding example of social and economic structure of 19th-century industry based on olive-oil production in Western Anatolia (UNESCO, 2017). The city is an example of an active olive-based industry since the 19th century which reached its peak in the olive-based industries with the new operated factories on the coastline after the population exchange in 1923 (Sahin Guchan, 2008).

The story stems from two important facts regarding the city, the one is the city’s exceptional culture role-play to bridge two different but in the meanwhile similar cultures that are Turkish and Greek, the second is concerned inhabitants’ identity role play on the city through olive industry by constituting its tangible and intangible industrial heritage today. The dialogue between inhabitants with different ethnic origins and the link to their hometowns is the key to describe and read the identity and the overall characteristics of the city. 1923 was the milestone for the historical trajectory of Ayvalik which was one of the cities that shares this destiny together with various number of Greek and Anatolian cities. In fact, each city represents different heritage story in relation to their historical process that occurred according to different dynamics. For example, some of Greek and Turkish cities have similar urban aspects that make somebody to think if they were twin cities or same cities which offer a ‘DeJa’Vu’ sensation to the audience. This strong similarity and a ‘DeJa’Vu’ sensation derive from the migrated inhabitants’ desires of searching for their hometowns within these new lands since they were the victims of 1923’s forced migration. While some cities show this similarity through residential and monumental buildings, while on the other hand, some of the others had been developed through this tendency of the migrants to searching for their hometown that had strengthened the industrial characteristics.

The protagonist city for this story, Ayvalik represents the second type of city that the overall industrial image had been strengthened and developed by the newcomers that constructed other factories in addition to the existing ones or re-organized them after the population exchange according to their way of manufacturing. This unique and exemptional characteristic of the city derives from role-play of the ‘industry’ as a ‘common’ culture of those different ethnic groups to readapt their new lands based on their memories of hometowns. Pursuant to this, this dialogue among the city, industry and inhabitants caused the strengthening of industrial texture on urban characteristics of the city which also constitutes the Ayvalik industrial landscape today. To describe the overall image of the city in the form of text, one of the stories is presented that illustrates a pixel of it.

[1] ‘Rum’ is defined as Greeks, orthodox, east romans of Anatolia, Greek speaking Christians under Ottoman rule. The word ‘Rum’ is derived from Romeus (Turkce Bilgi, n.d.)

Ertem Family is one of those migrants of 1923 who had been obligated to leave their hometown of Crete for starting their new lives in Ayvalik. Apart from the melancholy that might be described their feelings when they left their beloved Crete, the fear was also dominant since they were moving to a place that they did not see before. Being the ‘others’ was one of the strong factors of that fear which was linked not only to cultural diversity but also language difference since they were able to speak only Greek. After a month they had passed in a huge factory as a permanent stay from their arrival, with almost other twenty migrated families from diverse Greek cities, finally they had known their new properties by the Turkish officials. In compliance with the agreement, the distribution of the properties would complete based on each family’s assets in their previous hometown, for example, a home and an olive-oil workshop building remained from previous users were approved by the government for Ertems. However, it was not always fair and equal for the other families which was also driven by the fortune. This olive-oil workshop which was previously used for small-scale olive-oil production, developed, and expanded subsequently according to the technological developments and owner’s preferences to facilitate the production process.

The reason behind the selection of this story does not intend to narrate the immigrant sensations to the readers, but rather it aims to chart the historical development process of medium-scale industrial heritage complexes of the city which define the important part of industrial urban texture that also constitutes the silhouette along the coastline. Ertem Olive-Oil Factory that is the main subject of this story, is one of the industrial heritage buildings in Ayvalık with large program including olive-oil and side products such as soap and pirina (olive pomace used for fuel), and it is dating back to 1910 constructed before the population exchange. While there are large building complexes as the advanced ones which were kept functioning from 19th century to the end of 1970s by making modernizations on production system such as Sezai Ömer Madra (the largest one), Kırlangıç and Vakıflar Olive-Oil Factory, while on the other hand, there are also other medium-scale complexes such as Ertem Olive-Oil Factory which are smaller than abovementioned advanced ones used and developed by family enterprises that were mainly those immigrants. According to the records, the olive-oil workshop remained to the Ertems was constructed in 1910 by a Rum businessman, namely Anastasios Yorgolos, then it was transferred to ‘Emvali Metruka Idaresi’ during the exchange process. Soon afterwards, it was purchased by a banker, namely Kahraman Bahadır, and subsequently Guldenoğlu Family obtained the ownership until the exchange process completed. Finally, in 1952, the complex was approved as the property for Ertems to let them continue for their industrial activities.

Medium-scale factories along the coastline in Ayvalik with large program that includes olive-oil and side products are generally two-storied structures, some of which were developed based on the single-story workshops or depots remained from their previous Rum users for small-scale productions as their basic needs, while some of the others were originally constructed as two-storied complexes for larger scale manufacturing. In fact, it is not easy to make typology of those industrial buildings as which were constructed for soap-making or mix-program including olive-based side products. Those memories and narratives of the previous users regarding the daily life in these places are the important sources to understand and chart the primary characteristics of industrial complexes of the city and their historical developments which define the main urban texture of Ayvalik. Besides, they are also crucial to illuminate the olive-oil process and soap-making as cultural rituals held in these structures that are the part of industrial heritage which also have shaped the architectural characteristics of the factories.

Regarding the Ertems’ story that was used by the authors for different academic papers and MSc. thesis to illuminate various aspects of the factory, the olive-oil process and soap-making culture, and other works regarding the urban texture of Ayvalik. Based on their narratives on industrial activities that held in the factory, first, the remained single-story depot or workshop structure were re-organized according to the production process that they were following within their former property in Crete. In time, in compliance with the technological developments, while those single-large space was started to use for preparation stages, while on the other hand, the second floor were also constructed to proceed the main processing stage to add a place for soap-making for expanding the production capacity. A new block was also constructed which includes an office for selling and a place to stack the pirina that were the waste parts of the olives produced during the olive-oil process to be used as fuel for the steam machines. The importance of this story is that the narratives of those people who experienced and manifested these changes as the first actors are not only illuminate and help to make a typology of those industrial heritage structures identifying the urban texture and industrial characteristics but also concretize the city’s urban history through intangible values. For example, they also narrated that until the 1980s when the industrial activities were terminated through the environmental law, the northern coastline zone of the city that was defined by those small-scale factories, represented the strong industrial image of the city not only via those industrial complexes and chimneys[1], but also through the sensations such as strong olive-oil smell and the voice of soap stamps.

[1] Chimneys of Ayvalik has been submitted as an event organized by E-FAITH for ‘May-Chimney Month’ in 2019, which was launched for the chimney focusing on industrial heritage and heritage promotion similar to the event of #Ode2Joy Challenge created by Europa Nostra and Placido Domingo for the 9th of May, the Europe Day. [see http://industrialheritage.eu/EYCH2018/May].

The population exchange between Greece and Turkey that occurred in 1923 represents one of the important milestones in the historical development of these nations. This drastic change in two different cultures, while it left several traumatic traces to those forced immigrants via their feelings, while on the other hand, it also influenced the culture in different manners which was existed before their arrivals. In other words, it caused the evolvement of the European culture by incarnating with other spheres producing their tangible and intangible consequences which are considered as heritage today. Today, this traumatic memory not only caused the establishment of different communities that bridge these two ethnic groups through various numbers of events by bringing them together within their beloved hometowns, for example, ‘mübadele buluşmaları’ -exchange meetings-, ‘mübadele günleri’ -exchange days-, or ‘mübadele müzeleri’ -exchange museums- are among them. These exchange population communities are the important actors of the European culture which also represent fundamental sources to understand different aspects of heritage.