To Make A Claim For Alpullu Comes To The Meaning Of Making A Claim For The Heritage Of Republic
Alpullu is the pioneer of the models that will realize the community development and modernization that was targeted by the Republic of Turkey over the industry policy on a joint basis. Other sugar factories, weaving and cotton factories, iron-steel factories that were opened in the following years are established in the form of similar models. The movements of industrialization that were observed in the first years of the Republic have to be evaluated by taking into account the circumstances of that period. Alpullu, Uşak, Ankara, Eskişehir, Kayseri, Nazilli, Zonguldak, Sivas, Malatya… The said development of model that belongs to Atatürk that had spread to the plane of the country and the population of which had been spread to throughout the country is a plain but at the same time a robust and multi-purpose model. When we took over Alpullu, the factory was in a state that could not realize the production of sugar efficiently and did not make a production of sugar in recent years. To make a claim for the heritage of Atatürk did not come to the meaning of establishing a new factory. To make a claim for the said heritage came the meaning of starting to make a production of sugar by way of modernization of the production facilities. We, as Binbir Gıda, neither established a new factory nor changed the machines completely. We made the investments that were required by an efficient production process and modernized the equipment that had completed their economic life time. Republic is a spirit that believes in the fact that a contemporary community and independence depends on production and working. In the community in which rural life and ruralness are ruling, attentiveness is shown for the fact that the industrial and rural life styles are conciliated. Modernity and modern opportunities will be moved out of the factory as much as the factory, the rural population will be turned into educated peasants and the welfare in question will spread to throughout of the country by them remaining in their own cities. Instead of the plant pattern with lower added value, industrial agriculture will take a start. The income level that has escalated will make a change in the rural life habits with lower standards and will stimulate the transformation into qualified manpower and life style.
“Every Factory Is A Fortress” For The Republic
As stated in the signboards that are hanged on the walls of the factories that had been established in the said years: “Every factory is a fortress”. The said slogan represents the economic consciousness that is targeted by the national policies. As in the instance of Alpullu Sugar, every factory is a campus that is open to the utilization of the public of the vicinity. The factories are the establishments in which the contemporary opportunities and benefits that are lacking in the vicinity can get shared. Because, the Republic made the effort to realize the targets involving both the economic and social and cultural development as well as modernization through the said industrial facilities. The said model that consists of people being educated and having expertise that got flourished through the units that involve hospitals-infirmaries, pharmacies, libraries, movie halls, restaurants; social reinforcements that include sports facilities, swimming pools, sales outlets, schools, dormitories and that accommodate in modern residences reveals that an economic and cultural development gets targeted on the whole. It has to be borne in mind that the said “Spirit of the Republic” exists at the root of the success that we have obtained presently.
We Owe To The Republic
Our perspective regarding Alpullu Sugar Factory that we had taken over as Binbir Gıda as well as philosophy of operation were constituted by resting against the said heritage of the Republic. We furnished resources and efforts so as to modernize the production facilities that had remained out of production for a long time and of which the equipment pool was left inactive and reach a more robust production capacity. In Thrace, which had quit the agriculture of sugar beet, we developed incentives that will invigorate the planting of the sugar beets once again. This year (2022), we target one of the highest sugar beet processing and sugar production tonnages of history through the production lines that we have modernized. Alpullu is an important witness of our Republic that will turn the age of 100 next year as well as a serious milestone. Alpullu is memory. It is a witness to where we began and where we came, our history of industry, our passage from ruralness to agriculturism, from wooden plow to modern technology, from the community of ignorant people to that of educated people. We have to keep this heritage in mind and have to pay our thanks and respects for the Veteran Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the first place, who had laid these foundations under numerous hardships and had brought the said facilities into existence as well as the staff of the Republic that had made a contribution. According to us, to gather together the said memory and to transfer it to both the public of the vicinity and to the next generations is an indispensable duty. Presently, we are proud to have reached this success.
Atatürk Industrial Museum – Alpullu Sugar Factory 1926
Since the date on which we took over Alpullu, we have taken the valuable articles and memoirs that take place in Ergene Mansion under protection with attentiveness and we have submitted our demand for establishment of a museum with the purpose of protection of the said values in their exact place to T.R. Ministry of Culture and Tourism. We have given a start to the necessary works in order for the said works of art that are registered in the inventory of Kırklareli Museum Directorate to get exhibited in Ergene Mansion, which is itself registered as a historical work of art.
We have targeted to maintain the cultural, artistic and technological documents and materials as well as written works that are located in the structure of Alpullu Sugar factory that is the first factory to produce sugar in our country, that fall within the area of both our history of industry and cultural heritage in addition to the materials and works of art that remain from the historical personages just like the Veteran Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the first place as well as local and foreigner statesmen, under the structure of Atatürk Industrial Museum; to exhibit the important stages of the history of agriculture of sugar beet in the vicinity, to make the said assets functional through the contemporary museum studies and to ensure that they are conveyed to the next generations, to make the contributions, made by Alpullu Sugar Factory for the purpose of making the history of sugar industry get written and having the culture of production of Turkey get established, gain visibility; to have the works of art belonging to the institutions and people, who had steered the sugar industry as well as articles and documents relating to the industry and engineering get protected, get subjected for research and get exhibited. In this study, cooperation was made with Ms. Burçak Madran, who is one of the prominent museologists of our country, and also, Ergene Mansion, which is an important historical memory that is appropriate for the identity of Alpullu, was transformed into Atatürk Industrial Museum. While Ergene Mansion was organized in the form of Alpullu Atatürk Industrial Museum, the historical data, the quality of the documents as well as the special use of the spaces (rooms and halls) were taken into consideration; the developments in the vicinity, the generation of technology, sugar and beet, Sarmısaklı Farm, the visits and memories of the statesmen as well as the visits paid by the Veteran Mustafa Kemal Atatürk were arranged in various units.
Afterword
The objects and the spaces do not speak on their own. What makes them speak and attaches them a meaning is knowledge of human beings and a sense of history. Atatürk Industrial Museum is an expression of the moves for the development of our Young Republic. We believe in the fact that through this humble Museum, we can express our feelings of respect and thankfulness to our ancestors, who had entrusted this country to us and who had constructed the disposition of a contemporary and advanced community, with the Veteran Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the first place.
