Dr. Akkan Suver, President of Marmara Group Foundation, talked about the “Akkan Suver Museum” in Âdem Ceylan Final Vocational High School in Gebze Güzeller Organized Industrial Zone at Boğaziçi University.

Delivering a speech at the event organized by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mutlu Erbay and Prof. Dr. Fethiye Erbay at Boğaziçi University on the occasion of the 100 + 1 Trace Makers Conference and Exhibition, Dr. Akkan Suver said that museums are the rest homes of memories that transfer yesterday to tomorrow. During the conference, Air Force Colonel Seyran Gamsız talked about the Istanbul Air Museum, while İnal Aydınoğlu presented information about the charitable institutions he built. Dr. Akkan Suver's speech is below:

Dr. Akkan Suver’s Speech at Boğaziçi University

Today in your high presence,

I would like to start my remarks by greeting your delegation with respect and with the great happiness of being present with the appreciation measures of Prof. Dr. Fethiye Erbay.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Whenever I have the opportunity, I go to the Sahaflar Bazaar located at the continuation of Çınaraltı Cafes under Beyazıt Square.
Spending time there among old books has always relaxed me.
One day during my visit to Sahaflar Bazaar, I saw my book I wrote in 1969 on the floor.
I paid ten liras, the price they had set. I saved my book from crawling on the floor.
My book, which I signed and presented to a brother colleague, was either sold or thrown on the street by his heirs after his death.
Books that have been carefully collected over a lifetime end up in various unfortunate hands after the death of their owners. There is no doubt that one day they perish in the contempt of the unappreciative.
This thought preoccupied me for a long time about the fate of the books I owned.
How would my children be able to preserve my five thousand or so books?
Where would they keep them?
I shared this thought with my dear friends for a long time.
During one such conversation with my friend Prof. Dr. Ali Bardakoğlu, he asked me if I would consider donating it to 29 Mayıs University. At that time, he was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University.
I agreed.
But both my wife and I were very sad to see the books leave the house.
I had given the books as a gift.
What was I going to do with the gifts, insignia, robes, caftans, souvenirs, hats, medals I had received in the meantime?
I was preserving them for now, but what would be their fate tomorrow? When my dear friend Oğuzhan Ceylan proposed to create a museum at the Âdem Ceylan Final Vocational School in Gebze Güzeller Organized Industrial Zone, I must sincerely confess that the world was mine.
Today, I am in the immense happiness of exhibiting and revealing very valuable memories that are modest but have a meaning in proportion to me.
In our humble museum, you can find gifts from home and abroad.
Süleyman Demirel's signed fedora, the newspapers of the day Atatürk passed away, Patriarch Bartholomew's scepter, the Papal Crown presented by Pope Benedictus to Monsignor Yusuf Sag, Vicar of the Syriac Catholic Patriarchate, and the gifts of Allahşükür Paşazade, Sheikh-ul-Islam of Azerbaijan, You can see the gifts of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the Presidents of Montenegro, Macedonia, TRNC, as well as robes and kaftans from Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Afghanistan, as well as gifts from Balkan countries.
In the Museum, which also contains around a hundred special photographs, there are numerous special items from Uzbekistan, the People's Republic of China, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Montenegro and the Balkans.
In addition to the memorabilia belonging to Süleyman Demirel and Alparslan Türkeş, the Museum also exhibits Etem Çalışkan's handwritten Great Nutuk, Elmalı Hamdi Yazır's handwritten Quran, the Turkish Bible of Karaman Orthodox Turks, giant books describing the entire Kaaba and Jerusalem, the robes of Honorary Doctorates from Romania, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, and countless caftans and traditional clothes.
In addition, original gifts from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and Ilham Aliyev's signed tie, Karabakh Tie and gifts attract the attention of those who see them.
The magnificent gifts from the People's Republic of China and the memories of the TRNC constitute a separate center of attention.
Old coins from Montenegro, books belonging to İsmet İnönü, Celal Bayar and Alparslan Türkeş are among the memorabilia to be seen.
After listing all these, I would like to emphasize that museums are the silent witnesses of history. Museums are immortal institutions that pass on yesterday, today and tomorrow by living.

Museums are places where those who know the value of things and those who value memories silently witness history.
In other words, museums are the resting homes of the memories that transfer yesterday to tomorrow.
I would like to conclude by thanking the Honorable Mrs. Fethiye Erbay, who leads the life of this idea, for her high services in the transfer of history from yesterday to today and from today to tomorrow.