Diyarbakir man wishes to create a museum of smuggled souvenirs
DIYARBAKIR (Kurdistan 24) – In the major Kurdish city of Diyarbakir in Turkey, a collector who has brought together hundreds of souvenirs and tokens over decades wants to create a museum to honor memories of a time long gone.
In a small room in Diyarbakir’s Sur district, Kazim Ertas boasts of presenting the tools, among them small statues, tokens, radios, watches, cameras, posters almost all smuggled from neighboring countries, to his friends and relatives.
Speaking to Kurdistan 24, Ertas says he wishes to leave his collection as a legacy after him.
The period he refers to was when Kurds became “smugglers” in their homeland when borders were created in the early and mid-20th century.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
(Additional reporting by Kurdistan 24 correspondent Güler Saraylar)