Leftist political groups and politicians, trade union federations, the peace movement, and Kurdish, as well as migrant organizations have entrusted their archives to the IISH. Many files that deal with Turkey can also be found in the archives of international organizations such as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), International Labour Organization (ILO), the Socialist International , and Amnesty International.
Political organizations and politicians
- Communism (1920-1990): nearly 40,000 documents on microfilm originating from the Comintern archives in Moscow and Baku; the rare publications from the Aydinlik (Enlightenment) group, active from 1922 till 1925; part of the records of the Turkish Communist Party and the archives of the Türkiye Birlesik Kominist Partisi (TBKP), the result of a merger between TKP and the Turkish Labour Party (TIP). Papers from prominent persons in the communist movement such as Turkey's most famous poet Nâzim Hikmet, the journalist Vâla Nureddin, and his wife Müzehher Vâ-Nû are to be found at the IISH. The archive of the dissident ideologist Dr Hikmet Kivilcimli, smuggled out of the country by Fegan Fuat, has been given on loan.
- Turkish Labour Party (TIP) (1961-1971): A large collection of documents from the TIP came together with the archive of Kemal Sülker, journalist and trade union activist, acquired by the IISH in 1990. The papers of the socialist member of parliament, Yusuf Ziya Bahadinli, complete the collections.
- Radical-leftist movements after 1968: Dev-Genç, Dev-Sol, THKP/C, TKP-ML and other offshoots from the student movement during the 60s are well represented by publications, posters and leaflets. The only real archive in this section is the Dutch branch of Devrimci Işçi (Revolutionary Worker). Propaganda materials from the DHKC (the Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Front), formerly Dev-Sol, and letters from DHKC militants who are now detained in various prisons in Turkey are collected eagerly.
- The IISH also collects materials from politicians and others who have played a role in the recent history of Turkey, such as Ismail Hakki Arar (member of parliament, minister), Osman Olcay (minister, ambassador), Faik Türün (army captain and member of parliament), Mahmut Şerafettin Dikerdem (ambassador, writer, peace activist).
Trade unions and the peace movement
The major trade union federations, Türk-Is, founded 1946 with support from the US, and the leftist DISK, which split off in 1967, are well represented at the IISH. The Kemal Sülker collections contains a great deal of material on both federations. Much information about DISK is to be found in the prison diaries of trade union leader Celâl Küçük, in the Sina Pamukçu papers, the archives of Yücel Top, and Tom Etty, foreign office secretary of the Dutch trade union federation FNV.
The peace moment in Turkey could not emerge until 1976 when Bariş Derneği (Foundation for Peace) was founded. The former ambassador and writer Mahmut Şerafettin Dikerdem became president. Following the coup of the military in 1980, Dikerdem and other officials were imprisoned. This generated a massive solidarity campaign in Europe that ended successfully. Both the Mahmut Dikerdem papers and the materials created by the solidarity campaign were deposited at the IISH by Mehmet Ali Dikerdem, Mahmut Dikerdems son.
Turkish Migrants and Kurds
The migration of workers from Turkey since the early 60s is a point of particular interest to the IISH. More than three million Turks live in Western Europe. Worldwide, more than five million Turks live beyond the boundaries of Turkey. The archives in this section mainly relate to the Netherlands.
Substantial are the archives of migrant organizations like the HTIB [Union of Turkish Workers in the Netherlands] and the women's organization, HTKB [Union of Turkish Women in the Netherlands]. The IISH also has the papers of individual migrants including Turan Gül, Mustafa Dokudur, and Muharrem Karaman. The 'Inspraakorgaan [forum of public enquiry] Turken'(IOT) and the Nederlands Centrum Buitenlanders [Netherlands Center for Immigrants], initially Dutch governmental institutions, were comprised of Turks or other migrants.
Finally, there are some archives of organizations or persons who were concerned with the fate of Turkish immigrants, such as the Actiecomité Wet Arbeid Buitenlandse Werknemers [Committee on the Labour Act for Foreign Workers] and the researchers Jak den Exter, Tom Etty, and Pieter Beerens.
Materials on Kurdistan have greatly extended during the 90s, and the Institute now has documented the complete range of Kurdish organizations, including the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party).
The collection from the German journalist Lissy Schmidt is also noteworthy. Schmidt worked for the Kurdish Cause in Iraq until she was murdered there in 1994. The archive of the Stichting Nederland Koerdistan (Dutch Kurdistan Foundation) contains important information on the activities on behalf of the Kurds during the 90s. The International Society Kurdistan was founded in Amsterdam in 1960 as a foundation by Dutch journalists and students (including Silvio van Rooy). ISK engaged in research and publicity on the history and doings of the Kurds.
Collections under development
Turkey hardly had an anarchist movement, except for the few anarchists in the Balkans during the early twentieth century, when the Balkans were part of the Ottoman Empire. The first Turkish anarchist groups emerged during the second half of the 1980s. Since then the IISH actively collects all kinds of materials from Turkish anarchists. For many years the Caucasus region was marked by war and conflicts, with Turks and Russians playing a leading part. The IISH is in the process of copying all relevant documents concerning the Transcaucasus and relations among Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia from 1908 to 1920 in the archival institutions of Georgia. Materials are not yet freely accessible.