Established in 1868, the Archives contain many documents relating to the Greco-Turkish War, the Italo-Turkish War, the Balkan Wars, World War I and the Turkish War of Independence. It provides researchers with abundant resources regarding the role of the society during the wars, the activities conducted in the front and behind the front, activities carried out jointly with national and international relevant institutions, and the society’s participation in social life. According to the Archive’s website, there are some 1500 boxes and 550 bound notebooks in Ottoman and French from the period beginning with the organization’s founding in 1868 until the language reforms, along with 300,000 POW cards belonging to Turkish and foreign prisoners captured during the Balkan Wars and WW I.
Relevant catalogues:
Documents:
Medical Aid Correspondences
Hospital Correspondences
Patient Reports
Prisoners of War (POW) Letters and Correspondences
POW Lists
POW Cards
Books:
Accounting Books
Books of Hospital Correspondences
Per diem Books
Storehouse Books
Protocol Books
Quarantine Books
Communication Books
Books of Correspondences with Red Crosses
Visual Materials:
Maps
Postcards
Photographs
Application and Examination Procedures:
It is possible to look into the online catalogues on the website of the Archives. Researchers who want to look into the Archives situated in Ankara should fill out an application and document request form and send it to the Turkish Red Crescent, Department of Archive Management located in Türk Kızılayı Caddesi. No:6 Etimesgut – ANKARA with a copy of their identification cards.
Link to the application and document request form:
http://arsiv.kizilay.org.tr/index.php?sf=cntnt&id=7
Natural or legal persons or their attorneys who want to make use of the Archives should fill out a form titled “Application Form and Written Engagement in order to make research within the General Directorate of the Turkish Red Crescent Society Archives” and submit it in person or by mail to the General Directorate along with a photograph and a copy of the identification card(copies of the passport and the identification card for the foreigners). Citizens of the Republic of Turkey and foreigners who would like to make their research through their attorneys should make their application beforehand. The applications processed by the General Directorate are concluded within two weekdays. Research and examination requests could be approved as exactly the same way as they were made or restricted or simply declined. If the requested documents are enough to create a fund, in that case, the researchers are allowed to take the digital versions or copies of the one-third of these documents. The rest could be examined in the archives.
Link to the Turkish Red Crescent Archives:
http://arsiv.kizilay.org.tr/arsiv.php