PAGEV Launches "Oral History Project" with Veterans of the Plastics Industry
PAGEV has launched its Oral History Project. Under this initiative documenting the Turkish plastics industry from past to present, the doors of sector pioneers have been individually visited and their stories recorded firsthand.
The "PAGEV Oral History Project," consisting of two components—a book series and video documentary—will form the memory of the Turkish plastics sector. The first volume of the book series under the project has been published.
PAGEV, marking its 30th year of service to the sector, has not forgotten the pioneers who have greatly contributed to both the sector and the foundation, and has launched the "Oral History Project" to pass on their experiences to future generations.
The book series, which represents an invaluable resource for the plastics sector, will be distributed to provincial libraries across Turkey, and anyone interested can use this resource free of charge.
PAGEV Chairman Yavuz Eroğlu, noting that as PAGEV they have worked not only on the development of the plastics sector and solving sector problems but also on preserving the sector's history, expressed himself as follows: "Written documents are of great importance in passing knowledge correctly to future generations.
Based on this premise, we said 'words fly away, writing remains' and launched the 'PAGEV Oral History Project'. Under the project, we individually visited the doors of dozens of invaluable figures who witnessed an era, and asked them to share with us their experiences and recollections that should be passed down from generation to generation.
We compiled these lessons, which would be a great loss to fade from memory, into a book series. We will increase accessibility by distributing our series, which serves as a resource for anyone interested in the plastics sector, to provincial libraries across Turkey.
In this way, we will play an important role in addressing resource scarcity in this field."
Yavuz Eroğlu, expressing pride in implementing an exemplary project of sociological archival practice in industry, stated: "As PAGEV, serving as a bridge between past, present and future is among the things we value most.
Carrying the knowledge we gained from the past into the present and passing it on to the future is extremely exciting and educational. Sociological archival practice plays a key role at this point. Based on this understanding, we launched the PAGEV Oral History Project under the direction of Sociologist Lecturer Gülay Kayacan, an expert in the field, to create an archive of the Turkish plastics sector.
In our project, which also has the nature of a documentary, we met with the pioneers who brought the sector to where it is today and recorded all their remarkable stories both in writing and on video.
Each interview, lasting approximately three hours, can be considered a book in itself. If today the Turkish plastics sector stands as the world's sixth-largest and Europe's second-largest producer, it is thanks to these masters who built the sector from scratch through sheer determination and hard work.
We extend our utmost respect to our esteemed seniors who supported our project with their invaluable memories. We also sincerely thank our colleagues who devoted themselves to bringing this project to life."
