"Our last tower is burning. For 30 years, the magnificent house I can't bear to look at, "Hüdai Oral house" is burning. It is burning in front of my eyes. Denizli is losing a piece of its soul, one of the last pieces of its memories.

In fact, it has been trying to stand for hours, as it has been resisting for years. Maybe because it is used to resisting fire, water, wind, sun.

But I don't think he can withstand our vandalism, our cruelty, our indifference for much longer."

I wrote this just as the flames were covering the sky during the fire. At that moment, the tears of my heart were shaking every organ and every cell in me.

From the moment the cloud of flames started to rise, I ran for my life, first I called the fire brigade, wailing and wailing, but they were already on their way. They had not arrived when I started videotaping. Only now I watched the video I posted on the social media page of the "Denizli Thinking Group". Yes! I couldn't say goodbye to that beautiful work that I spiritualized, which has been giving me peace with a warm good morning every morning for 25 years. I couldn't say goodbye, out of shame, embarrassment, pain, whatever.

At the end of the day, the dome is leaning to the side, the roof is like a sieve, and the beautiful stained glass windows have already turned to salt and ice, but it is still standing, but still not destroyed.

What will happen to him now? What caused the fire? Will they demolish it? Will they replace it with a soulless building like always? Will they make a lot of money? It can't belong to a person! It was a part of Denizli. It belonged to all of us. It was a piece of our past! It can still be saved! It can still surprise us, those of us who have not given up on our country, our city, who have not lost hope. Using the recordings of Teoman Oral and Süleyman Boz, even using 3-5 stones, a handful of soil left from there, keeping the spirit of the place alive, it can be replicated exactly the same. Come on! I'm waiting for a miracle! We deserve a miracle!

While Europe protects its buildings that are a thousand or even two thousand years old, we have not been able to protect our houses and buildings that are 150 years old. When I look at the photographs of Anatolian cities 100 years ago, the aesthetics, architecture and elegance of their buildings, I think, "What a pity!" Only we as Turkey! Is it only us in Turkey who have succumbed to this capitalist and colonialist order? Is it only us who have become captive to money and sold all our history and values?

Poland, which was burned and destroyed twice, rose from its ashes twice. The last time it was razed to the ground by Hitler in the second world war. All its buildings were rebuilt, one by one, with the same plan and the same parts collected from the ground, faithful to the original. Whole communities worked on the construction. One by one, the whole population carried mortar and laid stones.

The most symbolic and vital of all was the Royal Palace in Warsaw. It represented their history and past. In 1970 they rebuilt it from the ashes. Everyone had done something, but when it was finished there was not a single piece of furniture or object of royalty and the past left intact. The people of Warsaw made a decision and they moved all the furniture, chandeliers, carpets, ornaments and objects from their own homes that had not burned down, that had not been destroyed, that had survived, that were old, that were hundreds of years old, to the palace. They refurnished and redecorated the palace. Everything you see in the palace today seems to belong to the personal history of the people of Warsaw, but history is not personal, it cannot be the history of one person.

History belongs to everyone who lives on that land.

Today, the Royal Palace in Warsaw stands proudly and hosts all kinds of artistic events and activities, without forgetting its past. By reminding its past experiences at every opportunity. Now I have a dream too! This "Spirit of Denizli" will rise from its ashes again. It will rise from its ashes again and I will return the hundreds of years old furniture, consoles, mirrors, chairs, armchairs, armchairs, ornaments and objects that I have rescued and collected from Denizli and from all over Denizli since I can remember, when they were about to be thrown away, burned and destroyed, to their owners... In other words, to our history... Who knows from whom else, which valuable artifacts will be included and this wonderful spirit of ours will be proudly entrusted to future generations?

We who have not given up on this city! Don't we deserve a miracle?!!!

Mukaddes Pekin Başdil

Researcher-Author

Source: Denizli Haber