How this Turkish museum is bringing life to a remote backwater
A unique cultural center has sprung up on a remote hilltop in eastern Turkey, bringing life to a region hit by poverty and migration.
A barren hilltop in a remote, impoverished backwater is hardly a place one would expect to find a flourishing museum with growing international acclaim. For the Baksi Museum in eastern Turkey, however, being in the middle of nowhere is inherent to its existence and the many roles it has taken on. The brainchild of prominent Turkish artist Husamettin Kocan, the museum is Kocan’s tribute to his native village, which, since its inception as a “crazy” idea three decades ago, has evolved into a vibrant cultural center and a social project injecting life into one of Turkey’s poorest provinces.
Baksi is the old name of the village of Bayraktar in Bayburt province, nestled high in the Anatolian steppe, not far from the eastern Black Sea coast and 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from Istanbul and 900 kilometers (560 miles) from Ankara.
