Our oldest knowledge on silk was recorded by the Chinese; and silk then spread from Central Asia to the rest of the world. It is believed that silk arrived in Anatolia in the 6th century. From the late 14th century on, the period when the Ottoman Empire begins to lead the global market in silk production. With Bursa the centre, cities like Diyarbakır, Istanbul, Edirne, Amasya, Denizli, İzmir and Konya led in the production of silk. In the mid-19th century, there were fourteen silk factories that worked by water or steam power and around thousand silk looms with an annual capacity able to produce over 31 tonnes of silk. One third of the raw production across the empire was sent to Diyarbakır, Aleppo and Damascus to be used in weaving.

The subjection of the domestic silk industry to excessive taxes, the mechanization of weaving in Europe, and the resulting decrease in labour costs meant that the domestic producer could not compete, and in time, roles began to change in this market.

Source: Zahide İmer, “Diyarbakır’da ipekçilik ve dokumacılık [Sericulture and weaving in Diyarbakır]”.

With a millennia-long-history that begins in China and extends to India, Byzantine lands and Europe, silk was always part of global and regional networks in Diyarbakır. The manifestation in places like Bursa and Diyarbakır of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, which had a universal impact, was the blow it struck to economies defined with traditional techniques, such as sericulture, weaving, the leather trade and other hand crafts. Yet, according to economic historians, Diyarbakır was an important centre for textiles, and especially silk manufacturing and trade. One of the first modern craft schools in the city was part of Sümerbank, a leading investment project of the Republic, which has today been transformed into Sümerpark.

Dr. Mehmet Atlı, Researcher, Writer

Traveller James Silk Buckingham, who visited Diyarbakır in 1827, wrote the following in his travelbook:

“The manufactures of the town are chiefly silk and cotton stuffs, similar to those made at Damascus; printed muslin shawls and handkerchiefs, morocco leather in skins of all colours (…) There are thought to be no less than fifteen hundred looms employed in weaving of stuffs; about five hundred printers of cotton, who perform their labours in the Khan Hassan Pasha (…) three hundred manufacturers of leather in the skin, besides those who work it into shoes, saddlery, and other branches of its consumption…”

Source: M. Şefik Korkusuz, Seyahatnamelerde Diyarbekir [Diyarbekir in Travelbooks], Kent Yayınları, 2003.

Other than silk, Diyarbakır was an important city for cotton weaving, and wool carpet and rug manufacturing. Gürün shawls, kutnu, alaca and dalsar fabrics, Ankara mohair and linen cloth were all products specifically sought out in Europe until the 20th century. This richness, in a region that already displayed diversity in terms of faith, culture and ethnicity, was reflected in the attire of the people.

The album of photography titled “Elbise-i Osmaniye” is a realistic and powerful source that shows this. The Ottoman State had prepared for its participation at the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair with a team led by Osman Hamdi Bey. The texts and design of this album belong to Osman Hamdi Bey and Marie de Launay, while the photographs were taken by Pascal Sébah. “Elbise-i Osmaniye” is a highly important document in that it meticulously records what the peoples that formed the Ottoman State in the second half of the 19th century wore. Its contemporary worth is also increased by the refusal of Osman Hamdi Bey and Marie de Launay to lean towards the orientalist gaze the target audience of the album, i.e. European readers, were accustomed to. For instance, all the compositions were shot in front of an empty background and every text features meticulous detail.

The three women and three men in the two photographs in this album shed light on the various types of attire worn in Diyarbakır and its environs. In separate shots for women and men, the dress of a Muslim from Diyarbakır, a Christian from Diyarbakır and a Kurd from Palu, reveal differences not only among themselves but with other parts of the empire as well.

Source: Mehmet Emin Kahraman and İsmail Erim Gülaçtı, “Elbise-i Osmaniye: 1873 Viyana Uluslararası Sergisi’nde bir yaratıcı endüstri örneği [Elbise-i Osmaniye: An example of creative industry from the 1873 Vienna World Fair]”, Beykoz Akademi Dergisi, 4(2): 20-42, 2016.

“Sericulture and silk weaving was widespread in Diyarbakır. There was a neighbourhood known as Sinek Pazarı, to the west of Cemil Paşa Konağı, the Cemil Pasha Mansion, it’s the street where the Saint Mary Church is, that’s where the silk weaving workshops mostly were. There were five or six large workshops. Besides, for instance, when the Cemil Pasha family was in exile, there was a silk weaving and puşi manufacturing workshop in a section of the Cemil Pasha Mansion. In fact, oud player Yervant Bostancı’s father, Yakup (Hagop), known as Keke Yako, was a master craftsman there.

The last time we toured Diyarbakır together, he (Yervant Bostancı) told us this, he is, too, after all, a kid of the Hançepek neighbourhood, just like Mıgırdiç (Margosyan). The sound of looms could be heard from the workshops in Sinek Pazarı, like a sweet melody, the craftspeople would work in such harmony. And they, too, would enjoy their work, they would sing songs and folk songs as they weaved puşi.

Silk cocoons were produced at some houses, mostly in the Ali Paşa and Behram Paşa neighbourhoods, and this brought an income, of course. Leaves of the mulberry tree would be brought in. At the Gazi Kiosk, from Mardinkapı right to Ongözlü Köprü (‘Ten Arches Bridge’) there were two lines of mulberry trees. There were mulberry trees in all the gardens as well. Leaves from these trees would be brought to cocoon producers in the city and sold here.”

From an oral history study carried out with journalist and researcher Mehmet Mercan, who was born in 1935 in the Alipaşa neighbourhood of Diyarbakır