LEATHER IN TURKISH HISTORY

Leather work, one of the oldest arts in the world, today, still maintains its tradition of production which was yielded through centuries in Anatolia, the motherland of the world's oldest civilizations.

For the people who started the civilization history of which we are a part today, covering themselves was undoubtedly one of the most important need, and leather was a natural clothing material. That's why the history of leather reflects the history of humans.

Leather appeared as an extremely important raw material requied in every area in the civilizations of the regions extended from Mediterranean basin, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, to Iran and Middle Asia. All strong and useful clothes, boots, mount/load/carriage animal cars' leather works, whips and bags were always made of leather.

The history of leather denotes more versatile and distinct meanings for us as the people living in these lands. Because in Anatolia, leather production goes back to very old times in history and the main clans who migrated to these lands were among the communities who put the leather to the centre of their lives and even are experts on processing the leather.

Leather's Historical Atlas in Anatolia

The Hittites, one of the oldest civilizations in Anatolia, which is known as the leather production centre since the very old times, developed the art of tannery with aluminum during their civilization's brightest period between the years 2000-1200 B.C. These lands were rich in aluminium compounds and vegetal dressing pelts, and that made it possible for the tannery process to be completed under perfect conditions. During the excavations in Bogazkoy and Alisar, leather pieces were found in a boy's grave belongs to year 2800 B.C. The Hittites used gallnut and alum as dressing pelts in leather works. According to historical records, Mittanis, a civilization who lived around 1400 B.C., in the area covering the cities of Urfa, Diyarbakır and Van, were also very good at leather work.

The history of leather work, which covers the most widespread, intensive and required work areas of Anatolia through the centuries, displays influences and tendencies of all the civilizations from the Middle East to Iran, Egypt and from the Meditrranean to the Black Sea. In this process, Anatolian leather work developed collectively by different cultures in a wide geographical location.

Traditional-primitive leather processing methods in Anatolia did not change much in terms of technology and supplementary materials, from old times to the middle of the 20th century. In Anatolian leather work methods, slaughtered animals' skins were salted to prevent them from smelling, and the leather was sent to tanneries. The processes of pelting and sizing phases stayed nearly the same throughout these centuries. Mashed plant seeds, madders, oak, alder, silver wattle,maple, pomegranate crusts, kebrake woods, acorn and acorn cups, chestnut leaf, black perssimmon and various oils had great importance among the materials used by the tanners. They gave strength, brightness, softness and, most importantly, colour to the products.

Gifts of Nomad Culture

Another important source of Anatolian leather work is the Turkish clans who flowed from the Middle East, besides Byznatinium, and other. For Turks, who had chosen stick rising and nomad style of life in Middle Asia for many years, leather work reflects a great talent. In old texts, leather was spelled "teri" and "tirik" and had the meaning of tax paid to Khan in old Turkish clans. This word thus shows us the main role of the leather work in the economic system of Turkish communities'. Leather work in Turkish communities also carried holly, symbolic and merit meanings and values besides fulfilling many necessities and having considerable economic value.

The process of leather work in those days was simple; skin the animal, pluck the wool and the hair, dry and oil, which was sufficient for normal usage. Besides dyeing red for scarlet leather or white for white leather; there were other methods used to make fur or pelt. Processed or unprocessed leather from horses and cattle was called "kön" and changed to "gön"over time. In Anatolian leather culture, "gön" was used to refer to "acorn and tanned leather".

Leather's Sprinkle at Seljuks

The Seljuk period represents an interesting synthesis of the Turks, who left their motherland and the local cultural accumulations of Anatolia. The importance of this period that should be emphasised is the existence of tanners, shoe makers and shoe upper cutters as the most crowded guild community and establishment of the most strong and effective community structures due to their distinctive solidarity and organizational modelling.

Leather Work Expands to the World

In the same process, cities like Sivas and Kayseri, as a result of being located in the meeting point of the east-west, and north-south transit trading routes, also made many products to meet the demand for harnesses and cheap boots. The Crusades, though shook the order of Anatolia, marked Anatolian leather history as a distict period in which European styles influenced the locals, and lead to an increase in the capacity of especially leather and weaving workshops. Furriery emerged as a branch of leather work during this period.

Leather Work in Ottoman period: "Morocco Leather" or "Turkish Leather"

In the Ottoman period, leather work in Anatolia created a substantial accumulation, whose marks can be still seen today. Turkish leather work developed rapidly during the rising period of the Ottoman empire. After Fatih Sultan Mehmet conquered Istanbul in 1453, an area of 70 thousand square metres in Kazlıçeşme, which is outside the ramparts, was allocated to leather workers. Fatih Sultan Mehmet also had 33 slaughterhouses and 360 tanneries built, and collected most of the guilds here. In the Ottoman period, Istanbul was at the forefront as the biggest producing and consuming centre, but also new centres started to appear which produced more leather goods then they could process.

Turkish leather products which had their brightest age during the 16th and 17th centuries, demanded also in foreign countries. Also the documents found in Istanbul and Dubrovnik archives show that a large amount of processed and raw material was exported from the Balkans. In this period, processed Turkish leather became the preferred leather in the European market and this continued until the beginning of 19th century. It was accepted by the whole world that leather called Moroccan was made exclusively according to Turkish production methods. That's why, Morocco leather is still described as "Turkish leather" in English literature.

The Regression of the Sector in Ottoman Period

The 19th century was a changing period both for the world and for Ottoman society. During this period, due to developments in technology, new production methods were found in Europe, while leather work and all of its branches continued to use traditional methods in Ottomans. Nevetheless, in this period, some improvements were realized in the Ottoman empire. The government, initially set up the Leather Works Administration which is the base of today's Beykoz Leather and Footwear Industry Enterprise.

With steam technology, the production capacity of the factory increased and goods such as shoes, boots, saddles, bandoliers and cartridge belts were exhibited for the first time in International Paris Fair in 1856, attracting great attention with their quality. The capacity of the factory, which attracted great attention again in 1862 in London and in 1863 in Istanbul exhibitions with its goods, increased to 300 pairs of shoes daily by the year 1870. The factory, which continuously increased its production and expanded with new structures, after taking the name Beykoz Military Equipment Factory at the beginning of the II. Constitutional Monarch period (1908-1918), by 1911, reached the capacity of producing various kinds of shoes and making 270 thousand pairs annually. With its renewed technology, the factory was among the first of its kinds to use chromium tanners in 1912.

After the declaration of the Republic, the factory was assigned to The Military Factories General Directorate in 1925 it was assigned this time to the newly established Sanayi and Maadin Bank. While the industry section of this bank was reorganized with the name Sümerbank in 1933, the institution took the name Sümerbank Leather and Footwear Industry Institution.

Tanners' and Saddlers' Attempts to Become a Company

The saddler guilds started to lose their power and became less competitive due to the increase in raw material prices and not adapting the developments achieved in Europe. As the situation becomes serious, some of the guilds applied to the government to set up a company and claimed some exclusive trade rights.

In the 18th century, saddlers also applied to the government's Industry Improvement Commission, because of the economic and social setbacks and with the Administrative Reform (Tanzimat), the abolition of the privileges previously granted to manufacturers. The Commision decided that the solution to this problem was to unite all saddlers into the same company, and this culminated in the establishment of a company on the 25 July 1867.

Ottoman Leather Work at the Beginning of 20th Century

Ottoman leather work was far behind that of Europe at the beginning of 20th century. Leather work was not meeting the demand and importation was increasing continuously, according to the 1913- 1915 industrial statistics report.

In 1913 there were 13 tanneries of which 11 were located in Istanbul and 2 in Izmir..

In this period there were no other companies, which works on leather products like saddlery and shoe making, employs more than 10 workers and uses instigator power except the Ottoman United Saddlery Joint Stock Company located in Istanbul,. Although there was a substantial amount of shoe production during the years 1913-1915, there were not any shoe making factory other than the Beykoz Footwear Factory. The footwear industry mainly was consisted of home workshops. These workshops were producing the orders they got from the big shops via contractors. These productions not only met the domestic market demands, but also large quantities of them were exported to Greece, America, Iran and Egypt.

The Leather Industry in the Republic Period

Although the Turkish leather industry had an old and fundamental structure, it maintained its structure of family work (father-to-son) and guilds as a work branch in the economy. However, the industry slowly changed its structure with the development plans which determined various acquisition measures for the industry.

There were many small tanneries which carried out leather production all overAnatolia during the first years of the Republic. However, Kazlıçeşme was the place where the most of the leather production was realized both in terms of quantity and quality if the Beykoz factory, which was tied to Sumerbank, established after Republic, was kept out.

Another leap in the Turkish leather work area was the Kazlı Leather Industry Joint Stock Company which started to operate in Izmit-Kosekoy in the year 1972. The Kazlı Leather company was established with a partnership of 35 leather producers' who also worked in Kazlicesme and this company became the biggest and most modern leather factory in the country. Leather garment exportation started with the opening of a ready-made clothing department in the factory. Also, Kazlı Leather Industry Company was the first Turkish firm to participate in the Semaine de Cuir Fair, which occurred in Paris every year.

In the meantime, the tanneries of Turkish leather industry, which were settled in Kazlıcesme for centuries have decided to change their location of production in response to the claims to reduce the risk of environment pollution. The Tuzla Organized Leather Industrial Zone project, which started in 1986, was ready to operate in 1992, and leather production units slowly move into this industrial zone. Leather companies working in the Izmir-Yesildere area until 1996 also moved to the organized leather industry zone, which was completed in the Menemen in 1997.

Today, with its organized leather industrial zones in Tuzla, Menemen and Çorlu, which have water treatment plants, leather production facilities in Bursa, Uşak, Gerede, Gaziantep and various leather garment workshops and factories, the Turkish leather industry is a giant production branch which takes it roots beyond the centuries.