ZEYNEP AKGÜL

Ankara-The story of Ayten Başer, the director of documentary films such as "The Ashes inside Me", "The Ashes of Davutpaşa", "Return Let's Play Game",  has evolved from textile workshops to the film sector. Başer, who lived in the Maksutuşağı village of Erzincan’s Kemah District until the age of 13, moved to Istanbul with her brother after the military operations launched in her village. Stating that her greatest desire since her childhood was to read, Başer couldn’t go to secondary school, and then she completed her secondary education by taking exams prepared by the open education secondary school. Seven years after graduating from high school, Başer passed the university exam because she had had to work as a cashier in textile workshops and supermarkets. Başer graduated from the Radio, TV, and Cinema Department of İstanbul University and she completed the second major diploma from the Faculty of Letters Department of Sociology Program at the same university and she also completed her master's degree at Marmara University Fine Arts Faculty, Department of Cinema-Television. We talked to Başer about her first feature film called ‘Zarokbum’. The film is about the massacre in Davutpaşa, where 21 people, including 20 workers died and 115 people were wounded and about her journey from textile workshops to the cinema sector.

We mostly know you from your documentary and short films such as “İçimdeki Küller –The Ashes inside Me",” Davutpaşa’nın Külleri-The Ashes of Davutpaşa",” Dön Oyun Oynayalım- Return Let's Play Game", “40 Sabun 40 Kazan Su- 40 soaps 40 Boiler Water”, “Çerçeve- Frame” and “Nefes- breath”. Who is Ayten Başer? Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I was born in Kemah district of Erzincan district. I moved to İstanbul along with my brother when I was 13 years old. I worked at a textile workshop for a year. After I completed my secondary education by taking exams prepared by the open education secondary school, I went to high school. After graduation from high school, I worked as a cashier in textile workshops and supermarkets for seven years. In 2004, I passed the university exam and started to study at Erciyes University, Department of Radio-Cinema-Television. After a year of education at Erciyes University, I took an exam for undergraduate transfer and started to study first in Ankara and then in İstanbul. In 200, I graduated from İstanbul University and then I started my master's degree at Marmara University Fine Arts Faculty, Department of Cinema-Television. At the same time, I worked as a part-time film editor and I worked as a camerawoman for Yol TV. In 2013, I worked as a lecturer at a private university. Now, I am continuing my doctorate education at Marmara University, Department of Cinema.

How did your journey with the camera begin?

When I passed the university exam in 2004, I did have no idea about Department Radio-Cinema-Television. My dream was to become a teacher and work in the Eastern part of Turkey. But that didn't happen. The first year I started that department, I found myself in front of the camera. I couldn’t speak anything, I was frozen. When I returned dormitory that day, I told my roommate Aylin about what had happened and I cried. I told her,” I guess I cannot study at this department.” She told me, “Come on! This department is not just about being in front of the camera!”

One year later, I applied for an undergraduate transfer to Ankara University and İstanbul University. First, my application for Ankara University was announced and I was accepted. I went to Ankara and started my education in two weeks. Ruken Öztürk got us to watch Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Modern Times’. I never forget that moment. When I watched that film; I thought I could explain the things I was worried about by camera. At that moment, I decided what to do in this department which I had known nothing. Shooting films…

“I was a child in the village, but a worker in the city”

You lived in the Maksutuşağı village of Erzincan’s Kemah district but you moved to İstanbul when military operations launched there… What changed in your life during that period?

Yes, the people started to evaluate the village in 1994. When my father retired just then, he took me and my brother to Istanbul. I was separated from my family when I was a child and went to a big city. When I was in the village, I went to graze sheep along with my uncle's daughter. Being in nature was big happiness for us. But I was a stranger in the city.  When I arrived in the city, my uncle's wife took me to buy water. Sometimes I remember that time when I first saw the sea. I said, “This Euphrates River is very big”. The sea becomes a huge Euphrates River. Then I started work as a worker for a garment manufacturer, I was missing my family a lot. The child in the village grew up became a worker in a big city and earned money.

"We kept grazing sheep and dreaming"

You were graduated from Department of Radio, Cinema, and TV at İstanbul University. You completed your second major diploma from the Faculty of Letters Department of Sociology Program at the same university and took your master's degree at Marmara University Fine Arts Faculty, Department of Cinema-Television. Actually, you have a sad story. Your family couldn’t send you to school after you completed your primary school education. May you talk about that period?

In our village, if you wanted to go to secondary school you had to go to Kemah district because there was no secondary school in the village. In fact, first-year my family did not register to the school in Kemah, but a year later my father submitted a petition to register and his petition was rejected. He was told, “We cannot take your register because you didn’t register the first year.” My cousin Birsen was two years older than me, my uncle never sent her to school. Sending the girls to the boarding school was a choice depending on the families in the village. Some thought sending girls to the boarding school was not right while others thought differently… And there were rumors saying that the food was bad, the teachers beat the students. The only dream of me and my cousin was going to school. One day while we were going to graze the sheep, we talked about what we could do to go to school and we wrote a letter to TRT- the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation-. We considered that letter as a ray of hope in our lives. About a year later, the TRT called us. The day they called us, I helped my uncle to cut wood along with my father and brother.

My cousin Birsen took the wood to home by horse. When she returned from home, she rode the horse very fast and shot “Ayten, Ayten!” I understood something was happening when I saw her and I left the wood and run to her. She was so excited and told me, “Ayten! directly go home, the people from the TRT called us.” I run to my uncle’s house. The phone rang again when I arrived home. I answered the call and said, “Hello”. The woman called me said, “May I talk to Ayten Başer?” I said, “It is me”. The woman said, “You sent us a letter, your letter is going to be read during a program tomorrow.” I answered, “All right”. Meanwhile, my aunt constantly nudges me and said, “Who is calling? Ask her phone number.” I asked her phone number. The woman told me their phone number would be written during the program.

The next day, all people in the village gathered to watch the program. My family didn’t tell me anything but Birsen’s father was angry with her. He told her, “what will you do if you get an education after this age; they will put us in prison now.”

The speaker read my letter and asked questions to an expert person sitting in front of her. I remember that we didn’t understand anything from the program. We only knew that we were the subject of the program, that’s all. They didn’t call us again and we couldn’t write their phone number. We kept grazing the sheep and dreaming until I moved to İstanbul.

In fact, your life is a success story… you worked as a cashier in textile workshops and supermarkets for seven years while preparing for the university exam. What makes you so determined?

As I told you about my childhood, going to school was a dream for me. I tried to make it real. I'm a little stubborn. I didn’t go to school when I came to İstanbul. I told everyone how I wanted to go to school. I met a woman at my first workplace, Hülya. I also told her how I wanted to go to school. “There are secondary school graduation exams, let's ask and get information about them.”

In 1995, you could get your secondary school diploma in one year without attending the school just taking some exams. Sister Hülya helped me with registration. After taking my diploma, I immediately registered to Yakacık High School. I left working and started to go to school. I attended many courses such as English, accounting. Everyone told me, “What will you be after getting an education. Look, you have younger siblings, work, and earn money to send them to school.” I answered them, “I will go to school and they also will go to school.”

She went to her village and shot a film

I think your documentary called "Return, Let's Play Game" has a special meaning for you. May we learn what the story of this film is?

“Return, Let’s Play Game” is my first documentary film. When I was in the second year at Istanbul University, there was a film workshop called Ethnographic. I joined it along with one of my classmates. Then I asked my friend, "How about going to my village and we shooting the games played by children in the past?" My friends Leona and Övsev approved this idea. We took a train and go to my village and shot the film. The film released in 2006 and its story of children’s games from the past to today.

"The trial is still ongoing…"

You are one of the witnesses of the Davutpaşa massacre which left 21 people, 20 of whom were workers, death and 115 people wounded… May you tell us the process of how you decided to shoot the documentary "The Ashes of Davutpaşa"? I guess "The Ashes inside Me" is actually your second film about that massacre, right?

In 2008, when I was in the last year of the university, I was attending an English course organized by an association called “Bir Umut- A Hope” with my friend Sevgi from the dormitory. I contributed to bringing families together at the association and attended its first meeting. I told myself, “I should shoot them”. I took a camera from my friend and started to follow the families. The families held vigils in Taksim Square for two years in order to file a criminal case, after the criminal case was filed; they went to Bakırköy Courthouse to follow every trial. I always followed them. "The Ashes of Davutpaşa" is the story of these families’ struggles between 2008 and 2011.

The second film "The Ashes Inside Me" is about eight years of legal struggle and the experiences of the families. In 2014, the court issued a decision but the judgment was later reversed. Then the trial continued. The families’ legal struggle has continued for 11 years. The trial is still ongoing.

Is there a new project you are working on?

Now, I am working on my feature film called "Zarokbum- I was a child". The film mentions the 1990s and it is the story of a 13-year-old beautiful girl Gülperi and her 12-year-old cousin Ceylan who resembles a boy because of her weak body; the two girls’ struggle to go to school.

“All of us were children growing up overnight”

What did you look for on this journey or what are you still looking for?

The only thing that I look for while I began this journey is the reality in my past. My uncompleted childhood in my past... I am actually telling the nineties through the reality I live in and what I see from my own window. Our village is a small but cute village surrounded by mountains. The villagers who did not know about evil, insincerity, and heartbreaking, were happy and innocent enough to play games together in the afternoon. At least from my window...

My imagination developed at night by the tales, my mother told, the old television at the center of our living room, our connections with the world that we always wondered behind those mountains…  We ended the day by talking about what we did in the fields and our life at home in the village but in one day; we started to talk about how we could protect ourselves from bullets passing over our heads. All of us were children growing up overnight. We were unaware of the reality that existed and thought the world was just where we lived. In short, 'Zarokbum' is the story of my own reality journey.