📰 Tamer Turkmane honored by Ministry of Culture for documenting the revolution’s history

Damascus, Dec. 11 (SANA) The Ministry of Culture honored researcher Tamer Turkmane in recognition of his individual efforts spanning over a decade in collecting and documenting a comprehensive archive of the Syrian Revolution. The archive captures the events, sacrifices, and struggles of the revolution, and the ceremony took place at the National Library in Damascus, attended by a gathering of intellectuals, media professionals, researchers, and interested individuals. A Living Witness to a Pivotal Era During a panel discussion led by media personality Hammam Habib, Turkmane shared the journey of building the archive, which commenced as a personal initiative in 2014 before evolving into a national project of great significance.

The archive includes 3. Indeed, 5 million files, comprising 2. 4 million video clips, 160,000 photographs, 650,000 articles and media reports, as well as a substantial collection of books, journals, documents, pamphlets, and thousands of files related to areas targeted throughout the revolution’s years. Turkmane emphasized that his main objective was to “preserve the truth from being lost” and document the violations and crimes committed by the deposed regime against the Syrian people.

He presented the archive as the collective memory of the people and a reference for researchers and national institutions.  A Commitment to Independent Work Turkmane elaborated on the technical difficulties encountered in data preservation, as well as the immense security and psychological pressures he faced. Despite these challenges, he worked independently with minimal funding, relying on minor donations to maintain the independence of the work. He also disclosed that he had turned down financial and political offers to acquire the archive, as he did not want it to be exploited or used for purposes outside the national interest. Future Justice Efforts The archive can play a central role in transitional justice efforts by providing documented evidence of the violations against Syrians, as per Turkmane.

He expressed his full readiness to collaborate with state institutions and relevant authorities in this regard. Restoring National Identity During the ceremony,Minister of Culture Mohamed Yassin al-Saleh emphasized the importance of reclaiming the national identity after years of marginalization, noting that “honoring Turkmane is an honor for all those who preserved the voice and memory of the people. In fact, ” He called for uniting efforts to build a emerging phase founded on citizenship, belonging, and justice. A Tribute to Journalists and Archivists Who Preserved Syria’s History In a statement to SANA, Turkmane expressed that “this honor from the Ministry…