In loving memory...
Merih Kıykıoğlu
June 26, 1926 -
December 13, 2023
Muzaffer Kıykıoğlu
December 29, 1923 - August 3, 2016
About mom and dad...
This site is a testament to my parents' unwavering dedication to make the world a better place. I hope that it will be a source of comfort and inspiration for all who visit.
Conscious of the need for the country's future to be built on solid foundations, they generously made donations in every area that would provide equal opportunities in education for the new generations. Their most important bequest was in this direction, and they frequently used the name Darüşşafaka. Every penny you donate to Darüşşafaka, according to your means, will play a significant role in fulfilling this bequest. Thank you so much.
PLEASE DONATE TO THEIR FAVORITE CHARITY DARÜŞŞAFAKA SOCIETY
Mom's Life Story
My mother was born in 1926 in a small town, Kiğı as the second daughter of my grand parents, Nazime and Sami Üzelman. Due to my grandfather's profession as a military officer, they frequently moved across the country. Mom completed her primary education in Istanbul, secondary education in Ankara, high school in Elazığ, and higher education in Ankara.
Thanks to the equal opportunity in education, thanks to Atatürk's revolutions, she emerged from the heart of Anatolia and became a successful career woman and an accomplished artist wıth many talents.
Throughout her life, she was given unlimited opportunities by the young republic, thanks to Atatürk's revolutıons, to try her skills from culture to art, sports to science. Her athletic ability was noticed by her physical education teachers in Elazığ high school, and she was encouraged to participate in a nationwide athletics competition held in Istanbul on April 18, 1943.
When she graduated from Elazığ high school in 1945, my grandfather also retired from the military, and they settled in Ankara. During that period, students who graduated from high school with honors could enter Medical or Law schools without an exam. My mother's dream was to study medicine and pursue fine arts. However, inspired by her cousin İhsan Tanyıldız, who would later become a Turkish Supreme Court Justice, she enrolled in the Ankara Law School.
However, her admiration for fine arts continued. The fact that close relatives were national celebrities in theater and movie businesses always had an impact on her life. The famous actor Ulvi Uraz was my mother's cousin (her aunt's son). Ulvi's sister Özcan (Uraz - Özmanav) was a soprano at the state opera, and her husband Kemal Bekir (Özmanav) was a well-known actor.
Mom has always been interested in theater since high school. She demonstrated her skills in a school play where she portrayed numerous characters alone, receiving great admiration. In 1947, an audition was held in which Ankara State Theater was seeking an actor, with the famous actor Muhsin Ertuğrul serving as a jury member. Mom was quick to seize this opportunity and auditioned for the role. However, she was competing against a tough opponent. Indeed, her rival, Yıldız Kenter, won the role, who later became one of the most acclaimed actresses in Turkey and achieved worldwide success. My mother always said, "I lost, but to Yıldız Kenter."
As a hobby, mom drew caricatures and published her work in high-circulation newspapers such as Hürriyet, Cumhuriyet, and she also won an award.
In 1948, she abandoned her legal studies and enrolled in the Faculty of Language, History, and Geography, graduating from the Turkish Studies department in 1951. There, she was greatly influenced by the classical Turkish novels. She was inspired to paint Ottoman houses and the culture, and lifestyle they reflect. But she was worried that she could not capture the emotional depth she desired in photography or oil painting. She invented a unique technique and began depicting old Ottoman houses, mansions, and scenes from the Ottoman era in three dimensions.
She created numerous unique works of art with her extraordinary mental creativity and manual dexterity until she passed away at the age of 98.
In her career as an artist, she produced nearly 50 three-dimensional artworks, numerous oil paintings, dolls, and countless cartoons, and illustrations. She participated in four personal and numerous group exhibitions from 1977 to 1997, earning nationwide recognition by the press, national radio and TV stations. Fifteen of these works belonging to her personal collection are presented here on thıs site, in a virtual exhibition hall.
Mom also depicted scenes from the Ottoman era lifestyle in three dimensions. As a side hobby, she continued making oil paintings until 1999. In 2007, she made mini dolls of 27 celebrities using resin, paper, and fabric. Her illustrations are another testament to her creative skills and artistry. In these works of art, she managed to capture motion by leveraging the body language of the human figures she was drawing.
Mom was a truly unique artist who expressed great pleasure in creating her unique works. She used to say, "If producing art is an addiction, then I am addicted to art. I can't stand the thought of time passing in vain. I believe that I can stop time when I work'.
Mom was a very sensitive, very talented artist, a compassionate person who cared for everyone, a very good teacher, a person of great wisdom, someone who loved everyone and shared her love generously, and she was a magnificent mother. When she passed away, an irreplaceable star fell from the sky. I feel so lucky that she was my mother.
Dad's Life Story
My father, Muzaffer Kıykıoğlu, was born in Istanbul in 1923 as the first child of my grandfather Abdulkadir Bey and my grandmother Sabiha Hanım, both originally from Bolu. He completed all his education in Istanbul. His favorite subject at Istanbul Erkek High School was mathematics. His math teacher gave him the nickname "Pasha."
After high school, he enrolled at Istanbul Technical University in 1944. At ITU, he caught the attention of his professors with his mathematical skills. His hobby was mathematics. Although his department was not shipbuilding, he modeled the waves produced by a ship and the sailing efficiency of ships. While thinking about how to increase this efficiency, he became so excited about an idea that came to his mind that he visited his math professor, Professor Ratıp Berker, at his home the next day, even though it was late evening. After patiently listening to my father's story, professor Berker congratulated him and then explained that a similar design had existed since the years of World War I, recommending a few books to my father.
Although he was saddened as he missed to be the inventor, he was impressed by the respect shown to him by Professor Berker, whom he respected deeply.
He worked all his life to contribute to the home land. Many prominent figures who left their mark on the first century of the Republic of Turkey in 1947-1948 were classmates of my father at the university. Among them were Süleyman Demirel who was the 9th President of the Turkish Republis, Necmettin Erbakan, Şükrü Er, who contributed to the development of the indigenous airplane from Turkey, model THK-5, Ekrem Elginkan, the founder of E.C.A. (Elginkan Holding), and Hazım Tütüncüoğlu, the head of the team that realized the Keban Dam.
My father started his professional career at the General Directorate of TC Highways (TC Karayolları) in Ankara in 1948. He met my mother here. In 1953, he moved to the Machinery and Supply Department of the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ). Until his retirement in 1983, he continued his duty as the head of the department responsible for the coordination, supply, and maintenance of the machinery park of all works carried out by DSİ. One of the important projects that he contributed to was the Keban Dam.
Until the day he passed away, my father shared his pride in being an ITU graduate and his joy in seeing the fruits of his efforts for the country at every opportunity.
My father was a fan of classical music. He listened to Wagner, Rachmaninoff, and Beethoven. He also loved Turkish classical music. He listened to Münir Nurettin Selçuk and enjoyed the works of the classical composers such as Hammamizade İsmail Dede Efendi, Şevki Bey, and Buhurizade Mustafa Itri from an old reel-to-reel tape player and occasionally accompanied them by singing along.
My father was a very talented engineer with a refined soul, a compassionate person who thought of everyone, a very good teacher, a wise person, someone who loved everyone and did not hesitate to share his love abundantly. When he passed away at the age of 92, an irreplaceable star fell from the sky. How lucky I was that he was my father.