site.btaReplica of Ataturk's Native House Attracts Bulgarian Tourists to Kirklareli

Bulgarian tourists flock to Kirklareli to see what the house of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, used to look like. Ataturk's house museum in Kirklareli is an exact replica of his native house in Salonica (today's Greek city of Thessaloniki), which was part of the Ottoman Empire in 1881 when he was born. He lived in that house until 1893 when he went to military school.

Everything in the house replicates Ataturk's native house to the smallest detail. Built in the neighbourhood of Yayla with the support of local people and under the direction of Kirklareli Municipality, it opened to visitors in 2018.

Today, Ataturk House Museum is a magnet to visitors from Bulgaria. It was included in a tourist package between the two countries within the framework of an Interreg-IPA project promoting the Bulgaria-Turkiye cross-border region as an attractive tourist destination.

Ilker Tolga Karakedi, an archaeologist working at Ataturk House Museum in Kirklareli, talked to BTA about the idea of building the museum. The exhibits include an item from Bulgaria and the silicone figures of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and his parents attract the most interest among Bulgarian tourists, he said.

Ataturk House is a project created under the direction of the Municipality with support from sponsors. Construction began in 2016 and the house opened to visitors on January 17, 2018, Karakedi said. The idea behind the house museum is to enhance the historical value of Kirklareli, to become an important centre of urban culture and social values, and symbolize people's love, loyalty and devotion to Ataturk. 

Karakedi said nearly 850,000 people have visited the museum in six and a half years. "Visitors from all over Turkiye and other countries have shown great interest in our museum," he said.

Ilker Tolga Karakedi said the silicone figures of Ataturk and his parents, Zubeyde Hanim and Ali Riza, impress tourists from Bulgaria the most. Another item of interest is the chair Ataturk used while he was military attache in Sofia (1913-1915).

Karakedi told BTA he was not aware of the project promoting tourism under the Interreg-IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programme, as part of which Ataturk House Museum was included in a tourist package between Turkiye and Bulgaria. "Thanks to you, we have learned about this cross-border cooperation project," he said, adding that such projects will further develop relations between the two neighbouring countries and will contribute to an even better recognition of their historical and cultural values.