In Antalya’s historic city center of Kaleiçi, stories gathered from behind bougainvillea-covered windows, in front of doors opening to narrow streets, and in spacious courtyards have been brought together in the “Memory Spaces and Cultural Heritage - Antalya Kaleiçi Houses” project by Muratpaşa Municipality. In this third phase of the project, the history of 61 structures in Kaleiçi has been captured in a documentary series available in four languages. These documentaries can be watched on mobile phones by scanning QR codes placed at the entrances of the buildings.

The project began in 2022. In its first phase, 11 buildings were investigated. Archives were searched, hints were gathered from photographs, and interviews were conducted with the residents of mansions and houses. The stories were compiled, and the history spanning years was narrated across 11 separate documentaries. The stories featured include Hassun Captain’s Mansion, built by Italian and Turkish craftsmen in 1875, which introduced the people of Antalya to dates; the house of Kont Salih, who served as the neighborhood headman for 40 years; the house of Ayşe and Derviş Kulaksızlar, who arrived during the population exchange; and the story of Paşalar Mansion, purchased by Mustafa Pasha Akdemir, a former police officer from a Cretan family working at Antalya Municipality at the time.

The second phase of the project was completed in 2023, with documentaries prepared for 40 more mansions. These included Melek’s House, home to a family who migrated from Alexandria in the 1800s and became known as the “White Arabs,” and the Soykam’s Coach Garage, used for horse-drawn carriages during Antalya’s fight against malaria in 1918, among many other historical structures.

In the third phase of the project, 10 additional buildings were added. Among the stories told is the house of Ali Zülfikar Bey, Atatürk’s intelligence officer. Ali Zülfikar Kılıçarslan, a postal clerk originally from Ioannina, reported on Greek and British activities during the armistice years in Izmir to Mustafa Kemal, who had initiated the National Struggle in Anatolia, under the pseudonym “Murtaza.” However, fearing his identity might be compromised while delivering intelligence, Ali Zülfikar Bey escaped to Antalya on the ship Saligen, using travel documents issued under the name Antalyalı Ali Bey.

After arriving in Antalya, Ali Zülfikar Kılıçarslan worked at the Antalya Post Office, where he sent the first airmail in the history of the Republic of Turkey. On December 16, 1922, he founded a company named “Nakliyatı Bahr” on the Antalya pier, where he began working as a customs broker. It is known that the house in Kaleiçi, where Ali Zülfikar Bey lived with his family, was given to him by Atatürk.