Mustafa Güzelgöz Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

In 2012, a commemorative statue of Güzelgöz, created by Eray Okkan, was erected in front of the Faculty of Education, Science and Letters building on the Marmara campus of Maltepe University in Istanbul.

Mustafa Güzelgöz (1921 – 18 February 2005) was a Turkish librarian. He established and operated a traveling library which circulated among 36 villages in the Ürgüp district, becoming known as the “Librarian with the Donkey” (Turkish: Eşekli kütüphaneci). By the time of his retirement, he had also established 12 permanent libraries, as well as innovated cultural activities such as sewing and carpentry courses, folk dances, choir, and music band works, cinema screenings, photography works, sports organizations, and a village newspaper.

Güzelgöz died from heart failure on 18 February 2005 in the Nevşehir State Hospital, where he had been treated.

Güzelgöz was forced to retire in 1972 at the age of 50 after a governmental investigation, which accused him of carrying out activities unrelated to his job and neglecting his official work. He left 12 libraries and a collection of around 15,000 books. During a visit to a library in Istanbul, he met the government inspector, who had prepared the negative investigation report on him. The inspector told him that “he was forced under pressure to do so”.

In 1967, United States Ambassador to Turkey Parker T. Hart met Güzelgöz during his visit to Ürgüp, and donated a pickup truck to the library.

Güzelgöz also pioneered many cultural innovations in the region. He organized sewing and carpentry courses in the library building. For people who were illiterate, he gave literacy courses in the Halkevi community center. He initiated folk dances, choir, and music band works, first cinema screenings, photography works, sports organizations, and a village newspaper. The daily Ulus reported in 1963 on the billboard newspaper initiated by Güzelgöz in one village.

In 1963, the American Peace Corps Volunteers Association honored Güzelgöz with the “Service to Humanity Award”, which was bestowed by U.S. President John F. Kennedy. The Peace Corps donated a 1960-make Willy’s Jeep for use in the traveling library. The same year, Güzelgöz received the service award of “The Lane Bryant Internatıonal Volunteer Citation” from the U.S.

Mustafa Güzelgöz was born in a village of the Ürgüp district in Nevşehir Province of Central Anatolia in 1921. He sought work in Istanbul, and was conscripted in 1940, serving three and half years in the military during World War II. He returned to his hometown in 1944 and was unemployed. While playing a football match, he attracted the attention of the district governor (Turkish: Kaymakam). The governor appointed the 23-year-old Güzelgöz as a caretaker at the Tahsin Ağa Library in Ürgüp, a post that had become vacant due to the retirement of an official.