Sakarya Primary School
Sakarya İlkokulu (Sakarya Primary School) stands in the Ekizoğlu neighborhood of İskilip, a district of Çorum, and is a historic school building dating to the early Republican years. Its recorded founding date in the Turkish Education Archive Digital Map Network is 1926.
Construction
According to the school’s own institutional history (as recorded in the Turkish Education Archive Digital Map Network), the provincial permanent commission decided in 1925 to build a school for school-age children in İskilip’s northern neighborhood. The garden of the Kavukçular family, in a neighborhood named after the Battle of Sakarya, was expropriated and construction began that same year. On 15 September 1926, the era’s director of education, Vehbi Bey, the director of the Special Provincial Administration, Reşat Bey, and a German architect surveyed the site to have the school ready for instruction; construction was led by head teacher Ömer Azmi Bey. The building was erected by Osman Usta, from the team of the era’s renowned master builder Kaba Ali, following the German architect’s plan, and was completed on 30 September 1926 as a three-story, 13-classroom wooden building under the name “Sakarya Zaferi Mektebi” (Sakarya Victory School). The school was formally opened on 7 February 1927, with the district governor, teachers, and local officials in attendance.
Later History
The building served as a primary school until 1933, after which its third floor operated as an “İkmal Mektebi” (completion school) until 1936, when it was renamed İskilip Ortaokulu (İskilip Middle School). In 1943, after the İkmal Mektebi moved to a new annex of Azmimilli İlkokulu, the building again served as Sakarya İlkokulu until 1985. In 1985 a new two-story, 12-classroom building was built in the school garden; the original 1926 wooden building, by then considered structurally unsafe, was vacated, restored by the provincial governor of the time, and temporarily allocated to the directorate of the Girls’ Vocational High School. From the 2006-2007 school year, after the vocational high school relocated, the old building was returned to the primary school, though it remains closed to instruction for safety reasons. The school today consists of two separate buildings with a combined 24 classrooms.
Registration and Restoration
According to the Çorum Special Provincial Administration’s 2024 Annual Activity Report, the registered historic Sakarya İlkokulu and the nearby Misaki Milli İlkokulu (locally known as “Taş Mektep,” the Stone School) are undergoing survey, restitution, restoration, construction, and electrical/mechanical engineering works coordinated by the Special Provincial Administration.
Nearby and Related Places
For the district’s broader history, see History of İskilip.