What happened to Istanbul painter İvi Stangali

WHO WAS İvi Stangali? 

Ivi  Stangali was one of the  Istanbul Greeks who, during the  1964 Cyprus events,  was deported  by a decision  of the Council of Ministers. She had graduated from the Advanced  Painting Department of the Fine Arts Academy in 1949. She had been  trained in the Bedri Rahmi Studio.  Ivi's family was of Chios origin.   They were people who had been living   in Istanbul for three generations. They were not   Turkish subjects. They were   Greek citizens. The family's  on one hand  there was a French connection.  Her brother-in-law was the  consulate  library  director  of France.  Ivi's  Her mother was a well-known  dressmaker who frequently traveled to Paris,  followed French fashion,  and applied it in Turkey.  Her business partner was also Genco Erkal's mother.  Together, they  had a  studio in the Misir  they had shops. Her husband had  died at a very young age.  She had two daughters.   Ivi and Talya.  The older  daughter, Ivi, was born  in 1922. 

A GREEK GIRL  IVI   AT THE ACADEMY  OF FINE ARTS 

She had been educated at Zappeion and it was intended that she would continue her studies in France. Her teachers  in the fields of literature, art, and philosophy  found  Ivi to be talented.   But she   She insisted on becoming a painter. 

In 1942, at the age of 20, she was accepted  to the Academy as a guest student. Academy Director Zeki Faik İzer  took her to Bedri Rahmi. From the very first days, she meticulously completed the assignments  given by her teacher,  listened to   all of his advice,  made sketches everywhere, and took her teacher's words  passages from the holy book  as if  recording them in her notebook, İvi Stangali,  as a  student   was a well-liked and admired young woman.  

In the words of her classmate   Fikret Otyam, she was the "of her class  was his patron".  I suspect that when she started school, her Turkish  was not very good. It is understood  that it was behind the level of Turkish  spoken by Istanbul Greeks.  In the family environment,  Greek and  French were spoken. 

Except for a few female students   the painting department  consisted of male students. There was no doubt that everyone liked her and everyone  wanted to spend  time with her.   There was no doubt.  After graduating from the academy's  higher education department   this beautiful Greek girl,   as a painter   found some  job opportunities.  With the support of her teacher Bedri Rahmi.  

IVI FILLING   THE VOID  LEFT BY MARI 

As you know  Bedri Rahmi, the academy's sculpture department  had a relationship with student Mari Gerekmezyan. This was  a serious love  affair.  His marriage to his wife Eren (Ernestine)  had reached the breaking point because of this.   Ivi  how  an unfortunate Greek girl  she was, Mari  was also such an unfortunate Armenian  girl.  Perhaps  for Mari  was even more unfortunate  we could  say. She was born in Talas, Kayseri in 1913,  and  died of tuberculosis in Istanbul in 1947 at the age of 34.  From the Academy's sculpture department  -Rudolf Belling Workshop-  graduated at the top of her class.  Bedri Rahmi's  "mulberry" was actually Turkey's first  female sculptor.  

Bedri Rahmi tried very hard  to get her treated. He sold  her paintings.  On one hand, the legitimacy of the relationship  issue. Mari was condemned  and ostracized by the  Armenian community.  Mari's death  deeply shook the professor. 

Mari's death,  by Bedri Rahmi's  wife  resulted in  forgiveness.  Despite all her resentment. And then there was their son  Mehmet  in between  of course.  Ivi's  to the academy  in the years  he began   I believe Bedri Rahmi  had a relationship with Mari.   After Mari's  death, I suspect  Ivi grew closer to her teacher.  The teacher  is also like that. In my opinion, this  relationship was a   non-physical  “romance”  without any  aspect. That is my conviction. 

Ivi's devotion and love for her teacher, and her willingness to help with every task for the Eyüboğlu family,   ensured  that she was accepted  as a different kind of Mari.  She was even  embraced as one of the family. From tracking tax debts and receipts to procuring medication and managing the treatment of Lütfiye Hanım (the mother of  Sabahattin and Bedri Rahmi),    she took care of everything.  we know that everything  was followed  by İvi.  Including the administrative  responsibilities of the studio  at Narmanlı.  I think İvi, too, was aware of what her teacher 

had entrusted to her. “was pleased  with the  interest   that remained on the border”. She was  very much loved by her teacher. And she was completely  free.  Together  They worked in many places.  For the Turkish pavilion at the 1958 Brussels Expo,   in 1959  for the NATO headquarters  they created mosaic panels.  Both works  received a great deal of attention.  Ivi was always her teacher's  was by her side. 

Ivi's  substitute-mulberry  role did not pose a problem for the family.  Meanwhile, Ivi,  as a painter,  had become a well-known and recognized figure  in academic and intellectual circles.   Ivi was very close to the  Blue Anatolianism  group, led by Sabahattin Eyüboğlu, Cevat Şakir, and Azra Erhat.  Thanks to these  relationships, she was involved in the production of many books,  most notably the  Iliad  epic translated by Azra Erhat and A. Kadir.   designed the cover and interior illustrations.   Let's add a few more. Jack London,  To Build a Fire,   Thomas More, Utopia, Nevzat Üstün, The Land of the Dwarfs  and so on.  From all of this, we can conclude that by the end of the 50s, Ivi  was a well-known  figure. 

WHY  WAS   IVI  A GREEK  NATIONAL? 

In the autumn of 1964, Ivi,   with  her child, who was not yet a year old, in her arms   her daughter  when she arrived in Athens with     Turkey  was a Greek citizen born in  she was.   So why? 

As is known, the Treaty of Lausanne,  the Greeks established in Istanbul (etablis)     had been kept outside the scope of the population exchange.  For this reason, Istanbul  Greeks acquired  Turkish  citizenship.  Just like the Armenians and Jews. In fact, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople  was required to be   an Istanbul native. With this  an early crisis regarding this,  resulted in the deportation of  Konstantin Araboğlu,  who did not comply with these conditions. 

The population exchange  was strictly implemented  by the Turkish and Greek governments  in Istanbul.  living Greek nationals  of Greek descent  I do not have detailed information about.  What happened to them?   What kind of   regime was applied to them? They should have returned to their countries.   What I  am curious about   Until Venizelos's    visit  in 1930,  how were those    in this position treated?   How did the Stangali family  manage to continue  residing in Istanbul?

 After 1930,  the rapprochement increased. Greeks in Turkey  ceased to be an issue.  In my opinion, the family  may have preferred to remain Greek  nationals because they had business connections with Europe.   Also, it is worth  recalling this point. Official  Turkish policy was not to increase  the number of Greeks  living in Turkey,   but rather to keep it at a minimum level.  Turkish  citizenship  to the relevant authorities  by submitting a few documents  was not something that could be won.  Beyond  that,  they may have wanted to appear  Greek rather than Turkish, especially in France. 

IVI'S  UNCLE'S  IN THE GREEK ARMY  THE POSSIBILITY OF HAVING FOUGHT 

After the Greek occupation  in the Aegean began, Greeks were brought  from the islands to be settled.    In order to make the number of Greeks  appear higher to the League of Nations.  In 1922  Autonomous  The Ionian  government was  also declared.   Even if the  Allies did not care. There were  Ionian and Cydonian  divisions  made up of local Greeks in the occupation army. The goal was first  In the Aydin Province  (the current  Aegean region)    to establish an autonomous republic.  Then, to request a referendum from the League of Nations and join Greece.  Ivi's  family roots are from Chios  Island  given that,   perhaps her uncle  was also  a Greek  citizen  who was conscripted and sent  to Anatolia among those  who were.  There is also this possibility: His uncle  living in the province of Aydin  could also be one of the  Ottoman subjects.  In either case, for a Greek  who  bears  arms, it is not at all surprising  is not the case.  

Because  as will be remembered, for the people of Chios,  there is a traumatic  event: the way the Chios Massacre was suppressed.  Therefore,  a Chiot identity  means resisting the Ottoman Empire.   Perhaps this situation  is the reason why the  Stangali family,  despite living  in Istanbul,  remained   Greek citizens. 

THE 1964 DEPORTATION DECISION  THE BACKGROUND 

Turkish  Greek  relations  have two traumatic foundations. The first is  the occupation plan of Anatolia ending in the "Great Catastrophe"   and the population exchange.  The second is Cyprus  is the issue. Turkey  exercised its right to a justified/legitimate  intervention  on the island.   With the aim of saving the Turkish Cypriots  whom EOKA was trying to annihilate.  Both in 1964 and in 1974. 

Nevertheless, between Turkey  and Greece, from 1930 to 1955   (the September 6-7 events)  a quarter-century  of  honeymoon   was experienced. The reason for this was the hand of peace and friendship  extended by the Great Atatürk to Venizelos.  In 1930,  Greek Prime Minister Venizelos came to Turkey. In fact, the Greek Prime Minister was  met by İsmet Pasha  in Istanbul  at the Haydarpaşa Port.  On some reactionary websites, pictures of  İnönü and Venizelos  together with their wives  in a mocking  manner. It was written as, “is this  what we fought for”  Just eight years after the war,  they do not  appreciate Turkey’s success  in establishing peace. They do not   approve of Lausanne  like.  The Ankara Agreement resolved the "etablis issue." It enabled the two  nations to approach  each other in a civilized manner.  And how forward-thinking  the Turkish leaders were  that they held these views  demonstrated. 

During the Second World War, Greece had been crushed by German fascism and had suffered  great hardships.  After both countries were admitted to the North Atlantic Alliance,  relations  became even closer.  King Paul I  Paul visited Turkey in June 1952,   and President Celal Bayar  visited Greece in November  of the same year.  Greece  was visited. 

Following Venizelos's visit, İnönü also visited Greece  in 1931.  had visited and was  warmly   received. The deterioration of relations occurred after 1955. Since  that time, Turkish-Greek relations  while improving from time to time,  always  proceed on a  tense ground. 

The 1930 Ankara Agreement,  while resolving many issues  in Turkish-Greek relations, granted long-term residence and work permits to Greeks of Greek nationality living in Istanbul.  provided.  Ivi's  family   was a family that benefited from this permit and held residence and work authorization. 

The Turkish side's [decision] to Greece regarding this  gesture, Turkish  citizen etablis  Greeks, with those of Greek nationality  Greeks  were effectively equalized. The Turkish  government had almost  provided permanent residence and work permits.   In the 1950s, another  gesture concerns the Patriarchate. The Metropolitan of New York, in a manner contrary to the Treaty of Lausanne,  Greek Orthodox   Patriarch  was accepted as. However,  in 1925, Patriarch Araboğlu  was deported because he was not an Istanbul Greek  . 

Ending this quarter-century-long honeymoon  It was the start of  EOKA  actions against Turks in Cyprus. EOKA was an armed organization  founded by Grivas,  aiming for  Enosis. After the end of the Second World War, the organization  sought to  annex the island to Greece  was established to do so.  After the Republic of Cyprus was established, EOKA  continued  its  activities. The actions  reached their peak with the Bloody Christmas  in November 1963. 

Cengiz Topel's plane  being brought down, being killed under torture, caused outrage  among  the Greeks living in Turkey. Here,  the primary victim was undoubtedly  the Istanbul Greeks.  They  were our fellow citizens.   But from the perspective of ordinary people  A Greek was a Greek. Whether they were a local  or held Greek citizenship, it was the same. 

IN TURKEY AND GREECE  POLITICAL INSTABILITY 

There was political instability in both countries. In Turkey,  the 1961  democracy had just been established. Under the leadership of İnönü,  different  coalition governments  with parties were tried.  When İnönü went to  Kennedy's funeral, coalition partners YTP and  CKMP   withdrew  from the government. They did not even  wait for the Prime Minister's return. İnönü's  that he formed  the third coalition  became a much weaker government. This government,  formed with  independents, did not actually  rely on a true majority.   The Cyprus  tension  turning into a conflict,  mutual  after retaliations   the turn came for the deportation of  Greek citizens living in Turkey. Turkey terminated the 1930 agreement.  The government  deportation  decisions were made. On this date  The Minister   of the Interior was Orhan Öztrak from the CHP.  Although  the official figure is 12,000,  it is said in some sources  that the number approaches 30,000  when including Levantine marriages.   This refers to those born in Istanbul  for people  to leave behind the graves  of their parents,  meant being uprooted  from their origins.  Just like  İvi Stangali. 

In Greece  the situation was not very promising either. After the civil war,   the monarchy  had been restored,   King Paul I had returned from exile,  and a return to  a multi-party system had taken place. One  conservative  the other  two liberal political movements were born  again  under different names.   Just like in the 20s.  Paul,  remained on the Greek  throne until his sudden death in 1964.  However, in the 60s  There was extraordinary  political instability in Greece. The right-left divide  in Greek politics  continued through  George Papandreou and   Konstantinos Karamanlis.

With very close vote margins,   in 1963 and 1964  two early elections had been held. In the end, the Greek left   came to power.  But  there was no majority to ensure political stability. The elder  Papandreou's   government  had just  been formed  period, tensions in Turkish-Greek relations  escalated. It turned into  mutual  retaliations. The deportation  of Greeks  holding Greek citizenship  from Turkey must be evaluated  in this context. 

IVI'S  PETITION 

I can say that  initially, Ivi was  certain that her circle   would save her.  The petition she wrote to the Istanbul Governorship is extremely sincere: 

“I was born in Istanbul in 1922. I am a Greek national. My parents were born in Istanbul and died in Istanbul. I have an 11-month-old daughter named Zeynep Maya, and I have no husband. Until today, I have lived in an environment that is 100 percent Turkish. From 1942 to 1949, I attended the Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu workshop at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, and since that date, I have worked as an assistant on the large-scale painting and mosaic projects my teacher Eyüboğlu has carried out both domestically and abroad. I believe I have proven my loyalty to this country by having made the necessary official application to become a citizen approximately 10 years ago. My only wish is to remain in this country where I was born and raised, as a Turkish citizen, together with my daughter.” 

  The  supporting  petition  attached to the back of the petition  was also a small-scale "Petition of Intellectuals," and  its signatories are sufficiently descriptive.  Şadi Çalık, Emin Barın, Ahmet Kudsi Tecer, Yaşar Nabi Nayır, Arif Keskiner, Azra Erhat, Mualla Anheger, Ferzan Baydar, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Turan Erol, Devrim Erbil, Bahri Savcı, Sabahattin Eyüboğlu, Yaşar Kemal, Vedat Günyol, Nurullah Berk, Utarit İzgi, Nuşin Asgari, Cevat Dereli, Namık Bayık, Nedim Günsür, Emine Günsür.

But history shows us this: mutual anger  in situations where  one has control, fine-tuning is not done. It cannot be done. Meanwhile,  innocent  people are crushed in between.  Ivi's  deportation story  happened exactly like this. 

BEDRI  RAHMİ'S  EFFORTS TO SAVE IVI 

It is understood that Bedri Rahmi    spoke with quite a few people,  including  Ismet Pasha,  in order to save Ivi.  Ismet Pasha's stance on this matter, similar to the cases of Nazım Hikmet and Sabahattin Ali,  as in the cases  I suppose.  He approached  the incident with "state logic" rather than sentiment.  Ultimately, Ivi,  in October 1964,  with her  11-month-old baby Maya in her arms  arrived in Athens with  her.   With 20 dollars in cash and 20 kg  of personal belongings. 

Meanwhile,  Maya's  father Çetin Altan's  involvement with the matter  how much  connection there was.  The year was 1964. The child had been born in 1963.  The famous writer was hiding his  child born out of wedlock. In any case, Ivi was not expecting  anything from Maya's father.  The free-spirited woman İvi Stangali, if circumstances  were different  had things developed differently, she would have continued to live in Turkey with her daughter  Maya, to whom she gave her own surname.   The citizenship  application she made  10 years ago could have had a positive outcome.  The paperwork was not taken seriously. It was neglected.  In 1964  again  when it came to the agenda, the Cyprus issue   and  in an environment of  mutual   reprisals,  politicians  did not want to do anything  in favor of Ivi.   

HOW DID İvi Stangali  LIVE  IN ATHENS?

Ivi lived in Greece for 35 years.  She could have easily built a new life for herself.   For 10 years, she tried to raise  her daughter Maya in a space  converted from a shop.  Including her sister,  it is understood that her  relatives did not look after her.   Beyond  this, she herself,  who spoke good French,   of the Academy  high  was a painter who graduated from that department. 

She experienced hardships similar to those  faced by the exchangees. She could have gone to France. The Dinos  (Abidin and Güzin) were in France. Bedri   Rahmi could have found opportunities for her  through the Turkish circles and painters  in France.  With a little girl—the 60s  In her Athens, she continued to live as an  unappreciated  deportee.   She was hurt and resentful. In my opinion, this  state  of mind  can be  defined as psychopathological.  It is understood that she  could not make a move  that would save herself and her daughter  in both  financial and moral terms.

WHAT DID HER OLD CIRCLE AND FAMILY DO? 

From the   Group of 10  as for those close to her,  friends such as Mustafa Esirkuş, Nedim Günsür, Turan Erol, Orhan Peker, Leyla Gamsız, Mehmet Pesen, and Fikret Otyam  what  did they do, I wonder? Sea of Galilee in the book  three  poems  and İlhan Berk, who glorified her, might have done something  for instance?  

Once upon a time,  these people who created an aura of interest around them  how much  did they try to make contact. Honestly,  I am curious. I think each of them  their own life  within the worries of  forgot her. There is  with  correspondence   for example.  Some of these are letters  from the period before the exile. I Kiss Your Eyes which he included in his book titled.   Her aunt and uncle, who was the  library director at the French consulate,  perhaps  returned to France.  Her sister Talya had married in 1962,  and   their mother had long since passed away. As I understand it, Ivi was all alone in Athens. 

IVI'S  SORROWFUL  LIFE 

Another important point is that Ivi lived  a Levantine-bourgeois life for a significant  part of her life. Even if  not in a very wealthy  family environment.   She had been in  the company of  Turkey's most   elite  intellectual circles.  For Ivi, life in Athens was  in every  sense a severe regression and a loss of status.    From a human perspective,   the last 35 years of her life  were painful. 

Another thing I wonder is,   did she ever want  to come to Turkey?  She could have come  after March 12 or September 12.  The political  conditions  were favorable.  Although Turkish-Greek  relations  sometimes took a turn for the worse,  there were also periods when they were positive. Toward the end of her life,  she could have done this. But I don't think so.   Ivi used her life energy to  reproduce  her own  melancholy; constant hopelessness  became her  lifestyle.  Her story is truly   very saddening for me. 

IVI'S   EXTINGUISHED LIGHT 

The light    that Ivi  possessed  was extinguished by narrow-minded   politicians  on both the Turkish and Greek sides. At the Academy,  At the Karabaş coffeehouse,  at exhibitions,  the admirers who never left her side   all eventually  filed her away  in the memory files of their minds. Everything over time  faded. It vanished.  Ivi  She was a flower that everyone loved. One they would see blooming constantly and smile at. Even though she was not a citizen,  she considered it her homeland,  but because she was torn away and cast out from the country she knew as home, she was left without air and without water.  When planted in other soil,  like flowers that fail to take root,  her head bowed,  she withered, faded, and was gone. 

HER DAUGHTER MAYA'S  FINDING   HER FATHER 

I first looked for  Maya Stangali   in the wrong  places.  Her name  Zeynep Maya  being  misled  me.  Besides Ahmet  and Mehmet,   Çetin Altan  also had  a daughter  as is known.  as is known.  Whose name is Zeynep.  From another mother  that she was    hidden  I initially imagined her as a girl.  The one Gönül Yazar had with Simavi  like her daughter Yasemin. In a painting  from the days of  March 12   by Çetin Altan,   I thought the little girl seen in the background  might be her.   With Zeynep and  Zeynep Maya Stangali's  that they could be the same person  for a while.  As I read on, I realized  my theory was wrong. The situation became clear. 

Maya learned who her father was  towards the end of her mother's life,  shortly before Ivi passed away in 1999.  Through Arif Keskiner (Çiçek Arif)  Çetin Altan was reached,  the famous author was informed  of his daughter's existence; what is interesting is  that Çetin Altan said,  “I remember  him as a boy”.  Ivi, Maya was only 11  at the time.  given that she left Turkey when she was  a month old,   it seems Çetin Altan was not very involved  with the birth of his child. That is how it appears.   

Maya, as the daughter of a mother who spoke French  and had graduated from the higher division  of the Academy, lived in Athens in a one-  room apartment-  She grew up in a   20-square-meter house. Her mother  often made do with just bread  to feed her daughter.  When she lost her mother  at the age of 35,  her father's   accident  he now knew that there was no driver who had died. 

He finally found his father.  Kerime Hanım  (the mother of Ahmet, Mehmet, and Zeynep)  had already passed away by that date. (1991)  Çetin Altan explained  the situation to his children. When he knocked on his father's  door for the first time  was very well received. Meals  were eaten.  They went   on vacation. It looked  like a beautiful  reunion.  Later on,  how much  met, I do not know. When Maya's  father  passed away in 2015,  she came to the funeral and felt  a coldness  from her siblings this time. I was not surprised by their attitude, to be honest. After all, there is the matter of  the division  of the estate.  Maya could very well  have said, I also  want my rights. But she did not. 

BEDRİ RAHMİ’S   LETTERS  EXHIBITION 

In 2015, Hughette Eyüboğlu and Ruken Kızıler  together  İş Bankası Culture  publications  released a book. Hughette, Bedri Rahmi's Canadian  daughter-in-law.  The title of the book "We Used to Write Letters"  is a very stylish  large-format publication.  Ms. Hugette gifted the letters inherited from Bedri Rahmi to the world of Turkish thought and art. As you turn the pages,  the  republican elite  come to life before your eyes.  Later, in 2019, İş Sanat crowned this with an exhibition.  At the  Kibele Art Gallery.This time, a surprise guest  was also there. Ivi's  daughter Maya Stangali.  

I had seen  Maya's paintings.  The only  video recording was also  at this exhibition  made with her.  interview. I examined  the expression on her face.  Arif Keskiner (Çiçek  Arif)  described his mother Ivi as,   “She was a beautiful Greek girl. Like the women of Modigliani, she was a long-necked, graceful girl”    as  he put it.  in her book.     I also saw these  characteristics in Maya. 

SOLMAZ KAMURAN  A PAINTING OF  MS. KAMURAN AND MAYA 

A painting of Solmaz Kamuran  and Maya together  I saw.   One is Çetin   Altan's   second wife. In the period  of her life after 1996, they were  together. A writer, translator,  columnist, and dentist.  The other  Ivi's daughter Maya. 

Çetin Altan, one's  husband, another's father, but,  there is a  different atmosphere  infused into the painting.  One is  Ms. Kerime's   filled the void, and it was for the best.   In my opinion, it was quite reasonable, logical, and even a marriage that allowed the famous author to live well in the final period of his life,  in my view.  Still, there is a sense of  substitution. The other one is  even if it was after  the age of 35, finally having found  her father, Maya Stangali. 

As for Ahmet, Mehmet, and Zeynep  they are the ones who  emerged  later on. Perhaps  the Kharijites who  shared their fathers later. 

WHAT I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND ABOUT IVI 

What I could not understand about Ivi  thing, her relationship with Çetin Altan  is not, but the desire to have a child  with him. Given that Maya was born in 1963,  she was 41 years old  when she had  a child. Who the father was, was known only  in a very narrow circle. 

Çetin Altan was very well-known and widely read in intellectual circles  was a columnist.  Later, he became a member of parliament    from the TİP list. She had a child with this  powerful married man. She named her Zeynep  Maya.    Regarding İvi's choice of Çetin Altan,  what the field of psychiatry  would have to say  things must be. 

THE  DISAPPOINTMENT  CREATED BY ÇETİN ALTAN 

I was a university student in the 80s. Çetin Altan had previously  written for Akşam and Milliyet.  Stone and the Devil's  What It Said to See  in his columns. He was writing for the newspaper Güneş at the time.  Every day while taking the ferry to school,  from the newsstand by the pier,   I would always  buy Güneş,  and read  Çetin Altan.   I also read the novels and essays of the famous  of the author.  The agility of thought and mastery of vocabulary were impressive.   Then  the eras  changed.  She changed too. I am certainly not going to write  about that  here.   However, what was important to me  was that a writer whose works  I read in my youth and whose ideas I agreed with  was unaware  of the existence of their child,  and where and   how they were living. 

35 years with them  not making contact, not  being curious about them,  regarding their lives  not making  any attempt; that is what  disappointed me.