Erdoğan did not choose Dolmabahçe: What does the Vahdettin Mansion, which the Navy will salute on Republic Day, symbolize?
As 100 ships of the Turkish Navy pass through the Bosphorus on Republic Day, they will salute the Vahdettin Mansion, where AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is located. Journalist Murat Yetkin drew attention to the fact that Erdoğan, who did not choose Dolmabahçe, selected the mansion in Çengelköy used by the last Ottoman Sultan, Vahdettin.
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Journalist Murat Yetkin drew attention to the fact that AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will salute the Navy, which will pass through Istanbul with 100 ships on the 100th anniversary of the Republic, from the mansion of the last Ottoman Sultan Vahdettin, who left Turkey by boarding a British battleship after the National War of Independence ended in victory.
In his article, where he asked, "What is the symbolism of the Vahdettin Mansion?", Yetkin noted the following:
"The War of Independence, crowned with the Republic, is a revolution. It is a revolution that has set an example for the oppressed peoples of the world. It is a revolution that brought an end to the colonial era.
Among the sentences that summarize the spirit of the War of Independence is the recorded statement of Mustafa Kemal, who came to Istanbul after the 1918 Armistice of Mudros, as he passed by boat through the warships of the occupying forces that could not pass through the Dardanelles in 1915: 'They will go as they came.'
While the national resistance movement was rising in Anatolia, it was the last Ottoman Sultan, Vahdettin, who collaborated with the occupiers to portray the War of Independence as a terrorist uprising and declared war on it, and who would leave Turkey on a British warship at the end of the War of Independence. The Vahdettin Mansion, overlooking the Bosphorus on the ridges of Çengelköy, which Vahdettin donated to a concubine named Zehra before leaving, has been used as his office in Istanbul since he was first elected President in 2014.
Erdoğan decided to salute the Turkish Navy, consisting of 100 ships, on the 100th anniversary of the Republic not from the Dolmabahçe Palace, as is sometimes done, but from the Vahdettin Mansion. On the centenary of the Republic, the Turkish Navy would salute the President at the Vahdettin Mansion.
It is possible to discuss at length what Erdoğan wants to do or where he wants to arrive, but it is unnecessary at this point. It also appears that the segment of the public that is once again realizing the significance of Atatürk and the Republic is increasingly beginning to set aside their expectations of Erdoğan in this regard."