Istanbul Governance-2: The National Chief Inönü and Menderes Era

The Development of Istanbul's Population 

Today, Istanbul is a global megacity. It was also a major city during the Ottoman centuries. The population, which was 673,000 in 1885, rose to 977,000 in 1914. While the city's Muslim population was 47% between 1844 and 1885, it reached 62% in 1914. The decline in the city's non-Muslim population ratio can be explained partly by Turkish migration from Rumelia and partly by the emigration of Greeks and Armenians to Europe and America. 

In the first census conducted in 1927, the city's population was recorded as 710,000; of this, 373,124 were Turkish, 158,219 were Greek, 87,000 were Armenian, and 40,000 were Jewish  in total. During the single-party years, the population increased to 815,000 in 1940. Because Istanbul was partially evacuated against a potential German attack during the Second World War years, the population had fallen to 809,000 by the time the war ended.

By 1950, when the Democrat Party  came to power, Istanbul had become a city of a million people. In parallel with the development of capitalism, the population began to receive migration and reached 1.5 million in 1960. After the 60s, it grew exponentially  continued to grow.

DR. LÜTFİ KIRDAR’S GOVERNORSHIP AND MAYORALTY  

Before the Democrat Party came to power, Dr. Kırdar was the pioneer of Istanbul's radical urbanization movements. Kırdar was the administrator who brought Western solutions to the city in many areas, ranging from water and lighting to public health. Dr. Kırdar’s development activities were carried out within the framework of Henri Prost’s plans; for example, the Taksim Artillery Barracks were demolished in 1940 to create the Inönü Promenade. The Sports and Exhibition Palace, the Open-Air Theater, the Atatürk Bridge, the conversion of the Yıldız and Emirgan groves into parks, the transformation of Abbasağa—a derelict cemetery area in Beşiktaş—into a park, and the activation of the electricity and water networks on both sides of the city were all the work of Dr. Kırdar, who was appointed by Inönü.

Dr. Kırdar was the administrator who had the city's first stadium built. He demolished the buildings where the stables of the Dolmabahçe Palace (Istabl-ı Amire) were located and had the Inönü Stadium built in their place. The stadium construction was completed in 1947.

Interestingly, Dr. Lütfi Kırdar, who left his mark on Istanbul as an administrator during the Inönü era, “became the Minister of Health of the former and deposed Democrat Party government.” passed away while on trial. In other words, Dr. Kırdar, whom the current political power embraces and has named many public institutions after, is none other than the former governor-mayor of Istanbul who demolished the Artillery Barracks to build the Inönü Promenade in its place. This must be one of history's strange ironies.

HENRI PROST'S URBAN DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Henri Prost was an urban planner and architect trained at the Paris Institute of Urbanism. He was not someone unfamiliar with Turkey. He had come to Turkey during the reign of Abdul Hamid II and had prepared a thesis on the Hagia Sophia. He was an internationally renowned architect who had worked on the planning of Marrakech, Casablanca, and Rabat. Until 1936, when he was personally invited by Atatürk, aseries of urban planners such as H. Elgota, A. Anache, J. H. Lambert, and Dr. I. M. Wagner from Germany had been invited. In fact, even Prost's rival, Le Corbusier, had written a letter to Atatürk, expressing his interest in the urban planning project for Istanbul.

Prost is an urban planner who faced the wrath of conservative circles. He is generally criticized for the belief that he destroyed the Ottoman fabric of the city; some even There are also those who describe it as "the stake Kemalism drove into Turkey." In my opinion, what should be said regarding Prost's 1937  development plan is this;

He wanted to transform Istanbul from an "ancient" imperial capital into a modern city, and his proposals were partially implemented. Prost's architectural school was based on combining modernization with preservation. Prost was primarily occupied with planning Istanbul during the period when Dr. Lütfi Kırdar was mayor. He was effectively involved for 15 years  in the development of the historic peninsula, Beyoğlu, Kadıköy, and Üsküdar regions. The plan he created was approved by the "City Council" and put into effect. Prost  He envisioned Istanbul  as a secular, modern city; the city's Byzantine and Ottoman past was occasionally integrated into this. In Prost's plan, the modern is primary, while the past is secondary.

Prost's plans were only partially implemented and largely left unexecuted. For example, in the walled city, he had envisioned creating a large zoological and botanical park where today's Vatan Avenue is located. Once completed, this was to be known as Park No. 1. Park No. 2 was planned in the Dolmabahçe Valley under the name 'Democracy Park.' The most significant part of the Prost plan is Taksim Gezi Park.

During his time in Istanbul, Prost also gave lectures at the State Academy of Fine Arts. After the Democrat Party came to power, although the Menderes Government  terminated his contract, urban development initiatives  continued in a more radical manner during the Menderes era. 

THE CONVERSION OF THE ARTILLERY BARRACKS INTO GEZI PARK

The debate over the Taksim Artillery Barracks, which flares up from time to time today, is more of a political discussion than an urban planning issue. At the root of the matter lies, to a large extent, the desire to erase the traces of the Inönü era. The barracks, which were demolished to make way for the Inönü Promenade, were built in 1806 as an eclectic-style building with onion domes. It was an early 19th-century building, much like the Taşkışla, Selimiye, Rami, Maçka, and Kuleli barracks. During the Armistice period, it was allocated to Senegalese soldiers. In an era when there were no stadiums in the city, it was used for that purpose. The 1923 Harrington Cup matches were played there.  

The idea of demolishing the obsolete barracks and replacing them with a park belongs to Henri Prost. It was Dr. Lütfi Kırdar who implemented Prost's plan without hesitation. In my opinion, framing the demolition of the barracks as a major historical loss is exaggerated and a politicized issue.

While Çelik Gülersoy, a conservative-modernist Istanbulite, criticized the demolition, stating that "preserving the barracks as an exceptional work would have been more in line with Istanbul's synthetic atmosphere and personality," he also, on the other hand, praised Kırdar as "at the very least, an honest and honorable urban planner in the 1940s." Burhan Felek, who served as a reserve officer in the barracks, described it as

a building with "outer walls covered in cheap plaster, a roof full of holes, and where it was difficult to find barracks for soldiers to sleep in." This description highlights the poor condition of the structure at the time. describes it as.

Undoubtedly, the Taksim Artillery Barracks was a part of the city's cultural heritage. It was demolished for the "public interest" within the scope of early republican urban development activities, and Taksim Gezi Park was built in its place. The park was named the Inönü Promenade, as it was constructed during the period when Inönü was referred to as "National Chief" . Had it not been blocked by the Democrat Party administration, the park would have been completed with Prof. Rudolph Belling's "Statue of Inönü on Horseback" . The statue was undoubtedly created within the political atmosphere that dominated the years of World War II. It was to be placed at the most prominent point overlooking Taksim Square. After 1950, in a period when Celal Bayar was president and Menderes was prime minister, it was certainly not expected that the statue of the main opposition leader, Inönü, would be placed in Gezi Park.

As will be recalled, the pedestal of the statue continued to be a part of Taksim Square until the September 12 interim regime, as a legacy of the Dr. Kırdar era. Later, it was quietly dismantled and, along with the statue that had spent half a century in storage, was erected in a secluded spot in the park next to Inönü's house in Maçka Taşlık.

In other words, the Taksim Gezi-Artillery Barracks debate is less a matter of urban planning and more a reflection  of the deep-seated hostility felt toward the political actors of the republican revolution. 

THE DRAMATIC PASSING OF DR. LÜTFİ KIRDAR 

One of the most dramatic events in our recent political history is the death of Dr. Lütfi Kırdar from a heart attack during the Yassıada trials. Dr. Kırdar was a former governor and mayor whose name is given to many public buildings today.  Kırdar was a significant figure who served as Minister of Health in the final Menderes governments.

Dr. Kırdar was a well-known and respected ophthalmologist since the era of the Committee of Union and Progress. He was a skilled physician with strong administrative capabilities. From the time of the Constitutional Monarchy, he had been involved in Turkist-Anatolianist circles. He was one of the founders of the Village Society.

May 27, 1960, coincided with a time when Dr. Kırdar was part of the DP cadres. He was arrested for being a minister in the deposed government. During the High Court of Justice trials, on February 18, 1961, he passed away in the courtroom.  passed away in the courtroom.

What is dramatic is this: Dr. Kırdar's true political identity lies with the Committee of Union and Progress and the single-party CHP. Kırdar was a governor appreciated by Atatürk for his successful management, and he served as the governor and mayor of Istanbul during the National Chief era. In other words, It is more accurate to consider Dr. Kırdar as part of Inönü's political-administrative cadre rather than as a member of the Democrat Party.

It would be correct to compare his affiliation with the Democrat Party to that of Ali Fuat Cebesoy. We could call this a party membership that was not politically deeply engaged, but rather a necessity to be part of the dominant party due to circumstances.

FAHRETTİN KERİM GÖKAY AND PRIME MINISTER MENDERES 

Fahrettin Kerim Gökay, a renowned physician, was appointed as the governor and mayor of Istanbul in 1949 following Lütfi Kırdar's appointment as ambassador to Stockholm. Although the Democrat Party administration made widespread changes in the military, civil bureaucracy, and the judiciary, they did not remove Ord. Prof. Dr. Gökay from office for a long time. Despite having disagreements with Menderes on many issues, Fahrettin Kerim remained in office until the municipality was separated from the provincial administration. This means that the DP worked together for almost the entire duration of its power with the person Inönü had appointed to lead the Istanbul administration.  

It should not be forgotten that Fahrettin Kerim, by showing the crowd gathered at the Istanbul rally organized by the CHP just before the 1950 elections to Inönü, “Here is Istanbul, my Pasha...” is the administrator who said this.  Despite this, the Bayar-Menderes duo did not remove Fahrettin Kerim from office until 1957. Istanbul, which had ceased to be an Eastern capital and had become a republican city during the time of Dr. Kırdar, gained a more Western urban appearance during the Menderes era. The Hilton Hotel is a very significant step in this regard. Construction, which began in 1951, concluded with the opening of the hotel in 1955. An important point is that the İstanbul Hilton was one of the first three hotels built outside the United States after the Second World War. While the Pera Palace and Park Hotel symbolize the imperial and early republican periods, the İstanbul Hilton symbolizes the opening to international capitalism; the hotel's opening, which lasted for five days of festivities, is significant.

Although Menderes terminated Prost's contract, he followed his plans and carried out major expropriations that he could not have imagined, without paying much attention to the law. What made Menderes so aggressive after winning the 1954 elections was his view of Istanbul as a congested city. He was right about this. He was intent on erasing the impression that foreigners arriving in the city from Yeşilköy Airport were entering a medieval city. This is the reason why Menderes's reconstruction efforts were concentrated between the airport and the historic peninsula. Menderes's demolition movements in old Istanbul were similar to the “creative destruction” have compared it to the process. Menderes, describing the urban development movement he carried out with 7,300 expropriations as “the reconquest of Istanbul” was depicted in one of the cartoons of the time as a prime minister cutting the “Gordian knot” with a sword.  What distinguished Menderes from Western creative destruction was his 'alaturka' (traditional/unrefined) style of governance and his indifference toward the law. His relationship with Fahrettin Kerim Gökay soured after the September 6-7 events and turned into a conflict during the major expropriation movement. Eventually, Fahrettin Kerim was removed from his post by being appointed as the 

Ambassador to Bern.  Ambassador to Bern.

MENDERES'S POLICIES REGARDING ISTANBUL 

During Menderes's tenure as prime minister, the most tangible intra-city changes were the boulevards that were opened. The largest expropriations and demolitions took place in the historic walled city, a remnant of the Byzantine and Ottoman eras. This period, "we will plow through regardless of the pottery" became the first implementation of this mindset in our history.

It is certain that Menderes was the prime minister who significantly altered the city's silhouette. The meeting of the 50-meter-wide Vatan and Millet boulevards at Aksaray Square, the expropriation of the Yenikapı Greek neighborhood, the construction of the Sirkeci-Florya coastal road (Kennedy Avenue) by filling in the sea, the London Asphalt connecting the airport to the city, and finally the Barbaros Boulevard opened in 1958, are the primary examples of Menderes's urban development initiatives.

Menderes's development activities and the events of September 6-7, 1955, are significant in terms of Istanbul's demographic history. Some writers interpret the Menderes era as the Turkification of Istanbul and the liquidation of minorities. As is known, the Greek Orthodox population, who were excluded from the population exchange by the Treaty of Lausanne, were the city's “With its conquest by Anatolian immigrants” it has proportionally almost melted away.

The city's population was 1.2 million in the early 50s and rose to 1.9 million in 1960. Issues such as Turkish-Greek tensions, the Aegean Islands, and the Cyprus question accelerated the demographic collapse of the Greek minority. The Greek population, which had been the most important element of Istanbul's cosmopolitan structure throughout Ottoman history, has eroded. Today, Istanbul is a city where the Greek Orthodox population exists only symbolically.

During the Menderes era, in parallel with urban development projects, the approach to  transportation also changed. Since the 19th century, the city had been a city of trams; public transportation, which began with horse-drawn trams, continued with electric lines following the opening of the Silahtar Power Plant (1914), and the lines were further developed during the Republican era.

From the early Republican period onwards, the main tram lines were as follows: On the European side: Fevzipaşa-Vatan-Millet-Ordu Avenue-Yeniçeriler-Karaköy, Dolmabahçe-Beşiktaş-Yıldız, Taksim-Elmadağ-Şişli, Fatih-Harbiye; and on the Anatolian side: Üsküdar Square-Ahmediye-Çiçekçi-Kadıköy, Kadıköy-Altıyol-Moda, and Üsküdar-Kısıklı lines. Menderes's transportation policy, based on road transport, resulted in the complete dismantling of all tram lines by the 1960s. This would be followed by trolleybuses supported by overhead electric lines.

Ultimately, during the Democrat Party era, the old Istanbul experienced an intense demographic mobility that it would later be crushed under. Following the Second World War, the transportation-focused approach created by the "free world" became a part of history. It should not be forgotten that the radical changes Menderes implemented in Istanbul were received very positively by Western public opinion, and the Council of European Municipalities awarded Istanbul the Le Prix de l'Europe in 1959.

The May 27 coup  while overthrowing the DP administration, also brought an era to an end by dismissing Kemal Aygün, whom Menderes had appointed—even though he had been elected by the Municipal Council.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF ISTANBUL: 1923-1963 

When the Republican administration took over Istanbul, the city held the imperial legacy within its bosom. While in the past all Anatolian and Rumelian lands were tied to and served the capital, it was now a city that had fallen from grace as a province of the new Turkish State, whose capital was a small Anatolian  town.

For approximately one year, Istanbul remained a province nominally under the TBMM Government, yet effectively under the continued occupation of the Allies. The true liberation of Istanbul was achieved with the Treaty of Lausanne. After the Peace Treaty was ratified by the parties,  the Allies evacuated the city.

Nevertheless, between November 1, 1922, and October 6, 1923, Istanbul remained connected to the Ankara administration through an “extraordinary representative” This role was held first by Refet Pasha and later by Dr. Adnan Adıvar. Following the TBMM's decisions numbered 307 and 308, and the resignation of the last Grand Vizier Ahmet Tevfik Pasha, the Istanbul Municipal Council, left without an authority, declared its allegiance to the Ankara Government. After a while, Ankara organized the former capital as a province and appointed Ali Haydar Bey (Yuluğ) as governor, dismissing Mayor Ziya Bey and placing the Istanbul Municipality under the authority of the governorship. The governor-mayor who took over the office continued to manage municipal affairs within the framework of the Dersaadet Municipal Law and the provisional law that amended it; after Ali Haydar Bey, Surgeon Emin Bey and Muhittin Bey continued their duties as the heads of the city's civil and local administrations. 

The Municipalities Law No. 1580, dated 1930, was enacted as a framework law. For Istanbul, the local and civil administrations were merged into a single administration. The Provincial General Assembly under the name “City Council” simultaneously assumed the functions of the municipal council. While this situation essentially stemmed from the principle of expansion of authority and separation of duties (tevsi-i mezuniyet and tefrik-i vezaif) envisioned for local administrations by the 1924 Constitution, the tutelary oversight that applied to other provinces was, for Istanbul, replaced by the merger of local and civil administration.  was implemented in this form. The unified administration of Istanbul continued until the end of the Fahrettin Kerim Gökay era. The Democrat Party, with the Law No. 6349 dated 1954, the "Law on the Separation of the Istanbul Unified Administration" separated the Istanbul Municipality from the provincial administration.    A transition regime was to be implemented for this purpose. Ultimately, it was stated that the "Municipal Council will elect the mayor in its February 1955 session, and the mayor will begin  his duties on March 1, 1955" however, the transition could only be completed in 1958. On this date, the Municipal Council would elect the mayor for the first time. The mayor's appointment through a two-stage election process continued until 1963.

Istanbul did not undergo major changes until the dates when multi-party political life began and Turkey integrated into the capitalist world. Atatürk was aware that a zoning plan was needed for the modernization of the city to which he was deeply attached. This was the reason why Henri Prost was invited during his lifetime. Steps were taken in the city to increase the quality of public services, along with the creation of statues and squares that symbolized the new state and the republican regime.

The first major changes in the city's appearance would take place after Atatürk's passing, during the tenure of Dr. Lütfi Kırdar. Interestingly, all these innovations largely coincided with the years of the Second World War. The changes Dr. Kırdar made in the city were aimed at creating public spaces for modern secular life.

The most radical changes to Istanbul's face occurred during the Democrat Party era; at the foundation of these was Menderes's “traffic should flow like water” goal, which initiated the idea of opening wide streets and boulevards. It can be said that the urban development movements spearheaded by Menderes formed the infrastructure of today's Istanbul. In reality, it was Adnan Menderes and the Democrat Party administration that dismantled the Ottoman capital and transformed the city into a city of European-style boulevards. Istanbul's last governor-mayor was Ethem Yetkiner. The person brought to the position of mayor by the Municipal Council in accordance with the law separating the unified Istanbul administration was to be Ankara Governor Kemal Aygün.

The procedure of the Mayor of Istanbul being elected by the Municipal Council continued until the 1961 Constitution came into effect. From that date to the present, mayors have been elected through a single-round simple majority system. Following the 1961 general elections, local government elections were held on July 27, 1963. In the first election held in Istanbul, CHP candidate Haşim İşcan won the mayoral seat.