Cagaloglu Square 1940s
From the Memoirs of Ertugrul Mat
On the Way to Democracy
Translated by Elif Erkmen
Cagaloglu Square was the heart of Istanbul in those years
where Bab-i Ali and Nur-u Osmaniye Streets crossed each other. Nur-u Osmaniye Street
ended at the Grand Bazaar and newspaper and publishing companies were located
at Babiali Street.
On the right hand side there was a bakery across from
Cezayirli Kasim Pasha Mosque and next to the bakery there was a tailor shop and
a coffee shot and Cagaloglu Pharmacy. Bakery owner Naci was from the Balkan provinces
of the Empire, Tailor Spiro was Greek and the coffee shop owner was an Armenian
named Artin.
The newspaper head offices, printing houses, medical offices
and sort of brokers for the doctors were still at the Babiali area. Those
brokers would know right away who came from a small town Anatolia and looking
for a doctor in the area. They would approach the patients or patient families
like good Samaritans and ask if they could be of any help.
“Son, where is the office of Dr. Ekrem Sherif?”
”Oh my dear friend! You are too late. Dear Dr. Sheriff
passed away last week. But you are lucky, you run into me. I will take you to a
doctor who is far better.” And he would take the poor family to another doctor
that they know. At the end of the day those brokers would come to the doctors’
office to take a commission for their services!
Well don’t be so surprised, fifty years later in Ankara it
has been said that famous doctors prescribe expensive cancer medicines and then
they go to the pharmacy to collect 10 per cent.
Spiro’s place was a gathering place to talk about one’s
daily lives and hear about the political developments. The journalist would
gather there after work.
Naji the Baker was good friends with Spiro. He liked to wear
light colored suits and white hats for summer. He read Koran in the mornings
and he liked read history books to his children in the evenings. The family
especially liked Women’s Reign by Ahmet Refik; which was written in Ottoman
Turkish and described the power struggles of the women in the Imperial Harem.
We learned about the lives of Ottoman officials and princes from those history
books. While my sister Leman, brother
Ihsan and I were listening those stories, my mom would be taking care of my
younger sister Leyla.
I went to school in Divanyolu Street.
My dad brought modern machines for his bakery which was
known as Hosgor Bakery; which showed his positive attitude towards people.
Divanyolu street
Both my mom’s and dad’s families emigrated from Macedonia
during Balkan Wars in the year 1912.
The immigration road
at the time started from Skopje (Uskup) Macedonia, where they took the train to
Varna, Bulgaria, and from there they went to Edirne (Adrianople) then to
Tekirdag, going south and crossing Dardanelles and moving further south to
Izmir direction. Some families went to Bandirma or Bursa and some ended up in
Istanbul. Once in Istanbul they preferred Beshiktas and Fatih neighborhoods. My
paternal grandfather lived in Fatih and my maternal grandfather Tosun Aga lived
in Kabatas area.
Edirne
During 20s and 30s, Tosun Aga was a well-known livestock
merchant. People would wait for him to come so that the market would open in
the mornings. Years later when I went to Bursa and touring the villages for an
election campaign one elderly man greeted me saying “Welcome Tosun Aga’s
grandson!”
Fatma- Naci Mat
When my parents got married people was surprised and asked “Did
Tosun Aga had a daughter?” That was because
in those days young girls and women didn’t leave the house much. I used to
tease my dad about how he was able to find my mom and got married to her.
My father had a large family, during the first years of the
marriage all lived under the same roof. Grandfather Emrullah was a very authoritarian
man. One day my mom was very tired with all the housework and she still had to
serve coffee to my Grandpa. He wouldn’t lit his cigarette himself using the
fire from the brazier just in front of him but would call for my mom or dad to light
his cigaret. That day after serving the coffee my mom went out of the room by walking
backwards respectfully and sat on the stairs and waited my grandpa to finish
his coffee.
When she went back in the room she noticed that Grandpa didn’t
drink his coffee. Because Grandpa was offended that the daughter- in-Law didn’t
wait standing holding the empty tray until he finished his coffee!
Even years later whenever my mom told this story she would
turn red in anger…
Alay Kosku
The neighbourhood gets its
name from Cigalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha (Turkish: Cağaloğlu Yusuf Sinan Paşa; c. 1545–1605), an Ottoman
admiral and statesman of Genoese descent, as well as a member of the influential Cicala family of Genoa. The original name Cigalaoğlu(meaning "of the Cigala (Cicala)
family", or literally "Cigala-son" as a Turkified surname) eventually turned into Cağaloğlu through the course of centuries.
Babiali
Bâb-ı Âli
The Sublime
Porte, also known as the Ottoman
Porte or High Porte
from Arabic: باب, bāb "gate"
and Arabic: عالي,alī "high"), is a metonym for the central government of the Ottoman Empire, by reference to the gate giving access to the
block of buildings that housed the principal state departments in Istanbul. Today,
the buildings house the provincial Governor
of Istanbul.
Ertugrul Mat
Lawyer, journalist Member of the Parliament
(1969-1973)
author of the book
Demokrasi Yolunda Karinca Misali-
On the Way to Democracy
Born in Istanbul 1934 and currently lives in Ankara, Turkey
Fatma Ertugrul Mat 1960's
