The Value of Spending Most of Its Presence for Turkey; Nuri Demirağ

One of the first contractors of the railway construction of the Republic of Turkey and one of the first millionaires of the republican era, he invested his wealth in Turkey's industrial development along with his brother Abdurrahman Naci Demirağ, and is widely known as a charitable person besides his business life.

He was born in Divrigi town of Sivas in 1886. He is the son of Mühürdarzade Ömer Bey, one of the notables of this town, and his mother's name is Ayşe Hanım. He lost his father when he was only three years old, and was brought up as an autodidact under the patronage and encouragement of his mother. He completed his high school education in his hometown and was appointed as a teacher to the same high school, he won a competition test opened by Ziraat Bank and worked first in Kangal and then in Koçkiri branches of this bank. He passed an exam opened by the Ministry of Finance and went from banking to finance service, came to Istanbul and worked as a distinguished civil servant at every level of Finance. He became a Finance Inspector at the age of 33. He settled in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, by not cutting off his connection with Divrigi.

According to his own record, he started cigarette paper business with his savings of 56 gold (252 paper liras) and issued a cigarette paper called "Turkish Victory".

In those bitter and dark days, the "Turkish Victory Cigarette Paper" was in great demand, and it brought a lot of money to Mühürdarzade Nuri Bey with his surname at that time, 252 liras became 84 000 liras in three years. Later, by adopting the great construction work that the Republican government started with the Turkish Railways and highways, he started the contracting life with the most suitable offers to the state.(1)

"The first Turkish Railway Contractor started to move forward with all the strength of his determination and faith from the place where he struck the first pickaxe, and started to weave all the places he passed through with iron nets." But Nuri Bey's success, he did not only cover the places he passed from Samsun to Erzurum with iron nets. He tried to realize his great claim. Following its first accrual from Samsun, it built a 1012-kilometer railway on (Fevzipaşa-Diyarbakır) (Afyon-Antalya) (Sivas-Erzurum) (Irmak-Filyos) lines, while also embarking on other major construction works.

He also built Sümerbank's Merinos factory in Bursa, Iron and Steel in Karabük, Cellulose in Izmit, Cement in Sivas, Market Hall in Istanbul and Eceabad - Air bag. It should be added that Nuri Bey did not forget to organize charity fountains in front of all these great works and in their surroundings. As a matter of fact, the number of these fountains exceeded forty-eight" (2)

Nuri Demirağ started to lay the first foundations of the aviation industry in 1936. As the first job, he had a plan - program prepared for a period of 10 years. In accordance with this program, Besiktaş Barbaros established the Airplane Study Workshop next to Hayrettin Pier. This aircraft workshop became a giant factory in a short time. He bought Elmas Pasha farm in Yesilkoy to make it an airplane square. He built a flat plane area of ​​1000 X 1300 meters. An example of this was in Amsterdam, which was the most modern airport in Europe at that time. 1937-

In 1938, the Turkish Aeronautical Association ordered 10 school planes and 65 gliders. The first domestic Turkish plane, built in Istanbul factories, flew to Divriği, the birthplace of Nuri Bey, in August 1941. Nuri Bey, who thinks that such demonstrations, which also excite the public, are beneficial, sent a fleet of 12 planes to Bursa, Turkey in September.

He wanted to show the people that we can protect our skies with our own airplanes and give them faith by flying on the route of Kütahya, Eskişehir, Ankara, Konya, Adana, Elazığ and Malatya. The Nu.D.38 type passenger aircraft is a Turkish type aircraft that was developed entirely by Turkish engineers and workers.

The 6-person passenger aircraft has dual pilot control. It can speed up to 325 kilometers per hour and fly 1000 kilometers per hour. The Turkish Aeronautical Association has given up buying these planes that Nuri Demirağ had ordered to his factories. (3)

"Nuri Demirag, he was among the founders of the National Development Party, which was the first opposition party in the transition to a multi-party system for the third time in the history of the Republic (1945), and assumed its chairmanship"(4) Although the official treatment of the party was completed on 26/8/1945, Nuri Demirağ was put forward with the slogan 'enough is enough' on 6/7/1945 and the attempt to establish a political party was actually started on that date. "Thus, Nuri Demirag not only contributes to the economic development of the country, but also he is also a pioneer and leader in the destruction of the one-party regime in political life (5)" In the tough election struggle of the Republican People's Party and the Democrat Party in the 1946 elections, Nuri Demirağ's Party did not win in the election and the National Development Party was dissolved day by day and completely disappeared from the political field; however, in the 1954 elections, Nuri Demirağ was nominated as an independent candidate from the Democratic Party in Sivas and thus Nuri Demirağ entered the Grand National Assembly as a member of Sivas. His life in the parliament did not last long, he died on November 13, 1957 (1) and was buried in the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery in Istanbul. Nuri Demirağ, who was married to Mesude Demirağ, had two sons, Galip and Kayı Alp, and daughters named Mefkure, Şukufe, Süveyda, Suheyla, Gülbahar and Turan Melek.

Resources:

(1) "Istanbul Encyclopedia", Reşat Ekrem Koçu, Page 4736,

(2) "Who is Nuri Demirağ?", Ziya Şakir, Page 50,

(3) "Anadolu University Civil Aviation Bulletin",

Year: 1 issue: 4 pages: 27,

(4) "Great Larousse Dictionary and Encyclopedia, page 2994,

(5) "The Life and Struggles of Nuri Demirağ, N. Necmettin Deliorman, page 68