ÇEKMEKÖY BELEDİYESİ

 

Istanbul is a huge city where Asia and Europe meets, various culture and civilizations mingle and was used as the capital of Eastern Rome, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. After the occurrence of first civilizations in Istanbul, it became the center of business, politics, culture and history and mesmerized not only poets and authors also conquerors with its fascinating natural beauty dating back to 8 thousand 500 years ago. So ÇEKMEKÖY is one of the county of such beautiful city. As also being a county on the Asian side of this city, it is brought to life with its green forests, exquisite upstream waters and recently constructed modern residential areas. In this context it shines out as a peaceful living center with its recreation areas, peace giving atmosphere, natural beauty and flora. ÇEKMEKÖY was one of the district that was under the administration of Ümraniye Municipality. However, it gained the status of county with 5747 numbered law published on 26824 renumbered official gazette on 22nd March 2008. It became one of the new counties of Istanbul during the elections of 29th March 2009.When Çekmeköy gained the status of being county, it also included to its borders Alemdağ, Taşdelen and Ömerli which used to have legal entity of being first degree municipality. So ÇEKMEKÖY became a mega county including 17 neighborhoods and 4 villages. Çekmeköy consists of Alemdağ, Aydınlar, Çamlık, Çatalmeşe, Cumhuriyet, Ekşioğlu, Güngören, Hamidiye, Kirazlıdere, Mehmet Akif, Merkez, Mimar Sinan, Nişantepe, Ömerli, Soğukpınar, Sultançiftliği ve Taşdelen Neighborhoods and 4 villages as Reşadiye, Hüseyinli, Sırapınar and Koçullu. Geographically it is founded on Keçiağılı Hillside which is located to Alemdağ forests on Asian side of the city. The county which is 100 meters above the sea level has 48,08 kilometer square (14.800 hectare) territory. The population is 183.13 people according to 2011 population census. It is surrounded by counties of Beykoz on northwest, Şile on northeast, Ümraniye on Southwest and Sancaktepe on southeast. ÇEKMEKÖY and its surroundings have a mild climate due to its location at the crosspoints of Mediterranean and Black Sea climates. Because of high humidity ratio, it feels warmer and colder than it really is. June is the warmest, January is the coldest months of the year. The longest season is autumn. WHEN WERE THE VILLAGES FOUNDED? People are generally curious about where they come from, who their ancestors are what the etymological roots of their town’s name is that they live in, shortly they want to know about their past. If there is documentary source they can easily find answers for some of these wondering subjects. It is easier to find information about settlements, statesmen and civil servants rather than ordinary people. There is also verbal information that passes from generations to generations besides the written sources. But this information is not as recognized as documentary sources. Especially there is a lot of verbal information about the etymological source of settlement’s names. However, most of these information is not scientific and real. It is also same for the settlement of villages and their names that we investigated. Only Reşadiye village makes an exception and out of this generalization. As Reşadiye village has been recently built compared to other villages it has precise information about its name and its foundation. When we talk about other villages as ÇEKMEKÖY, Sırapınar, Hüseyinli, Ömerli, Koçullu, Alemdağ and Sultançiftliği there is uncertain and various information about the etymological roots of their names. It is also possible to predict a date for village foundations. The main source of information about the villages are Ottoman archives and court records of Üsküdar during the Ottoman times. The earliest period that we can go back to about village names is reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. In the record books that include the land registration information, the names of ÇEKMEKÖY, Hüseyinli, Sırapınar and Koçullu are mentioned, furthermore Alemdağ and Ömerli village names are also written in Ottoman court records. In the light of this information it is possible to say that ÇEKMEKÖY, Hüseyinli, Sırapınar, Alemdağı, Ömerli and Koçullu villages existed during the years of 1520. However, as it is mentioned above, it is not possible to give a precise date about their foundation. We can state that they were certainly established before 1520 like at the beginning of 1400-1500, after the Turks conquered the area and became permanent here. According to land registration records the villages were under control Yoros (Beykoz) township for administrative purposes. Yoros township was under control of Kocaeli Sanjak. However, they were administrated by Üsküdar for legal purposes. So the center of judgment was Üsküdar Qadi and the center of administration is Yoros township, therefore it was the same settlement of Kocaeli Sanjak. According to land registration records ÇEKMEKÖY land was timar land of Beykoz which was used to be called as Yoros Castle. In other words, ÇEKMEKÖY land was taken care by the people who were in charge of protecting Yoros Castle. The villagers used to pay production taxes to Yoros Castle guardians for the lands that they farm. The timar was belong to people as Hüseyin the son of Durmuş and Hamza the son of Mehmed between the years 1519-1520. The land of Hüseyinli village was under governance of Yoros township which was the timar land of Rumeli Fortress called Boğazkesen Castled back then. The land of Hüseyinli village was taken care of by the people who were in charge of guarding Boğazkesen Castle. The villagers used to pay production taxes to Boğazkesen Castle wardens for the lands that they farm. The timar of Hüseyinli village was belong to one of the guards of Boğazkesen Castle; Katip Hasan the son of Abdullah between the years 1519-1520. The land of Hüseyinli village was given as timar to wardens of Boğazkesen Castle; Katip Mehmed the son of Rüstem and Mustafa the son of Yusuf according to the 1523 dated land registration records belong to Kocaeli Sanjak.There is various information about Sırapınar Village in the land registration records from the era of the Suleiman the Magnificent reign. For instance, it is possible to understand that the other name of Sırapınar Village was Ayna Hoca (can be also Eyne Hoca/İne Hoca). Sırapınar, in the other words Ayna Hoca village was given as timar to Mustafa the son of Çeribaşı Hürmüz. When the village population and the tax payments are taken into consideration, it is obvious that they were quite developed in economic and social ways. The tax income of Koçullu village which was under governance of Yoros Township was given as timar to another warden of Boğazkesen Castle; Ahmed the son of Mustafa just like Hüseyinli Village. In the light of religious court records Alemdağ and Ömerli were under governance of Yoros township.

WHAT ARE THE ETHIMOLOGICAL ROOTS OF VILLAGE NAMES ?

ÇEKMEKÖY VILLAGE

A few theories exist even though there isn’t a definite answer. According to

“Dünden Bugüne ISTANBUL” encyclopedia, ÇEKMEKÖY was founded during the

period of Sultan Mehmet II. by seven brothers. Six out of seven brothers were

killed by bandits and the last one saved his life by saying “don’t pull the trigger

(çekme tetiği) ”, hence it was given as name. In another source it’s stated that

the founders of the village were the conqueror commanders of the Balkans

campaigns in the era of Sultan Mehmet II. Aside from these two theories, there’s

no information about ÇEKMEKÖY preceding the 19th century.

SIRAPINAR VILLAGE

There is no available precise information about the etymological sources of the

village’s name. However, the other name of the village is mentioned as Ayna Hoca which enforces

the possibilities that this very person can be related to the establishment of the village.

At the beginning the person called Ayna Hoca might be given the village as a

property and referring to him the village could be named after him. Later on it is

said that since the village had many water sources it took the name of Sırapınar

which means ‘sequence of springs’. Ottoman empire used to donate land to the

successful statesmen, commander and soldiers during the conquests and military

campaigns. These lands could be completely free or they could have been charged

very little. Hüseyinli and Ömerli Villages should be considered in the light of this

information. Most probably Hüseyinli village was donated to a person named

Hüseyin and Ömerli Village was donated to a person named Ömer as donation by

the empire for heroic achievements therefore they are named that way.

KOÇULLU VILLAGE

There is no available precise information about the etymological source of

Koçullu name. But it is possible to guess where it comes from. As it is widely

known ‘koçu’ was the name of a transportation vehicle which was used in the

past. The villagers of that area were riders of that vehicle therefore the village

was named referring to that.

VILLAGE FOUNDED ON ITS LEGEND: ALEMDAĞ

There is various information about the etymological roots of the name of

Alemdağ. Besides the fact that Alemdağ (high hill) is the highest hill of the

area, the name was taken from Turkish Commander Tur Hasan Bey who was also

known as Alemdar and helped to conquest the area by Turks. The nickname of

Tur Hasan Bey ‘alemdar’ word means the flagman or leading person. It is believed

that Alemdar Baba who was buried in Alemdağ, played an important role during

the conquest and fell a martyr while combatting Byzantines in the castle that he

had built. This story is particularly mentioned in the legends.

According to Alemdar Baba legend, Sultan Turasan (Tur Hasan) and Danişmend

Ghazi were assigned as commanders for Istanbul campaign by the Caliph. Sultan

Turasan departed with his friends for Istanbul conquest campaign. He came until

Alemdağ after conquering many places around Kocaeli. He built a castle here and he

planted the black flag on the castle bastion which was famous for being mutual flag

of Seljuks and Danishmand. After planting the black flag on castle bastion, public

started to call Tur Hasan Bey as Alemdar (flagman) Baba and Alemdağ to this hill. As

it is told in the legend, Alemdar Baba (Tur Hasan Bey) was a commander mentioned

in the legends with his heroic achievements during the conquest of ÇEKMEKÖY. He

was always remembered as a martyr, a sheikh, a saint and a protector. Therefore,

Turkish public named the village after this precious commander.

The place is called as Alemdağ in Ottoman documents. However, it was called as

Alemdar during the Republican era. Thereafter the name of Alemdar was changed

to Alemdağ with 26032 numbered 23rd December 2005 dated legal decision due

to criticism received by press, public and residents.

FROM LAZ VILLAGE TO REŞADİYE

The name of Reşadiye village has very clear information about its foundation and

the etymological roots of its name. Because the establishment of Reşadiye was

quite recent compared to other villages. The village got its name from Ottoman

Sultan Mehmet Reşad, the sultan of the era.

Hopa and its neighborhood was invaded by Russians after the Ottoman-Russian

War of 1877-1878 which is also known as War of 93 in our history. Oppression,

cruelty and threats of Russians on public were escalated following the invasion.

Many people who could not resist this situation migrated to Istanbul by leaving

their houses, properties and villages.

They were domiciled in various parts of Istanbul for some time. Later on they

were temporarily emplaced to Hazine-i Hassa Farms as two neighborhoods. They

were called as Hopa immigrants, Gürcü immigrants, Laz immigrants and Batum

immigrants.

Laz village was the first informal name of the village. When the immigrants

were emplaced to this village, the name of Hamidiye wanted to be given since

it was the era of Sultan Abdulhamid II and the decision was taken by the state

on 26th February 1889. But the decision was not approved by the Sultan so it

never became formal name for the place. The village was named as Reşadiye on

30th December 1911 by the Sultan’s will as the result of attempts of immigrants

during the reign of Sultan Mehmed Reşad who was the subsequent Sultan after

Sultan Abdulhamid II.

 

ÇEKMEKÖY GOING UNDER TURKISH RULE

ÇEKMEKÖY WENT UNDER THE DOMINANCE OF OTTOMAN WITH ORHAN GHAZI

The reoccurrence of Ottomans depends on so many social dynamics and changes

of XIII century in Anatolia. The main dynamic can be seen as Seljuks who

started to settle on Anatolian peninsula starting from 1071 and their activity of

constituting political unities.

Anatolia under the dominance of Seljuks, seems to be almost finished its

Turkification which was the origin of everything for Ottomans at the end of XIII.

Century. This outlook and Turkification was not only consequence of islamization

of indigenes. Turkmen tribes migrated to Anatolia had a great impact on it as well.

The immigration of Oghuz tribes which caused a lot of changes on Anatolian’s

social, economic, religious or even more administrative structures influenced

settled Seljuk governing and state system.

Seljuks moved to borderlines to avoid conflict and skirmish with these seminomadic

Turkmen groups. When recent arrived groups and Byzantines came across with

Seljuks, it only did not cause conflict also resulted with social interactions.

At the time of Ottoman Empire’s foundation, Anatolian Turkish Principalities

were filled with people from all classes and professions coming from all over

the Islamic world as the source of a civilized life. These people were teachers

from Iran, Egypt, Crimean; bureaucrats from Seljuks and Ilhanlı coming from

Middle and Far East; dervishes from various religious orders engaging missionary

activities to gain more Muslims.

Especially there were Turkish knights in this group called as Gaziyân-ı Rum, Alpler

or Alp Erenler which existed before Islam in the Turkish world and they had a

strong organization. Those ghazis used to make hold wars for Islam and they

used to survive with the booties that were obtained from these wars.

When Anatolian Seljuk Empire started to dissolve due to Ilhanlı pressure,

independent or semi-independent Turkmen principalities started to emerge at

the borderlines. One of the Turkish Principality was Ottomans. The principality

became famous with the holy wars made with Byzantine under the command of

Osman Bey.

Osman bey who had the dominance from Eskişehir to Bursa Iznik borders tried to

get along with Byzantine feudal landlords instead of combatting with them to be

able to be more powerful. When he made the ideology of ‘holy war’ enforced in

the principality caused some of other principalities or Byzantine feudal landlords

to join him by their own will. His victory dated 1302 against Byzantine forces was

the sign of his strength. From now on, it stated to stand out between the Turkish

principalities. Especially after the withdrawal of Catalans brought by Byzantines

as mercenary the oppression was escalated. There were many conquests with

commanders as Abdurrahman Ghazi, Akça Koca, Konuralp, Kara Mürsel, Samsa

Çavuş ve Mihal Ghazi (Köse Mihal). It is mentioned that Samandıra conquest was

considered for the first time during the era of Osman Ghazi in Hoca Saadettin

Efendi’s book.

Bolu, Konrapa, Akyazı and Mudurnu were conquered by Konuralp and Kandıra,

Ermenipazarı (Akmeşe) and Ayan Lake were conquered by Akça Koca during the

reign of Osman Ghazi. Thereafter these two commanders started the necessary

preparations to conquer Samandra Castle which was located in the middle of the

country. But the life of Osman Ghazi was not enough to accomplish it. However,

the project of conquest of Samandra and its neighborhood continued to be on the

schedule when Orhan Ghazi ascended the throne. The first biggest war between

Ottomans and Byzantines was Pelekanon War in 1329. The Byzantine Emperor

who was defeated during the war and injured by his leg survived only by escaping

wrapped in a carpet. After the war named Pelekanon War Turks began to settle in

the area permanently and they conquered until Üsküdar by conquering the lands

on the Asian side of the city. The first Ottoman soldiers getting into Istanbul was

again during the Orhan Ghazi era. After the Pelekanon War Orhan bey began to

have close relationships with Byzantines. He gave 6 thousand soldiers of Turkish

military force under the command of John VI Kantakouzenos. Then John VI

Kantakouzenos defeated Paleologos with the help of Turkish military forces and

caused Turkish soldier to enter to Istanbul. After that Turks started expanding

their territory around Marmara Sea, and held Byzantines completely under siege

by conquering Çimpe Castle in 1352.

On the other side Orhan Ghazi’s commander Abdurrahman Ghazi and companions

took Samandıra from Byzantines in the year 728 in Muslim calendar (year

1327/1328 in Gregorian calendar). Two years after Orhan Ghazi became the

ruler İzmit and Hereke Castles were conquered and given to crown prince

Süleyman Pasha, and in the year 1331, the city of İznik, which was long under

siege, was taken and made the capital for a period. Turks started settling around

Samandıra after the conquests in 1330s. According to the agreement Orhan

Ghazi made with the Byzantines, an Ahi lodge was established in the hunting

lodge of Emperor Andronikos III. in Merdivenköy. Later on this lodge turned into

one of the most important Bektaşi centers in Istanbul.

Conquest of the land around Beykoz was accomplished during the rule of Beyazid

I. When Beyazid I. decided to conquer the Byzantines, he sent his commander

Yahşi Bey to Şile area. After long fighting Şile became part of the Ottoman

lands. Later on Yahşi Bey advanced towards the Byzantines, and reaching the

Bosphorus shores he took part in the construction of Anadolu Fortress. But as

Tamerlane started occupying Anatolia Beyazid I. gathered his troops in the area

and advanced towards Tamerlane. Taking advantage of the situation, Byzantine

Emperor Manuel established the Byzantine rule in the area once again. During

the Ottoman Interregnum, the area stayed under the Byzantine control. As one

of the sons of Beyazid I., Çelebi Mehmet, won the throne fighting against his

brothers, he took charge of the army and conquered Hereke, Gebze, Darıca, Kartal

and Pendik. His commander Timurtaşoğlu Umur Bey also conquered Şile and

ÇEKMEKÖY once again. After that period the area stayed a permanent residence

for the Turks and became training grounds for the conquest of ISTANBUL.

ÇEKMEKÖY IN CADASTRAL SURVEYS

The documentary information from Ottoman era mentions about the villages

that consist current Çekmeköy for the first time are the cadastral surveys. The

cadastral surveys are the main source of statistical information about human and

economic geography of 16th century. During the Ottoman Empire the cadastral

surveys were prepared in the presence of a qadi, a clerk chosen from noble

families and the respected people at that time. At the end of the conducted

population census, they were preparing two books as ‘mufassal’ and ‘icmal’.

In the cadastral surveys ilyazıcı and cadastral survey officers used to determine

the new conquered land and consign them as timar, zeamet and has. The officers

who would determine the status of the land were viziers or sanjak-beys. In the

light of cadastral surveys, it is possible to get information about the names and

father names of adult men population in some certain areas of the empire, the

lands that they had and the tax obligations. Moreover, these books reveal the

variety and quantity of agricultural products and particular customs about the

cultivation in the census conducted areas. At the same time tax paying passages,

markets, fairs and custom neighborhoods, coal and salt mines, fishing points were

written in the cadastral surveys with their approximate annual revenues and the

way of work. So it is possible to learn the timar, private property and glebe lands;

the source of income, legal status and the way of administration of the villages.

In the 436 numbered cadastral survey from Ottoman archive there is data about

Hüseyinli, ÇEKMEKÖY, Sırapınar and Koçullu. This cadastral survey record dated

926 in the Muslim calendar and dated 1519-1520 in the Gregorian calendar

includes the information from last period of Yavuz Sultan Selim and the first

period of his son Sultan Suleiman. The mentioned villages were under the

governance of Yoros township. Yoros township was under of Kocaeli Sanjak.

ÇEKMEKÖY WAS TIMAR OF YOROS CASTLE

According to cadastral surveys ÇEKMEKÖY land was the timar land of Beykoz

which was called as Yoros Castle at that time. ÇEKMEKÖY land was used by the

people who were assigned to protect Yoros Castle.

The villagers used to pay production taxes to Yoros Castle wardens for the lands

that they farm. ÇEKMEKÖY’s timar tax was belonging to people called Hüseyin the

son of Durmuş and Hamza the son of Mehmed between the dates of 1519-1520.

There were 22 people registered as ÇEKMEKÖY population according to cadastral

surveys in 1519-1520.

7 of them were registered as “çift”, 8 of them were “ekinlü”, 5 of them were

“mücerred” (single adult man) 1 of them was exempt, 1 of them was “bennak”.

“Bennak” was the name of a tax that was paid by the timarholders (Timariot)

under the control of Ottoman Empire. This tax was considered as income tax. It

was separated as “Ekinlü bennak” and “caba bennak”. “Ekinlü bennak” was the

tax paid by the timaroits who has less land than “nim çiftlik” and it was 18 akces.

“Caba bennak” was the tax paid by the people did not have land to farm as timar

but they were married and working. This amount was 12 akce. This was called as

“caba akcesi” and the tax was collected in the month of March.

THERE WERE PEOPLE COMING TO ÇEKMEKÖY FOR FARMING

There were people coming to ÇEKMEKÖY for farming from different parts of the

city. They were mentioned in the cadastral surveys just below the village resident

records as “outsider farmers”. There were 9 people registered as outsider

farmers on the mentioned dates. 4 of them came with their brothers and they

were Muslims.

According to this data, there were 33 taxpayers in ÇEKMEKÖY. Moreover 17

houses were registered in the village. In the light of this information, we can

predict the population of ÇEKMEKÖY in 1520s. If it is thought that each house

would have average 5 people, we can say that ÇEKMEKÖY had a population of

80-90. Certainly the outsider farmers were not included to this calculation. The

records in the cadastral surveys also give information about the farm products

in the village. Accordingly, they used to farm wheat, barley, oats, spelt, flax

and different kinds of fruits in this village. We can say that villagers farm these

products for themselves first, and then the rest of harvest is sold to reap a profit.

There were different kinds of tax that villagers pay like öşr-i kettan, öşr-i meyve,

çayır tax, resm-i ganem, resm-i çift, resm-i ekinlü, resm-i mücerred, bad-ı heva,

resm-i küvâre and deşt-i bânî (the types of taxes charged from people depending

on the quantity of the product). Wheat, oat and spelt were the main agricultural

products. Depending on this data, Çekmeköy had agriculture as main source of

income and ranching was less popular. This shows us residents of Çekmeköy were

used to settled life and they lived on by agriculture.

HÜSEYİNLİ WAS TIMAR LAND OF RUMELI FORTRESS

There is information about Hüseyinli Village in the cadastral surveys which show

the population, the harvest and the timar of Kocaeli Sanjak in 1519-1520.

Accordingly, Hüseyinli was a village under governance of Yoros township which

was under the governance of Kocaeli Sanjak. Hüseyinli village land was the timar

land of Rumeli Fortress which was called as Boğazkesen Castle in the cadastral

surveys. The land of Hüseyinli village was controlled by Boğazkesen wanders.

Villagers used to pay taxes for the land that they farm as timar to Boğazkesen

Castle wanders. The timaroit of Hüseyinli village was one of the wanders of

Boğazkesen castle called as Clerk Hasan the son of Abdullah. The land of Hüseyinli

village was belonged to Clerk Mehmet the son of Rüstem and Mustafa the son

of Yusuf according to cadastral surveys of Kocaeli Sanjak dated 929 in Muslim

Calendar and 1523 in Gregorian calendar.

According to the cadastral surveys dated 1519-1520, there were 8 people

registered in Hüseyinli Village. Those 6 people were ekinlü, one was “mücerred”

(single adult man) and one of them was Janissary.

Furthermore, there were people coming to Hüseyinli Village from different places just to farm the

land. Those people were registered as ‘outsider farmers’ in the cadastral surveys. Same records also have the

agricultural production and taxation information of the village. Wheat, oath and flax were the most common

agricultural production. Hüseyinli Village was at the state of being timar of Boğazkesen Castle Wardens depending on the

information in 1530 dated Anatolian City Accounting register. Hüseyinli had 6 houses, 4 mücerreds (single

adult man), 2 meremetçi (tax free), 3 sipahizades registered. The village was paying 650 akces as tax in total.

SIRAPINAR (EYNE/AYNA HOCA) WAS TIMAR OF ÇERİBAŞI MUSTAFA

1519-1520 dated cadastral survey records have information about Sırapınar

Village. We can learn from these records the other name of Sırapınar village as

Ayna Hoca (It may be Eyne Hoca or Ine Hoca), how many people were tax payers,

how many people were making visits outside of the village and how much tax

they used to pay.

Sırapınar or in the other words Ayna Hoca Village was given as timar to Mustafa

the son of Çeribaşı Hürmüz. There were 33 houses depending on the records and

there were 38 tax payers, 3 muhassıl, 1 pirifani and 1 hatip who did not pay

taxes. They were registered as 10 ekinlü, 9 bennak, 4 mücerred, 1 çift and other

sizes of land farmers.

There were outside farmers coming to Sırapınar Village at that time. There were

7 of them. Wheat, barley, oats, spelt, flax were the agricultural products. It is

also possible to understand from the records that they used to farm fruits and

vegetables and they were occupied with beekeeping and ranching as well. They

were paying 7 thousand akces as tax in total. The agricultural product farmed by

the Sırapınar villagers, their values and the taxes are registered under the title

of “hâsıl”.

When we take into consideration the population and the taxes they pay, it is

possible to see that Sırapınar village was economically and socially well developed

in 1520s.

KOÇULLU VILLAGE USED TO FEED WARDENS OF BOSPHORUS

The tax income of Koçullu which was a village under the governance of Yoros

Township was given to another wander of Boğazkesen Castle called Ahmed the son

of Mustafa as timar just like Hüseyinli village. There were 14 houses and 31 men in

Koçullu depending on the information of the cadastral survey books dated 1519-

1520. There were 20 residents of the village from the registered ones. From this

20, it was registered as 9 were “çift”, 3 were “ekinlü”, 3 “mücerred”, 1 “muhassık”

and 2 were “bennaks”. Remaining 11 people were unregistered farmers.

Crops farmed at the time in Koçullu village included wheat, oat and flax.

According to the records beekeeping was also popular besides farming. Lack of

any sheep depictions shows that ranching didn’t exist.

ÇEKMEKÖY IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 17th CENTURY

First years of the 17th Century were the period when Sultan Ahmed I. who ended

the law of killing crown princes which started with Bayezid I and became a law

during Mehmed I, and started the eldest male as the heir rule. Sultan Ahmed I

became a sultan at the age of 13 when his father, Mehmed III died.

Ottoman-Austrian war was taking place when he became the sultan. At the end

of this war peace treaty of Zsitvatorok was signed.

Ramazanoğulları Beylik, which was one of the longest lasting Anatolian Beyliks

and came under the governance of the Ottomans during Sultan Selim I, was

officially terminated. Rebellions such as Tavil Ahmed, Canbolatoğlu, Kalenderoğlu,

Deli Hasan and Celali were suppressed by taking tough and consistent measures.

Alongside dealing with such political problems, keeping track of income amounts

of taxpayers and keeping them in balance were dealt with.

Surveys of population and land were frequently held during this period when

both the population and wealth were in constant increase. Such work that was

possible due to imperial organizational structure and power, were going to

become an impossible task soon afterwards.

HÜSEYİNLİ VILLAGE WAS OCCUPIED WITH AGRICULTURE

There is a family registration record who was occupied with agriculture in

Hüseyinli village in the cadastral surveys including the population, harvest

and Charitable foundation information of the villages and townships under the

governance of Kocaeli Sanjak from Sultan Ahmed era (1603-1617).

Wheat, oat and flaw were the agricultural products in Hüseyinli village. They did

not have ağnam tax.

THEY USED TO COME TO SIRAPINAR VILLAGE FOR AGRICULTURE FROM

OUTSIDE

Similarly, from the same period from mufassal cadastral survey records there is

information about Sırapınar in other words Ayna Hoca/Eyne Hoca village. There

were 43 people registered, 36 as residents and 7 as outsider farmers.

In the residents’ section, there were one orator, 8 “mücerred”, 3 “bennak” and 9

“ekinlü”. The other people were registered as farmers.

The agricultural products were wheat, barley, oats, millet, beans and flax.

Since they had Kovan tax, it is possible to understand they had beekeeping and

ranching in the village. Also it is possible to understand that there was a mill in

the village. The total revenue was 7,935 akçes in Sırapınar village in these years.

THEY WERE FARMING WHEAT AND BEEKEEPING IN KOÇULLU

According to cadastral surveys of 1603-1617, there were 22 people registered

in Koçullu village; 4 as ekinlü, 6 as mücerred, 1 person as bennak. The outsider

farmers were 22 people. The agricultural products of the village were wheat,

barley, oat and flax.

It is possible to understand from taxations that they were occupied with farming,

beekeeping and ranching. The total revenue from these activities were 2,800

akces.

 

SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF ÇEKMEKÖY IN 20TH CENTURY

The census also called cadastral surveys was used to be applied till 17th century

as it is necessary for timar system aiming collecting taxes and soldiers from the

beginning of Ottoman empire. Therefore, the population census was conducted

for cadastral surveys. That’s why it is told that there was no evidence of conducted

population census in 17th century by the researchers.

During the 19th century, many attempts were made to conduct population

census, and some census could be conducted partly or generally. The main

feature of these censuses was that they were conducted to have information

about the number of the people, not for cadastral surveys or the records. The

first modern population census was conducted during the reign of Mahmud II.

The male population was registered with this population census conducted in

1831. Many states had the population census including Rumeli by the order of

the Sultan.

After the 1831 census in the Ottoman Empire, the 1844 census was conducted

with modern principles to regulate the army and change the way of recruiting by

Serasker Riza Pasha. In 1854 since the dividend taxation began to be applied,

the real estate and census were considered to be a regulation, but that could

not be successfully completed. In 1856, there was a conducted census which

only included Anatolia and Syria, in 1870 general census was decided to be

conducted but due to troubled situation of the Empire, it could not be realized.

In 1874, after conducting a census including Tuna city, there was another longlasting

census conducted in 1878. It was long lasting that the census of Istanbul

lasted about 6 months.

When the data of census records which was the first example of modern census

conduction in the Empire are investigated, it is possible to have information

about numerical size of village household population, the generation and kinship

relations of house individuals, the age and average age data from the birth and

death records of the households and many data about fertility and mortality

rates. It was registered that the profession of the household, particularly

breadwinner’s working status, annual earnings and the tax that are charged

from these earnings. Therefore, an assessment can be made based on this data.

Furthermore, it is possible to have a general idea of Çekmeköy based on the

information from census book records in 1830s.

We have census records belong to Çekmeköy, Hüseyinli, Sırapınar, Koçullu,

Ömerli, Alemdağı and Sultançiftliği. The census records of Çekmeköy, Hüseyinli,

Sırapınar, Koçullu and Ömerli are from Mahmud II. era (1248/1832) only

including the information of Muslim population and the records of Alemdağ and

Sultançiftliği are including the information of Armenian population and dated

as 1858.

IN 1832 THERE WERE 65 MUSLIM MEN IN ÇEKMEKÖY

It is possible to understand from the census book,

Çekmeköy was under governance of Yoros township

in 1832. It is necessary to make more investigations

on census books of villages, to be able to make more

detailed evaluations. There were 65 Muslim men

domiciled in Çekmeköy according to the census book.

When we take a deeper look on demography we can

see that they have 65 male population including one

Imam and one mukhtar. If we assume the women

and men population were equal in numbers, then the

population of the village could be around 130 people.

The census books have even the new born male babies’

records. Firstly, the head of the family or paterfamilias

was registered. Then the other male members of

the family were registered from oldest to youngest.

When the registration of one family was finished, the

next family was written below. It was emphasized the

degree and blood relation (son, brother etc.) between

the members. Furthermore, it is possible to see some

member’s physical features, occupations or nicknames.

AVERAGE OF AGE IN HÜSEYİNLİ: 22.6

The male population of Hüseyinli was 56 people. Based

on this information it is possible to say that the village

had population of approximately 110 people. There were Imam and Muhktar

in the village. There were 15 people aged between 0-9 years, 16 people aged

between 10-19 years, 4 people aged between 20-29 years, 12 people aged

between 30-39 years, 8 people aged between 40-49 years and 1 person aged

70-70 years registered.

Furthermore, not having anyone aged over 50 years is drawing attention. The

average of age in Hüseyinli village was 22.6.

THE YOUNGEST VILLAGE: SIRAPINAR

Sırapınar village which has 62 people male population had one Imam and one

mukhtar. The Imam was registered at the beginning of the book. It was also

registered Imam’s sons and son in laws where his information was written. We can

say that the son-in-law was living in his wife’s parents’ house. It is possible to see

that some families also took care of their brother’s or relatives’ children besides

their own children from the records. Estimated population was 120 for the village.

THE YOUNGEST IMAM IS IN KOÇULLU

The population of men was 44 people in Koçullu. According to this, it is possible to

understand that there were 90 people in the village. Koçullu village had two imams

and one muhktar. The younger Imam (25 years old) was at the beginning of the

list and the older Imam (60 years old) was registered at the bottom of the list.

THE MOST CROWDED VILLAGE: ÖMERLİ

Ömerli Village had 142 male population in total. That shows the population was

over 280 people in this village. The Imam of the village was Esseyyid Hüseyin,

the son of Ömer at the age of 41 and the mukhtar of the village was Hüseyin the

son of Salih at the age of 43. Consequently, when we examine the census books

of ÇEKMEKÖY, Hüseyinli, Sırapınar, Koçullu and Ömerli villages it is possible to

understand there was one imam and one muhktar in the village. The Imams were

registered at the beginning of the census books. Muhktars were registered in the

middle or just after the Imams of the census books.

Another point is that non-Muslim population was excluded from the registration.

Furthermore, only men population was recorded, there was no information about

women population.

In the village every male was recorded including one-month old baby boy or the

oldest man of the village. We can get precise information about male population

and the age groups of the villages. But it is not possible to get the exact

information about the women. We can only estimate about them. Assuming that

the number of male and female population are approximately equal, so the total

population of males should be considered as double to get the idea about the

total population of men and women.

Since the number of the households are not indicated, we calculate the number of

the household by assuming an average of 5 resident people in each house. According

to that calculation, Çekmeköy’s estimated total population was 130 people and

the number of houses was 26; Hüseyinli had a population 112 and the number of

households was 23; Sırapınar had a population of 124 and the number of households

was 25; Koçullu had a population of 88 and the number of the households was 18,

Ömerli had a population of 284 and the number of households was 57.

The total population of these five villages in 1832 was estimated as 738 people

as half of them were women and half of them were men and the number of the

households was presumed as 149.

OXCARTING WAS A POPULAR PROFESSION

IN ALEMDAĞ AND SULTANÇİFTLİĞİ

When we analyze the census records of Alemdağı and Sultançiftliği villages, we

can see they are different than other village records with their content and date.

Armenian male population in Alemdağ and Sultançiftliği was recorded to these

census books dated 1858. Muslim population was not registered. While the age

information was written after the people names in previous census books, only

the birth date was written in these records. Similarly, while the profession was

not registered in previous census books, these records include the profession

information of the people older than 15 years.

If it is presumed that 90 men and 90 women population was resident in Alemdağı

and Sultançiftliği, we can say that total Armenian population was 180 people.

The average of age was 30.1 in the village. This number shows us their age average

was higher than Muslim villages. There were 10 people older than 50 years old. Therefore, it is possible

to state that length of life was over 50 years and it was equivalent to 10% of the total population.

The professions and works in the villages where Armenian population was resident; In 1858, there were 33

horse carriage riders, 16 Cultivator, 2 keepers of coffe house, 1 school teacher, 1 bread baker, 1 priest,

1 barber, 1 servant and 1 farmer in Alemdağ and Sultançiftliği villages. It is possible to understand that

horse carriage riding was the main source of income. 

ÇEKMEKÖY IN TEMETTUAT RECORDS

The main source of information that we take into consideration about socioeconomic

status of Çekmeköy is Temettuat records and some archive documents

that we obtained from Ottoman Archives of the Prime Ministry about Armenian

Village, Çekmeköy, Hüseyinli, Ömerli, Sırapınar, Koçullu and Sultançiftliği.

Temettu, is an Arabic word meaning “merchandise, goods, earning, making

profit”. After the declaration of Tanzimat (reorganization of the Ottoman Empire)

all the people were accepted as equal economically and legally so the principle

of taxation became valid for every citizen. It was necessary to know the profit

and earnings of the people. The census of private property (temettü), real estate

and animals conducted under the supervision of attenders who charge the taxes.

The tax effectuated since 1840 detected the tax amount for villages and

neighborhoods. The distribution of the tax to be collected by Imam and mukhtars

was decided depending on everyone’s economic situation. The information about

residents’ economic situation was registered in a book called Temettuat records.

The Temettuat Records coded “ML.VRD.TMT.d” in the Prime Ministry Ottoman

Archives include the information of all kinds of private property, land, real estate

raised animals, agricultural products of Muslim and Non-Muslim population. There

were 2 different applications about Temettuat records. There are few distinctions

of Temettuat records belonging to 1840 (1256 Muslim Calendar) and 1844

(1260 Muslim Calendar). Temettuat records of 1840 have information of the

area including Koru-yı Hümayun.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF ÇEKMEKÖY

The general population used to have a heterogeneous structure in the large

settlements during the Ottoman Empire. People of different faiths and

nationalities lived together in the villages and townships.

This situation was different in smaller settlements and they had more

homogeneous structure.

Especially in the villages it was like that. Although there were some exceptions,

the villages were consisted of complete Muslim or non-Muslim population. Even

though they were not great in number, few non-Muslim families were living in

the Muslim villages.

Villages were usually constructed of around a worship center. Worship centers had

a significant impact on the determination of social relations and organization.

People lived in villages with other coreligionists who shared the same belief

system. However, it didn’t mean that the religious communities were too isolated

and did not interact with other religion followers.

Social mobility was free in the Ottoman Empire. People could migrate to different

parts of the country freely. Or they could own properties, works or land different

than their original residence.

During the Ottoman Empire time, there were seven villages in Çekmeköy

which is the current subject of our study. They were Armenian Village next to

Alemdağ, Çekme, Hüseyinli, Ömerli, Sırapınar, Sultançiftliği and Koçullu. As it

was mentioned before they had two different Temettuat records from 1840 and

1844. Since these records have different features, the separate evaluation and

investigations are performed for them.

There are records of Armenian Village next to Alemdağ, Çekme Village, Hüseyinli,

Ömerli, Sırapınar ve Sultançiftliği from census of 1840 registered in the book

dated as 1840. Moreover, while Armenian Village next to Alemdağ were not

registered, Koçullu had its records in the books of 1844.

The census was conducted depending on the house numbers of the village. Each

house population of the village was estimated as 4 people.

IN 1840 POPULATION OF ÇEKMEKÖY WAS 754 PEOPLE

According to the 1840 Temettuat records, Armenian village was the foundation

land of almshouse of Sultan Mosque which was located in Üsküdar Toptaşı.

There were 21 Armenian families and 1 farm in the village. Assuming that an

average of 10 people lived in the farm, the population of Armenian village can

be estimated as 94 in 1840.

The number of houses was 22 in Çekme village. Furthermore, there were 2 farms

as Ahmed Gümüş Efendi farm belongs to foundation of Aziz Mahmud Efendi

dervish lodge and Baltacı Farm belongs to Hasan Ağa the gatekeeper of Dergah-ı

Ali. Besides 22 people as village residents there were also 4 foreigners working as

helpers in Ahmed Gümüş Efendi Farm and they were registered in the Temettuat

books. When we calculate the farm workers, it is possible to say that Muslim

population was about 100 people in the village. When we estimate 14 people in

the village, working as foreign helpers based on same calculation methods, we

can conclude the estimated total population as 114 people.

Hüseyinli village had 24 houses and estimated population was 96. Ömerli village

had 63 houses and had one Coptic-Muslim and one non-Muslim head of the

families. That’s why it was already recorded under a separate heading in the book.

Apart from these, the people who had real estate in the Ömerli while they were

domiciled in other villages or townships were separately indicated. There were 6

of them. If these people are not taken into calculation, Ömerli had estimated 252

people as population. Sırapınar village had 23 houses and it is possible to see

that there was one Coptic-Muslim head of the family. We can state that Sırapınar

had estimated 92 people as population.

Sultançiftliği village was recorded as a settlement belonging to foundation of Atik

Valide Han Sultan in Üsküdar on that date. There were 24 houses as 9 Muslims

and 15 Armenians. In addition to that two farms of Emin Efendi resident in

Üsküdar Ayazma neighborhood and real estate information of Hacı Hüseyin Ağa’s

wife resident in Üsküdar Toptaş were registered too. The village population can

be estimated as 106; 36 Muslims, 60 Armenians and 10 farm workers depending

on this information.

Accordingly, while Ömerli was the most populated village with 63 houses and 252

residents, Sırapınar was the least populated village with 92 people. Ömerli was

followed by Çekme Village (114 people), Sultançiftliği (106 people) Armenian

Village next to Alemdağ (94 people), Hüseyinli (96 people) and Sırapınar (92

people). In other words, the towns which consist of today’s Çekmeköy had 754

population (570 Muslim 174 non-Muslim) in 1840.

While Muslims had 77% of the total population of 6 villages, non-Muslim rate

was about 23%.

IN 1844 POPULATION OF ÇEKME VILLAGE WAS ABOUT 100

Çekme Village had 20 houses according to 1844 records. Also there were 6

people registered from different places having real estates and land in here.

The real estate and the land belong to jeweler Kirkor Çorbacıyan who was the

mutasarrıf of Baltacı Farm from foundation of Atik Valide Sultan in Üsküdar and

the real estate and land of goldsmith French Tobini Bazergan’s wife Angeliko

who was mutasarrıf of a farm close to village are drawing attention between the

book records. When we consider these two farms as houses, we can say there

were 20 Muslim and 2 non-Muslim families in Çekme Village. When 10 workers

are estimated at each farm, we can approximately say that village population

was 100 people as 80 Muslims and 20 non-Muslims (estimated as farm workers)

THERE WERE REAL ESTATE RECORDS REGISTERED TO WOMEN IN HÜSEYİNLİ

There were 23 houses in Hüseyinli village. In addition, the real estates and lands

of Karakiraz village Imam Osman Efendi’s wife and daughter who were originally

domiciled in Şile township were also registered in these books. Only Muslims

were dwelling in Hüseyinli village. There was no record of a non-Muslim family.

We can estimate the population of Hüseyinli as 92 on that date excluding the

non-resident people who had real estate and land in the village.

Koçullu Village had 22 houses. 2 of them were registered as Coptic-Muslims.

Besides these people, there were land and real estate records of 4 other people.

2 of them were in the military, one was a young person and last one was a

woman. When we include these 4 records (average of 8 people), we can estimate

the village population as 96 (88+8) on that date.

Ömerli village had 63 houses. 2 of them were registered as Coptic-Muslims.

There was no other non-Muslim real estate or land information recorded. The

estimated population was indicated as 252 people.

There are 20 house records in the books belong to Sırapınar village. One of them

was registered as Coptic-Muslim. There was no real estate or land registration

of non-Muslims. We can estimate the village population as 80 people depending

on this data.

In Temettuat records of 1840 and 1844, there are few points that draw attention.

Muslim and non-Muslim population were registered in 1840 Temettuat records. But

1844 dated Temettuat records only include the information about Muslim population.

Armenian village next to Alemdağ and Sultançiftliği are missing from the books

of 1844. Similarly, non-Muslims residents in Ömerli and Çekmeköy are missing in

1844 dated Temettuat records. In addition, Koçullu which did not have records in 1840 Temettuat

books, have information in 1844 dated Temettuat records. As we can see from the chart on the side,

there was no great distinctions or changes of Muslim population in 1840 and 1844 Temettuat

records. 

THE PROFESSION INFORMATION ACCORDING TO 1840 TEMETTUAT RECORDS

The professions chosen by people are closely related to inhabited geographical

conditions and the natural resources around them.

Selected occupations also determine the status of the environment in which

people live. When we examine the villages which consist of current Çekmeköy,

the household heads appear to have diversity in their profession.

For instance, while in some villages brooms making was the main profession, in

some villages it was coal heaving, wood chopping, or oxcarting. Occupational

groups or the professions that people make their living will be evaluated in 1840

and 1844 books separately.

ÇEKMEKÖY VILLAGERS WERE FARMERS AND COAL HEAVERS

In the Temettuat records dated 1840 the occupations of the household heads

were indicated after indicating the size and physical features. The occupations

were written before writing their names. It can be seen that 13 household heads

were farmers, 7 of them were coal heavers, 1 was farmer chamberlain, 1 was

cultivator, 2 of them were shepherds (one of them was in the farm), 2 of them

were farm owners and had 3 farm helpers. One of the farmers was also Muhktar

of the village.

According to this data, the main source of income was agriculture and

agricultural activities. The number of the coal heavers was also prominent.

6 household heads were occupied with coal heaving so 25% of the source of

income was from that occupation in the village. Having a village shepherd points

out that village residents had enough animals for themselves. Moreover, there

were people dealing with different type of professions in the same family.

FARMING WAS POPULAR IN HÜSEYİNLİ

There were people belonging to 5 profession groups in Hüseyinli according to

1840 Temettuat records. Farming was the main source of income in the village

with 13 active farmers. Even Mukhtar of the village was a farmer. The next most

common profession was coal heaving. There were also 4 drovers, 3 cultivators, 1

roustabout in the village. One drover was registered as military left. The ones in

the military who had real estate or land were also registered. They were 2 people.

One seemed to be coal heaver and the other seemed to be a farmer. There was no

Imam in the village. In addition, there was household head who did not specify

the profession.

The house owners with professions were registered as 16 middle sized, 4 tall and

1 short person in the village which consisted of complete Muslim population.

THERE WERE PREDOMINANTLY OXCART RIDERS AND MERCANTS IN SULTANÇİFTLİĞİ

In Temettuat records from 1840, it was registered that there was 9 Muslim

and 15 Armenian houses. Moreover, two farms belonged to Emin Efendi who

was originally domiciled in Üsküdar Ayazma neighborhood and real estate

information of one woman was written.

There were 7 oxcart rider, 1 fire warden, 1 cultivator and 1 farm owner among

Muslims in Sultançiftliği. The Muhktar of the village was a Muslim and he was

a oxcart rider. There were 14 oxcart riders, and one capstan head between the

Armenians. One of the wood oxcart riders was also soup-cook of the village.

There are records of 3 Muslim household heads making business with sons of

5 Armenians household heads. Armenian population was higher in the village.

ARMENIAN VILLAGE WAS OCCUPIED WITH OXCARTING AND BUSINESS

There are records of 21 houses and one farm in Armenian village next to Alemdağ

in 1840. The village consisted of all Armenian population. The people from the

same household could be occupied with various professions. For instance, while

the household head was occupied with oxcarting, the son could be occupied with

business. The variety of the professions in the same household was taken into

consideration while indicating the professions. Depending on this data, there

was 1 priest, 1 oxcart rider, 1 village soup cook (also oxcart rider), 2 cultivators,

1 coffee shop owner and 1 barber in the village. there was one farm owner and

one real estate belonging to foundation in the village.

SIRAPINAR LIVED ON COAL HEAVING

According to 1840 records, there were 23 houses in Sırapınar village. Similar

to other villages, the profession information of each household member was

registered in detail. In 1840, there was one mukhtar, 16 coal heavers, 4

cultivators, 1 hammersmith, 1 herdsman and 1 farrier according to this data. 5

soldiers were also recorded. While 4 of them were indicated as coal heaver, we

do not have profession information about the other one. The village consisted

of complete Muslim population. One person who was hammersmith was written

as Coptic Muslim.

THERE WAS COAL HEAVER AS WELL AS SEAMAN IN ÖMERLİ

Ömerli was the most crowded settlement with 63 houses and 252 total

population between the upper villages. Therefore, the profession diversity and

groups were more than other villages. The main professions were Muhktar, coal

heaving, cultivator, coffee shop owner, farrier, fire warden, seaman, village

headman, shepherd, linseed oil making, soldiers and blacksmiths. Mukhtar was

also working as farmer. Profession of 4 village residents was not indicated. The

expression of “bila-sın’a” (no profession) was used for these people. The people

whose occupation was soldiery or at the military service and had real estate and

land in the village was not registered by their profession. For instance, while

there were 2 coal heaver doing their military service, there were 2 people without

profession information. Furthermore, seniors or disabled people were separately

indicated. The people who earn these people’s keep were written as well.

THE PROFESSION INFORMATION ACCORDING TO 1844 TEMETTUAT RECORDS

FARMERS IN ÇEKMEKÖY USED TO MAKE BROOMS

The household heads’ profession information was written at the beginning

of the Temettuat records, above the introduction sentence with italic letters

inclined from right to left. The first information was generally about the Mukhtar.

Broom making seems to be the main source of income in Çekme Village, since

18 household heads’ profession was registered as broom making. Some of the

broom makers were also farmers and the real estate and land properties of

their wives were also written. The only person occupied with coal heaving was

Mukhtar. Mukhtar was also registered as farmer and his wife’s real estate and

land property information was also indicated.

Moreover, a woman called Angeliko was registered as farmer and manager of

one of the two farms in the village. This woman was the wife of the goldsmith

French Tobin. Other farm manager was an Armenian named Kirkor Çorbacıyan

and his profession was stated as jeweler in Istanbul. There was also a shepherd

in the village. The profession of 3 people was not mentioned in the books. One

of them was a senior, one was at the military and the other one was an orphan.

The people who were not residents in Çekme village but they had real estate and

land property there was registered at the end of the book. They were mukhtar

of Üsküdar Kapuağası Neigborhood Hafız Mehmed; Şerife Hatice who was an

orphan child and resident in Dudullu; night watchman Mehmed domiciled in

Üsküdar Kasımağa Neighborhood and barber Hasan from Üsküdar.

16 HOUSEHOLD HEADS WERE COAL HEAVERS IN HÜSEYİNLİ

The first record in Hüseyinli Temettuat records was the village mukhtar and his

profession was written as agricultural expert. While 16 household heads were

occupied with coal heaving, 6 household heads were registered as servants.

‘Servant’ was called for paid male workers.

The profession information was left as blank for the people who were too old

to work or disabled and for the people who were doing their military service. A

family originally residing in Şile township and had real estate and land property

in Hüseyinli was registered at the end of the book. Here, the real estate and land

was belonging to Karakiraz of Imam Osman Efendi’s wife and daughter. The last

part of the book had seals which show there was an Imam in the village.

SIRAPINAR RESIDENTS WERE ALSO COAL HEAVERS

There were 20 houses in Sırapınar Village in 1844. The main source of income was

coal heaving. In addition to that they used to do agriculture and ranching. Both Imam

and mukhtar were coal heavers. 15 household heads were registered as coal heavers

in the book. 3 household heads were servants and one of them was hammersmith.

The hammersmith was indicated as Coptic-Muslim. Moreover, there were real estate

and prosperity information of people without their profession indicated.

THERE WERE HAMMERSMITHS IN KOÇULLU BESIDES COAL HEAVERS

According to 1844 records there were 22 houses in Koçullu village which did

not have records in 1840. Most of the household heads were dominantly coal

heavers. They were also occupied with agriculture and raising 16 household

heads were registered as 16. There was also one household head as agricultural

expert, 2 of them as servants and 3 of them as hammersmiths. All hammersmiths

were Coptic-Muslims. Besides these people, there was real estate and land

information of 2 people doing military service, 2 under aged and one woman

without profession indicated. There were no records in temettuat, cadastral and

real estate records about village muhktar and imam.

ÖMERLİ DID NOT GIVE UP AGRICULTURE

In 1844 Temettuat records of Ömerli village of 36 houses, most of the village

resident’s professions were not indicated except for couple of them. It was

written as “agricultural expert and sometimes occupied with coal heaving” for

village mukhtar and one household head. Only 3 people were indicated as coal

heavers. There were Coptic-Muslims that were hammersmiths and they were

written at the end of the book. Additionally, it was registered that one household

head was blind (handicapped) and 2 siblings were orphans. There is no available

information about the remaining 54 household heads. That’s why it is not

possible to make comprehensive evaluations about profession groups in Ömerli.

AGRICULTURE AND RANCHING IN ÇEKMEKÖY

The majority of the population in the Ottoman Empire lived in the villages and

rural areas. The basis of Ottoman economy was based on agriculture. The people

who were interested in agriculture can be classified as tımaroits, farmer families

based on timar system and doing agriculture on full, half or smaller lands, field

cultivator managers called mukataa or kesim or property owners, musallam

(unprofessional soldiers tax exempt)

Since Ottoman law was based on Islam, it accepted the right of owning private

property for movable and immovable assets.

Moreover, the agricultural estates were shared among villagers by dividing them

into parts called çiftlik and the bare owner of the lands was considered as the state.

While they distributed the land to the villagers, they excluded the immovable

assets, shops, houses, gardens and orchards coming from pre-Ottoman Turkish

principalities and the land which was taken over from other Muslim states.

The important part of the villagers formed by the production system called

“çifthane system” and the villagers were assigned to run the farms by the state.

According to a particular deed law, these farms which were allocated to the

peasant families could not be sold, granted or endowed. However, it would pass

from father to son as a business. Villagers were plowing the field with their own

capabilities of ox, plows and seed. No one could make villagers do an unwanted

job except for the obligations imposed by the law. In this aspect we can say the

peasants were independent and free. The sons of a dead father would pay the

taxes together for the land that they farmed together, so they would not divide

it into smaller pieces. If there were no sons left, then his daughter, sister or other

close relatives had the priority to farm. If there was none of them, then the right

passes to other partners and lastly the peasants without any fields in the village.

Besides the registered land owners, there was a group of people called mukataa

or kesim who rent the field from the state and run the land. They were renting

a land or a mine for an annually determined price and they were managing

these businesses. If the land belonged to the foundation, then the renters could

construct building on this land as their private property. However, these rental

lands began to be registered fields of the village by the time passed. These

people were also busy with additional works to sustain their lives since in XVXVII

century they were living in the village, the main business was farming, and

there was no sufficient transportation facilities and no urbanization activities

seen except few places.

This system established by the state began to deteriorate at the end of XVI century

like other institutions. Agricultural activities were disrupted due to population

growth, Jelali revolts, peasants leaving the villages, disruption of timar system.

They caused a decrease in treasury income. Since the state and public were

harmed by this situation, some changes were made on degenerated system, the

management of land (mukataa) was given to governors or Sanjak princes instead

of locals. So they wanted to regulate mukataas by the control of state treasury.

Central government became the only distributor of iltizam and rural ayan were

begun to be kept under control. Due to excessive and unbalanced taxation

burden, muhassıl tax system was changed and first modifications were made

to send taxes directly to Ottoman treasury. In agricultural Ottoman Empire real

estate registrations for the Tanzimat areas became the first records during which

they conducted censuses for this purpose.

The land information was registered as 1 decare for the Ottoman villages that

consist of current Çekmeköy. Moreover, when we examine the lands which were

belonging to village household heads, we can also see they had immense amount

of territory besides farms. This can be attributed to traditionalism as one of

the economic principles of the Ottoman Empire. Traditionalism can be defined

as “domination of a will to preserve as much as possible the gradually formed

balances in social and economic relations, tendencies, prevention of changing

trends and if a change occurs then to intervene to return it to previous state.

It aimed to create a balance of production and consumption. In the case of

deterioration of the balance, there was always a risk of having crisis. The main

feared situation was food shortage. This is why; the changes which could lead

increasing consumption were always kept under control. Thus they wanted to

prevent the negative situations like food shortage.

In this context, the producers used to meet the needs of their family first then

make their living with the income from selling the surplus. Household did not try

to make more profit. Because when there was unbalance between demand and

supply, the price of the product could decrease. Some household heads had very

small land to farm. One of the main reasons of that was sharing the land due

to sharing inheritance. In such cases the household head would face financial

difficulties and search for an extra job. This would cause the emergence of

different work areas in the region and would bring diversity in the economic field.

In the period that we examine, the household heads used to have field or other

lands even though they were occupied with other professions than agricultural

activities. It is possible to understand that the household heads were keeping the

land not for commercial reasons but for providing their own essential nutrition.

DIVISION AND USAGE OF LAND

According to 1840 Temettuat records, Alemdağ, ÇEKMEKÖY, Hüseyinli, Ömerli,

Sırapınar and Sultançiftliği villages had 22,790 decares of land. 20,851 decares

were used as agricultural land, 6,171 decares were fields, 13,028 decares were

wood, heathlands/shrubbery, 118 decares were meadows, 27 decares were

orchards/gardens, 197 decares were pasture, 8 decares were empty and 52

decares were used as harvesting spots. We can examine the usage of land by the

villagers as follows;

ALEMDAĞ VILLAGE

In Alemdağ village there was 444 decares as planted field, 400 decares as

field, 1,000 square meter meadow, 2 decares orchards/gardens. There was no

shrubbery/heathland, pasture, harvesting spot and empty land registered in this

village. The total land belonging to village was 10,847 decares. This amount

almost reaches the total land of other 5 villages. However, the lands were not

belonging to village residents. 1,030 decares of 10,847 decares were the territory

of 2 farms in the village and 400 decares belonged to a foundation located in

Üsküdar. The land belonging to foundation was under the management of the

peasants.

When we subtract the land of 2 farms, total 587 decares of land belonged to

Alemdağ Armenian village residents including the foundation land. 44 decares

of it was arable field, 400 decares was field, 1 decare was meadow and 2 decares

was garden. Accordingly, the average amount of land per house was about 29

decares.

MOST OF THE LAND WAS BELONGED TO FARMS

Total land of ÇEKMEKÖY was 3,892 decares. They were registered as follows;

462 decares was planted field, 2,205 decares was field, 723 decares was forest,

298 was heathlands/shrubbery, 5 decares was orchards/gardens, 2 decares was

meadow and 197 decares was harvesting spot.

170 out of 462 decares of planted field belonged to Ahmed Gümüş Efendi Farm,

850 out of 2,205 decares of field belonged to Ahmed Gümüş Efendi Farm, 600

decares of it belonged to Baltacı Farm, 500 out of 723 decares of forest belonged

Baltacı Farm.

Therefore, while making evaluations about the amount of public land, the farm

lands will not be taken into consideration. According to this; 292 decares of

planted field, 755 decares of fallow land, 223 decares of forest, 298 decares of

heathlands/shrubbery, 2 decares of meadow, 5 decares of orchards/garden and

197 decares of pasture; in total 1,772 decares of land was under the management

of village residents. The land per house was about 80 decares. Additionally, there

was 13 decares of planed field, 34 fallow land, 10 decares of forest, 14 decares

of heathlands/shrubbery and 9 decares pasture land for each house. The number

of people who had meadow and orchards/garden were very little.

IN HÜSEYİNLİ 672 DECARES WERE FALLOW LANDS IN 1840

The residents of Hüseyinli had a total of 1,830 decares of land. This land was

registered as; 314 decares planted field, 672 decares fallow field, 824 decares

forest, 3 decares orchards/garden, 15 decares harvesting spot and 2 decares

empty. The land per house was about 73 decares. Additionally, there were 14

decares of planed field, 28 fallow land, 34 decares of forest and 0.6 decares of

harvesting spot land for each house. While there was no registered information

about heathlands/shrubbery, meadow and pasture, the number of the people

who had meadow and orchards/garden were very little.

THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS AND POPULATION WERE ALSO IN ÖMERLİ

Ömerli village which had the most number of households and population, had

total of 4,587 decares of land to be managed by the village residents. The land

consisted of 567 decares of planted field, 2,032 decares of fallow field, 1,135

decares of forest, 800 decares of heathlands/shrubbery, 0.2 decares of orchards/

garden and 0.5 decares of harvesting spot. While 3 decares seemed to be empty,

there was no meadow or pasture in the village. The land per house was about 73

decares. Additionally, there was 9 decares of planted field, 32 decares of fallow

field, 18 decares of forest, 12.7 decares of heathlands/shrubbery, 0.2 decares of

orchards/garden and 0.5 decares of harvesting spot land for each house.

THE LAND PER HOUSE WAS ABOUT 58 DECARES IN SIRAPINAR

The land was 1340 decares in Sırapınar Village of 23 houses.

There were 298 decares of planted field, 692 decares of fallow field, 346 decares

of forest, 2 decares of orchards/garden and 2 decares of harvesting spot. The land

per house was about 58 decares. Additionally, there were 13 decares of planted

field, 31 decares of fallow field, and 15.4 decares of forest

for each house. While the orchards/garden and harvesting

spot was about 4 decares, there was no heathlands/

shrubbery, meadow and empty land in the village.

NOBODY OWNED LAND IN SULTANÇİFTLİĞİ

Sultançiftliği village was different than other villages. The

village belonged to Atik Valide Sultan foundation in Üsküdar

and the registered land of it was about 228 decares. 170

decares of it was fallow field, 121 decares were meadow

and 3 decares were empty land.

170 decares of field belonged to two farms of Emin Efendi

who was resident in Üsküdar Ayazma Neighborhood, 100 of

121 decares meadow belonged to Atik Valide Sultan Mosque

foundation in Üsküdar, 6 decares belonged to Hacı Hüseyin

Ağa’s wife. Therefore, the villagers did not have property

of fields to farm. The main source of income was wood

oxcarting for most of the peasants. Besides Sultançiftliği

village, there were other household heads that did not have

any land in other villages. While some household heads who

did not have any field to farm were occupied with forging,

barbering, oxcarting; some of them were doing agriculture

on other people’s fields.

EVALUATION OF ÇEKMEKÖY LANDS IN 1844

According to 1844 Temettuat records, the villages which consist of current

ÇEKMEKÖY had 13,815 decares territory. 3,111 decares were farmed fields, 4,167

decares were fallow field, 6,155 decares were the land called as heathlands,

shrubbery, forest; 106 decares were the land that is rent out, 60 decares were

pasture, 48 decares were meadows, 30 decares were the land which was not

suitable for agricultural or ranching activities.

When it is generally analyzed, ÇEKMEKÖY was the only village with 6,337 decares

land which had the most territory among the other villages. The reason that it

had more territory compared to other villages is that 2 farms were also taken into

consideration. Actually these 2 farms should be excluded from land calculation

to be able to do precise evaluation. When it is calculated that way, we can say Sırapınar

Ömerli is the largest with its territory. This is very natural since Ömerli had much

more crowded population compared to other villages. After Ömerli, it continues

as Çekmeköy with 2,047 decares land, Hüseyinli with 1,774 decares land,

Koçullu with 1,406 decares land, Sırapınar with 1,141 decares land. When all

of the villages are calculated all together (except the lands of farms), it can be

divided as 66 decares of land for each house.

If land classifications were analyzed, we can see that 19 decares was planted

field, 15.5 decares was fallow field, 29 decares was heathlands/shrubbery and

forest, 0.7 decares was rented land, 0.9 decares was empty, 0.4 was pasture, 0.3

decares was meadow, 0.2 decares was not suitable for agricultural or ranching

activities.

When we exclude the farm lands, the highest ratio was the land defined as

heathlands/shrubbery and forest. Then the ranking followed as planted field with

2,831 decares, fallow field with 2,297 decares, rented land with 106 decares,

pasture with 60 decares, meadows with 48 decares, and 30 decares land which

was not suitable for agricultural or ranching activities. The ratio of orchards/

gardens, pasture and non-suitable fields was much lower compared to planted,

fallow fields and heathlands/shrubbery.

Farmers used to leave the fields unplanted at least for one year to make the

production abundant and high quality. So the land was expected to collect

minerals which were lost during the previous harvest. In Temettuat record the

harvest data was registered from the planted fields and fallow field did not have

any records about the production.

There were people who rented their land in the village as well. They were land

owners who were domiciled in other places or orphans at a very young age or

widows who were not capable of working in the fields.

When it is analyzed in terms of volume of agricultural areas, it is generally seen

that they were like small business units. The household heads were planting the

fields on his/her own and the other members of the household were helping him.

In this way, they did not need any other workers, the household member efforts

were sufficient for the work. However, when there were not enough household

members to help, then they needed other laborers to help them. The servants,

laborers and daily workers defined as profession categories in the book were

working in other people’s field and support their families.

CEREAL PRODUCTS WHICH GROW IN ÇEKMEKÖY

A large part of the state income was based on agriculture before industrial era.

Ottoman Empire’s economy depended on agriculture and large parts of the

population were living in villages. The food supply of big cities like ISTANBUL

was provided by rural provinces (from the villages where they had agricultural

activity). While villagers were trying to provide food supply to whole ISTANBUL,

they were also trying to be economically self-sufficient.

Even though the villages, which consist of current ÇEKMEKÖY, were very close

to ISTANBUL and they were under the governance of it; they were not like

developed towns or cities. Therefore, they did not have much difference from

other villages located in different parts of the Empire. They were harvesting

agricultural product just for themselves like any other Ottoman villages. The

agricultural products data grown in the village ÇEKMEKÖY in 1844 had register

in Temettuat books. There was no information about the product type in 1840

records. Thus, evaluations were made based on Temettuat books of 1844.

The main agricultural products grown in the villages were cereals. Wheat, oats,

flaxseed and barley were the grown products here. Legumes such as chickpeas,

lentils, beans did not have any record. There was no detail about the names and

amount of the fruits and vegetables grown in gardens. They were only specified

as fruits and vegetables in the books records.

The quantity of cereals was measured with “kile” which was used as a system

for measuring weight. Kile did not represent the same weight everywhere in the

Ottoman geography. While in ISTANBUL it was equivalent to 25.6 kgs, it had

different equivalency all around the empire.

The cereals grown in the villages which consist of current ÇEKMEKÖY were

barley, oats and flaxseed. Rural residents often planted wheat, flaxseed and oat.

Additionally, it can be seen that they were farming barley in Hüseyinli, Koçullu

and Ömerli. It is remarkable that they were planting the essential nutrient wheat

a lot more compared to other agricultural products. The wheat which has a wide

usage area can be used for making bulgur. Wheat starch obtained from soaking it

in water is utilized and bran and kernel-fee grain ears were used as animal feed.

Barley which is another type of cereal could be planted on any kind of field.

Since the grains on it could not grow, it was expected to grow on the ground.

Generally, it was used as animal feed.

The villages which consist of current ÇEKMEKÖY were under the governance of Beykoz

in 1844. According to Şükriye Pınar Yavuztürk’s study, it had significantly more

agricultural production than compared to the other settlements. After Tepeviran

and Kurtdoğmuş villages under the governance of Beykoz, Çekme Village, Ömerli

and Hüseyinli were the places where the highest cereal production was harvested.

Similarly, barley production was also high in Ömerli and Hüseyinli after Tepeviran.

THE QUANTITY OF THE PRODUCTS

Although the names of the products are written in Temettuat books, it does

not include the annual quantity of the products. Only it was indicated that how

much ashar text was given for each year. We can find the quantity of the product

depending on this information. The meaning of Öşr is one in ten in Arabic

language and it was uses as a term for tax charged from cereals. After Tanzimat,

the percentage of tax charged from cereals was increased by rising Education

Benefits and Public Works Shares and the tax percentage became one in eighth.

When the quantity of products is calculated, the tax percentage should be

accepted as one in eight.

HÜSEYİNLİ VILLAGE

In 1844, they had 2,222 kile total grown products. 946 kile of it was wheat,

828 kile was oat, 422 kile was flaxseed and 8 kile was barley. There were 42 kile

wheat, 36 kile oat, 18.3 kile flaxseeds and 0.4 kile barley for each house.

ÇEKME VILLAGE

They had 1.723 kile total grown products in ÇEKMEKÖY at that time. 606 kile

of it was wheat, 492 kile was oat, 584 kile was flaxseed. They did not grow

barley at all. There were 27.5 kile wheat, 22.3 kile oat, 26.5 kile flaxseeds for

each house.

KOÇULLU VILLAGE

In Koçullu, they had 952 kile total grown products. 562 kile of it was wheat, 284

kile was oat, 102 kile was flaxseed and 4 kile was barley. Similarly, in Hüseyinli

village, only one household head planted barley. It is also striking that there was

no production record about half of the 22 houses in the village. Most of these

people had fields but they did not plant that year for fallowing. Some of them

were too young to farm and few of them were doing their military service so they

did not plant their fields.

SIRAPINAR VILLAGE

In Sırapınar village there were 1.086 kile production recorded, which consisted

of 512 kile wheat, 422 kile oat, 152 kile flaxseed. 5 houses did not have any

records of out village of 20 houses. There was approximately 25.6 kile wheat,

21 kile oat, 7.6 kile flaxseed for each house and there were no one growing

barley.

ÖMERLİ VILLAGE

There was 3,558 kile total production in most crowded village Ömerli. It

consisted of 1,944 kile wheat, 1090 kile oat, 412 kile flaxseed, 112 kile barley.

It is possible to understand that 18 household heads did not participate in any

agricultural activities during the year. Because there was no record about these

household heads.

RANCHING IN ÇEKMEKÖY

There were also livestock activities in ÇEKMEKÖY as well as agricultural production

as all around the empire. According to the data, ranching was not done for

making profit, more for providing daily needs of the people. Some of the animals

were raised for needs like butter, milk and cheese and some of them were used

for carrying goods.

The cattle in the village were specified by their breed, colors, fertile-infertile

status, male-female and some of the cattle were only registered by their names.

We can obtain this information about the animals depending on the records:

The villages which consist of current ÇEKMEKÖY as Alemdağ, Sultançiftliği,

ÇEKMEKÖY, Hüseyinli, Sırapınar and Ömerli had 899 cattle in total. This number

also included the animals in the farm.

Additionally, there were 669 dairy sheep, 400 dairy goats, 94 lambs and 11 baby

goats so there were 1,174 small cattle in total. At that time there was no small

cattle in Sırapınar. There were 59 animal registered as for carrying weight and

riding. There were 53 horses, two mares, three foals and a donkey.

There were a total of 332 beehives in 6 villages. 21 of them were in Alemdağ’s

Armenian Village, 51 were in Sultançiftliği, 103 were in ÇEKMEKÖY, 70 were in

Hüseyinli, 14 were in Sırapınar and 73 were in Ömerli village.

The books from 1844 include the information about ÇEKMEKÖY, Hüseyinli,

Sırapınar, Ömerli and Koçullu. According to this data there were 754 great cattle

in total in 5 villages. Also there were 968 small cattle in total. 627 of them were

in ÇEKMEKÖY, 170 were in Hüseyinli, 74 were in Ömerli and 97 were in Koçullu.

Similar to the year 1840, there were no small cattle in Sırapınar on that date

as well.

The animals used for carrying goods and riding was 26 in ÇEKMEKÖY, 3 of them

were in Ömerli, 14 of them were Koçullu so there were 49 animals in total. There

is no registration about animals in Hüseyinli for that category. There were a

total of 138 beehives as 63 in ÇEKMEKÖY, 6 in Hüseyinli, 54 in Ömerli and 15

in Koçullu. Only Sırapınar village did not have information about beekeeping

between the villages.

When we evaluate based on Temettuat books of 1840 and 1844; the number

of the great cattle was 681 in ÇEKMEKÖY, Sırapınar, Hüseyinli ve Ömerli. 152

of them were in ÇEKMEKÖY, 174 were in Hüseyinli, 103 were in Sırapınar, 252

were in Ömerli.

In 1844 there were 662 great cattle as; 187 in ÇEKMEKÖY, 143 in Hüseyinli, 100

in Sırapınar, 232 in Ömerli. 19 great cattle had decreased compared to past four

years.

While a total of 854 small cattle existed in the village in 1840, the number had

increased to 871 in 1844. There were no available animal records in Sırapınar

for both dates.

The information about the animals used for carrying weight and riding seems as

59 animals in 1840 and it had decreased to 49 animals in 1844. Similarly, while

there were 260 beehives in 1840, the number had decreased to 35 in 1844.

As a result, we can say the ranching was common in the villages based on the

separate and collective records. While small cattle were raised more for their

meat, milk, cattle breeding; the great cattle were raised for their contribution to

agricultural activities. It is possible to say that in the areas where the great cattle

are raised more they have more efficient agricultural activities.

The most of the houses had an ox since they use them for plowing the fields.

Almost at each house there was one cow to get milk from and to ensure the

reproduction of bovines.

Most of the peasants raised small cattle for their meat, butter, milk, leather and

wool to meet their daily consumption.

BEEKEEPING WAS IN HIGH DEMAND IN 1840

There were 332 beehives according to 1840 records. The place which had the

most beehives was Çekme village with 103 beehives. Similarly, there is a record

of 138 beehives in 1844 books. In addition, with 63 beehives Çekme village was

the settlement which had the most beehives. When we compare the information

from both dates, we can see a prominent decrease about the numbers of the

beehives.

 

ÇEKMEKÖY DURING THE FINAL STAGE OF OTTOMAN EMPIRE

THE STATUS BEFORE THE FIRST WORLD WAR

The socio-cultural structure of settlements of current ÇEKMEKÖY hadn’t changed

significantly from its transition to Ottoman rule in 14th century and until mid

XIX century. The change started after the Crimean War between Ottomans and

Russians in 1853. The Russians invaded Wallachia and Moldavia, even without

declaring war (June 22, 1853) and the war between Russia and the Ottoman

Empire began. Then the Ottoman fleet was burned by the Russians in Sinop. In

1854 Britain and France took a side of the Ottoman Empire. Sevastopol castle

were conquered by surrounding. Treaty of Paris was signed with defeated Russia

in 1856.

Although Russia was defeated, the war damaged Ottoman Empire seriously. In

order to conduct the war expenses, they had to loan money for the first time

beyond their ability to repay. Furthermore, as a consequence of the Crimean

crisis, refugee problems came out. Between the years 1851-1855 great number

of Crimean Turks immigrated to Ottoman Empire by leaving their homes.

Additionally, many people immigrated from Caucasus to Ottoman Empire

due of Şeyh Şamil’s defeat in 1859 in Caucasus. The Russian pressure caused

immigration of great influx of people between 1855-1864.

Then 1877-78 Ottoman-Russian War occurred which is also known as the

War of 93. Russian troops came until Istanbul as a result of 9 months, 7

days lasting war of 93. That caused many economic and social difficulties

in the Ottoman Empire. Many people migrated from Batumi and Rumelia

to Ottoman territory while the war was still going on. The refugees

kept coming during the reign of Abdulhamid. The greatest migration influx

occurred after the Balkan wars. The great amount of Muslim population

came from Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Crete

and other places due to pressures and persecution and their settlement to Kartal, Şile,
Alemdağ, and İzmir changed the socio-cultural structure of these places. New settlements were created. Üvezli village under governance of Şile and Reşadiye village close to Alemdağ can be

shown as an example. Besides creating new settlements, some of the migrants

domiciled in the already existing settlements.

IMMIGRANTS FROM LEH WERE DOMICILIATED IN ÇEKMEKÖY

In fact, the migrations were not limited to the dates mentioned above. Previously

Ottoman Empire had accepted great amount of refugees for several times.

Moreover, regardless of whether they are Muslim or not, the persecuted people

were accepted unconditionally. In this context, many examples can be given. But

the issues that we concern here is the Polish refugees who suffered from cruelty

and had to leave their homelands in 1841. After they were accepted as refugees

by the Ottomans, they were domiciled in ÇEKMEKÖY.

Polish who were domiciled close to Alemdağ had about 60 houses in 1867.

The place which they settled was called as Adem village. This was given as a

temporary name.

IMMIGRANTS FROM 1877-78 (WAR OF 93) WERE SETTLED IN ÇEKMEKÖY

The Muslim community which had suffered from cruelty was persecuted and

tortured after the Russian invasion during the War of 93. The lands were

plundered. A large part of the population was forced to migrate. Due to

maltreatment and pressure, many people had to leave their assets, properties

and houses and migrated to Ottoman Empire.

The concentration place had been ISTANBUL for immigrants who used railways,

sea ways and the road to be able to migrate Anatolia or ISTANBUL.

Tens of thousands of refugees coming to Istanbul brought the problems of

food and drink and the place to stay. The Empire used all its facilities in order

to overcome this difficult situation. For this purpose, the empty land around

Üsküdar, Beykoz, ÇEKMEKÖY were used as settlements for the refugees.

When all these efforts and activities were not enough, the administrators

searched for new solutions. Abdülhhamid published an edict permitting to build

sheds in Alemdağ farms to domicile the refugees without housing. Alemdağ was

particularly chosen since it was far from the city and had forest, it was possible

to build wooden sheds for immigrants.

Right after Alemdağ was determined, they started to construct wooden sheds.

This situation received positive reaction from city residents and refugees who

had epidemic diseases and was surviving in very difficult conditions. Until the

sheds were built, they were planned to stay in the tents. As soon as sheds were

ready, the refugees would move into them. It was also considered that the new

settlement would occur where the sheds were built. Since the construction

needed some time, the refugees were planned to temporarily domicile in the

Farm of Alemdağ Sultan Köşk (mansion). But since there were already 3000

refugees settled there, they dropped the idea. 40 sheds were built at the first

phase. But since there were more refugees coming, it was not sufficient.

Due to non-stop refugee influxes the atmosphere of ISTANBUL had changed.

There was no place left to domicile people. After these developments, it was

decided to send refugees to the cities around Anatolia.

There was a small group of refugees left coming from Hopa after the majority

of the refugees were sent to Anatolia. The group called as Hopa refugees or

Laz refugees were left without any settlements and it was not decided where

to domicile them. Laz refugees came via sea ways from Çigala (Başköy) and

Beglevan of Hopa under governance of Batum. Shortly after staying around

Beyoglu neighborhood, they were domiciled to Hazinei Hassa Farms around

Alemdağ like other refugees.

While most of the refugees were sent to different parts of Anatolia, there

was a reason to keep and temporarily domicile Laz refugees in Alemdağ who

migrated from Batumi. The most important reason was there were Armenian

and Greek minority uprisings in the villages around Alemdağ and they were

threatening the peace and security of the region. Thus officials considered to

create a security zone against it so Batum in the other words Laz refugees were

domiciled here.

CONSTRUCTION OF ALEMDAĞ GENDARMERIE STATION

The refugees came from Batumi to ISTANBUL and domiciled in Alemdağ on a

land of 4,000 decares were cutting the trees and harming the forest to be able

to create fields for them. When the complaints about the damages increased,

some precautions were taken.

One of the precautions was to construct a gendarmerie and prevent them to cut

trees with the presence of security forces. The gendarmerie which was planned to

be built was located 150 meters north of the Armenian village and in the Emlak-I

Seniyye territory and would have cavalry for 24 hours. For this purpose, it was

requested to prepare a detailed report from Erkan-i Harbiye-I Office (Ministry of

War)

A detailed report including the construction materials and what to be built

was presented to Meclis-i Mahsus-ı Vükela (Ottoman Council of Ministers).

Additionally, building plan was also prepared.

After the necessary investigations and calculations, it was clarified that the

gendarmerie would cost 94,142 kuruş. This necessary money would be taken from

gendarme’s budget as construction costs. It was also necessary to put 24 armed

and horse-drawn soldiers in the gendarmerie and take them into service here and

pay their salaries. Necessary correspondence was made to be able to do so.

However, the decision was different after the meeting with Ottoman Council of Ministers. The reason why

they wanted to keep soldiers there was to prevent refugees to cut the trees and harm the forest. It

was stated that 5-6 soldiers would be enough for this reason. Therefore, it was decided that it was

not necessary to build such a big gendarmerie station. Instead it was decided to rent a house for

5-6 soldiers, building a small station by spending 5-10,000 kuruş and inform Seraskerlik about it.

Furthermore, it was referred to the Ministry of War to offer for consideration. Ministry of War Real Estate

Office sent an answer on January 20, 1895 which allowed to build a small station to keep 5-6 soldiers aiming to prevent

Batum refugees from harming the forest. The plan of gendarmerie station for 5-6 people

was drawn and the permission was requested to be able to start the construction.

RENTAL OF A BUILDING FOR ALEMDAĞ GENDARMERIE STATION

In the latest period of Abdülhamid II, there were many problems concerning

public peace and order. ÇEKMEKÖY area was facing the similar difficulties more

compared to other areas. While they were struggling with settling the refugees

and their behaviors causing disturbance of the peace in the meantime the non-

Muslims causing unrest resulted state to take precautions. Before a gendarmerie

station was built to keep refugees under control in Alemdağ.

It was thought to build a police station here to provide public peace and for this

purpose instead of constructing the building, they had rented a house from a

resident called hotelier Avakim. This building was assigned to police officers in

Alemdağ. The building which started to be used from 14 April 1907 had a rent

of 3 Mecidiyes.

The rental of the building would be paid by Kartal district governorate. However,

it was understood that the rental was not paid for the police station located at

Kudüs-I Şerif Sanjak from 3,350 kuruş budget.

It was decided by the Finance State Council Office to pay annual rental of Alemdağ

police station by taking from this money as 720 kuruş.

A NEW VILLAGE IS GETTING FOUNDED: REŞADİYE

The end of 1880s refugees had not been here for almost 10 years. They were

defined as temporarily settled refugees in Alemdağ area. Sometimes

they were referred as Laz village as well. That’s why the unofficial name of the

village can be defined as Laz Village (Laz Köy). But in the year of 1889, it

could be seen that refugees made the land more fertile and they had adopted

the area. After passing 10 years, the settlements were systemized.

Thus there had been an attempt to accept the area as village and name

it. During the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II, it was decided to name the place as Hamidiye
Village with the decision of State Council on 26 February 1889. The village was under the

governance of Kartal Township at the time. However, since sultan did not approve

the decision, it could never be officially realized. But people kept calling the

village with that name. After the decision of State Council, there were requests

sent to local government authorities to make village seals for Imam and Mukhtar.

In 1909, Sultan Abdülhamid II was dethroned and Mehmet Reşad became the

new sultan. During this period the refugees continued their efforts to regain

official status of village. The requests included to separate villages and up and

down and giving both of them 2 different names. But the demand as 2 separate

villages was not considered as appropriate. As a result of efforts the village was

named as Reşadiye referring to new sultan on 30 December 1911.

GANG ACTIVITIES IN ÇEKMEKÖY AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD

Gang and Brigandage Activities done by Minorities

During the armistice period, Üsküdar governor consisted of four townships and

it was under the governance of ISTANBUL province. The townships which formed

Üsküdar were Ömerli, Kartal, Şile and Gebze. Moreover there were sub-district

directorships under the governance of the mentioned townships. They were

Yakacık sub-district directorship under the governance of Kartal, Arnavutköy

sub-district directorship under the governance of Ömerli; Ağva, Değirmençayırı

and Alacalı sub-district directorships under the governance of Şile and Taşköprü

and Mollafenari sub-district directorships under the governance of Gebze. The

closest township to Liva was surrounded by Şile on the east, Kartal on the south,

Black sea on the north, Bosphorus on west and north-west, and Liva center.

Kartal was surrounded by Liva center on the west, Marmara Sea on the north,

Ömerli on the north and Gebze on the east. Şile was surrounded by Ömerli on the

west, Gebze on the south, Black sea on the north, and Kandıra Town ship under

the governance of İzmit on the east. Gebze was surrounded by İzmit on the east,

Şile on the north, Kartal on the west and Marmara Sea on the south.

The geography was suitable for gang activities. The region was full of hills and

it was covered with forest close to Black Sea. Yeniköy Greeks benefited greatly

from the forest surrounding their village. Moreover, farm lands covered with

trees and forest was appropriate places for those who want to lose their trace.

As a result of the war and invasion, social disorder began to show up. Since

ISTANBUL was under occupation many gang activities started to emerge around

and in the city. The result of the activities of bandits and gangs in and around

ISTANBUL theft, murder, kidnapping crimes were committed, including political

and economic reasons. The gang majority was Armenians and Greeks.

Biggest supporters of Greek origin gangs were Mavri Mira Society, the Greek

Patriarchate, Greek army officers in favor of Venizelos, local Greeks and English

people. Especially Mavri Mira Society was the greatest support for them. Besides,

Etnik-I Eterya Society and the branch of them called Kordus Committee (Greek

Emigrants Central Commission) was giving support to these criminal activities.

Greeks were tactful to realize their big dream “Megali Idea”. They were

particularly using methods based on violence.

British and Italians were also supporting the Greek gangs. They deployed troops

around Bosphorus and İzmit to be able to maintain its dominance on straits

and İstanbul. They were using Greeks and other minorities to avoid confronting

Turkish soldiers and Kuva-yı Milliye (National Forces, liberation movement

forces fighting for independence). In doing so, they wanted to prevent arms and

ammunition sent from ISTANBUL to Anatolia.

Furthermore, the military officers and minority gang members were cooperating

and making plans to cause more harm to Turks. Especially they were trying

to provoke people by using public sensitivity like religious issues. Muezzins in

Ümraniye and Tuzla were killed for this purpose.

English military officers were provoking the gang members. Some of the gangs

were called as; Todori Gang, Anesti Gang, Çakır Gang and Karabacak Gang, Milti

Kaptan Gang or Milto Gang, İstelyanus Gang, Paşaköylü Karaoğlan and Panayot

Gang, Kommit Gang, Yirmiler Gang.

The gang activities that emerged in Ottoman occupation years were followed

by police units and had records about them. These events can be viewed in

chronological order in the Ottoman archives. During this period, some of the

gang activity around ÇEKMEKÖY can be chronologically listed as follows:

- December 30, 1916, the sheep of Cevad Kiryanik were wrested in ÇEKMEKÖY.

There had been a scrimmage between the gendarmes and gangs of 40-50 people

in Baltacı Farm Forest. One of the gendarmes was martyrized in the clash. Further

security forces were sent to follow the bandits.

- Early in March 1918, five women and 2 men were burglarized by the military

uniformed people in Kısıklı area of Hamalıdere in ÇEKMEKÖY. They took their

money and other belongings. Then bandits fled towards Ümraniye.

- In mid-March 1918, Mehmet Sergeant and coal merchant Ismail Bey were

attacked by unidentified people in Reşadiye village.

- 6 May 1919, there had been conflicts between village guards and gangs. There

were about 30 gunshots. When village guards also shot their pistols, gangs run away.

- 7 May1919, gangs cut the road between Reşadiye and Paşaköy under

governance of Karlan and belongings of two women were burglarized.

- On 4 June, around 04:30 the gunshots were heard from Sırapınar Village at

one hour distance to Ömerli and 8 soldiers were sent to the village. then it was

understood that gangs wanted to make a foray to Kızlarbayırı area in Sırapınar

village. The members of the gangs fled when the soldiers chased them.

 

ISTANBUL’S SPRING OF LIFE ÇEKMEKÖY

- On 26 July 1919, Mehmet the son of Receb and Mehmed from Ümraniye were

deforced by unidentified people when they went to pick up woods. Their money

and animals were taken forcefully by the bandits

- On 25 September 1919, İstalyanos from Paşaköy were kidnapped by Albanian

gangs. On 3 October 1919, around 10:00 o’clock miller Agop and Ohannes were

kidnapped by the bandits. After the investigations, it was understood that they

were kidnapped for ransom.

- On 12th January 1920, around 05:00 while Tahir the son of Ahmed, foundation

guard Hasan and coal merchant Mineoğlu Mişo were going from Üsküdar

to Ömerli, 3 bandits leapt out and they fled towards Laz village after taking

forcefully 8 lira from Tahir and 10 lira from Mişo.

WEAPONS GOING TO ANATOLIA WERE PASSING FROM ÇEKMEKÖY

National resistance movements occurred when Ottoman army was disarmed

due to heavy conditions of Armistice of Mudros and Anatolia was occupied by

British, Greek, Italian and French soldiers. This resistance movement was called

Kuva-yi Milliye. Military officers, many intellectuals and the people from public

were working in this organization as volunteers. Furthermore, Kuva-yi Milliye

was the first defense movement during the national struggle. These forces which

emerged as local civilian organizations and gangs became guerrilla fighters

against standing armies of occupant forces.

The area from Üsküdar to Izmit was substantial for Kuva-yı milliye. Because

ammunitions and guns were placed here. While many intellectuals and military

officers were travelling to Anatolia for national resistance, Turkish people began

to get conscious about the minorities supporting occupant forces. Transition to

Anatolia via land road was only way for military soldiers since sea ways and straits

were under the control of occupant forces. Similarly, the ammunitions and guns

were sent via land road. Özbekler lodge which was located in Üsküdar had a

very significant function for transition to Anatolia. The weapons were brought to

Özbekler lodge secretly and it was reached to Izmit via Kısıklı, Çamlıca, Ümraniye,

Dudullu, Alemdağ and Samandıra. From there, they were sent to Anatolia.

The organized members of Kuva-yı Milliye were active around ÇEKMEKÖY which

was under occupation at that time. For instance, on 17 November 1919, one of

the members of Kuva-yı Milliye lieutenant Hulusi Efendi came to fight against

bandits in Ömerli and Şile.

Turkish people tried to stop the violent activities of Greek and Armenian gangs

and they tried to take precautions. Many patriots including Mustafa Kemal

decided to create battalions to stop the violence of minority gangs and bandits

help people who want to pass from ISTANBUL to Anatolia to join national

resistance; and help to send ammunitions and weapons to Anatolia. 22 battalions

under the command of experienced commanders were created for this purpose.

The responsibility area of Maltepe Aerial Gunnery School commander Şükrü Bey

who ran the Anatolian organization of Karakol Community was Maltepe Aerial

Gunnery School and Kocaeli General Commandership.

Turkish gangs and battalions were active in the areas where minority gangs

operated like Üsküdar, Beykoz, ÇEKMEKÖY, Pendik, Kartal, Samandıra, Paşaköy,

Çatalca. Among these organizations there were also the ones which abused their

power and swayed from their original goals.

Some of the Turkish battalions operating in the region were as follows: National

Alemdar Battalion, Konyalı Hüseyin Battalion, İpsiz Recep Battalion, Albanian

Small Lion Battalion, Ismail Captain Battalion, Laz Osman Battalion, Captain

Yahya Battalion.

 

NATURAL BEAUTIES OF ÇEKMEKÖY

FORESTS, FARMS, RIVERS IN ÇEKMEKÖY

ÇEKMEKÖY geography has an importance in ISTANBUL. It is almost like an oxygen

tank for the city. It has a great impact on people’s lives with its plants, birds,

insects and other forest creatures.

ÇEKMEKÖY was forest and farm area in the past. The whole area was covered with

trees during the Byzantine era from Beykoz to Alemdağ. There was a hunting

lodge belonging to Byzantine Emperor at a place called Meludio. Kontakuzinos

Byzantine Emperor gave his daughter Theodora to the Ottoman Sultan Orhan

Bey, but since he could not achieve his goal this way, he became a monk in

Mangallar Monastery after leaving the crown and the throne.

ÇEKMEKÖY area provided the need of woods and coal during the Ottoman time.

The forest of ÇEKMEKÖY was also used for trips, recreation, hunting and fun.

Most of the people support their families with coal heaving and wood picking in

the villages as Ömerli, Hüseyinli and Koçullu. The woods which were picked from

mountains and forest used to be brought to piers with buggies and horses then

they were sent to ISTANBUL by sea.

ÇEKMEKÖY was the source of both wood and coal and an important recreation,

fun and rest place as it had those forests; Alemdağ Forest, Sultançiftliği Taşlıtepe

Forest, Taşdelen Forest, Alemdağ Nursery Garden.

ÇEKMEKÖY WAS WOOD AND COAL YARD OF ISTANBUL

Wood was one of the people’s main daily needs in Ottoman era. Besides the need

of heating it was also necessary for bakeries, baths, soap makers, dye houses and

brick workshops to be able to produce. The state was also careful about this issue.

The wood supply was obtained from close areas of ISTANBUL, however if it

was necessary they could also obtain it from far locations. ÇEKMEKÖY and its

neighborhood as close to ISTANBUL could supply wood demand for these places.

Most of the people living in the villages here supported their families with wood

business. There were specially built piers for the wood and coal business and they

were making only wood and coal transportation.

Many people were bringing wood which was picked up from mountains, forests

and their villages to these piers and sold them to ship captains. Government was

trying to get the wood business under control. There were precautions taken to

organize people who worked in the wood business. Even though the precautions

were taken, if there was a wood shortage then more woodcutters were sent to

forests. The shipped coals were wood coal. After cutting the woods from forests,

they were transforming to wood coals by cooking them in the kilns.

As it is mentioned above the people residing in and around ÇEKMEKÖY were

providing with coal and wood business. In this respect, the income of the many

villages was from selling the woods to ISTANBUL. Indeed, the public of Isa,

Gökmaslı, Kosto, Yeniköy ve Çıtaklı under the governance of Şile;

Kılıçlı, İshaklı, Ayvalı, Sırapınar, Ömerli, ÇEKMEKÖY, Muradlı and

Koçullu under the governance of Beykoz township were occupied

with coal heaving and wood cutting.

Cut wood and prepared coal were brought to piers close to the

village. There were piers for coal and wood shipping for each coastal

village. For instance, Alibahadır, Göklü, Öğümce, Morkaya, Tarlabaşı

and İkiyakalı piers under the governance of Yoros (Beykoz) township;

Şile, Kabakoz, Akçakilise, İsa, Yorgunca, İmranlı, Mahmud Creek

piers under the governance of Şile were some of the mentioned

piers which had license to ship wood and coal to ISTANBUL.

Although they were having some difficulties from time to time, 3

types of wood were shipped to ISTANBUL. The first type was to meet

the heating needs in general. Second type was the woods cut from

hornbeam and they were often used in bakeries. The third type was

logs used in Turkish baths. There were also black markets for coal

and wood businesses. Some of the black marketers were coming to

the villages producing coal and wood and they were buying wood

and coal by paying their money a year beforehand and sell them to

ISTANBUL with much higher prices. If they were caught, they were

punished and their possessions were confiscated.

As a result, ISTANBUL’s need of wood and coal was provided by a

particular organization and from certain places. ÇEKMEKÖY was one

of the most important of them. ÇEKMEKÖY continued to provide the

wood demand of ISTANBUL during the republican era as well.

FARMS AND MANSIONS

Since ÇEKMEKÖY and its neighborhoods were suitable for agricultural and

ranching activities there were many farms including Alemdağ, Sultançiftliği,

Ömerli, Hüseyinli and Taşdelen. We can reveal information about the farms from

Temettuat records and other archive documents.

BALTACI FARM

It was one of the most famous farm in ÇEKMEKÖY. The management of the farm

belonged to Sadaret chamberlain İbrahim Nesimi Efendi until 1810. After the

death of İbrahim Nesim Efendi it was passed to a lady called Ayşe.

There is detailed information about Baltacı Farm in Temettuat records.

According to 1840 books it belonged to foundation of New Mosque Şerif and it

was operated by Hasan Aga from Dergah Ali gatekeepers. Since it belonged to

foundation it did not pay any taxes. It had 60 decares of field and 500 decares of

forest and many great and small cattle. The value of real estate in the farm was

47 thousand kuruş and the value of the animals was 14,846 kuruş.

In 1844 book, it was indicated as belonging to foundation of Atik Valide Sultan

in Üsküdar. The farm which had 870 decares of field and 2 decares of forest was

operated by jeweler Kirkor Çorbacıyan from Asitane.

SEREZ MUHASSILI AHMED GÜMÜŞ EFENDİ FARM

Another farm registered in the Temettuat records was Serez Muhassıllı Ahmed

Gümüş Efendi Farm located in ÇEKMEKÖY. The farm had 1,020 decares of land,

forest, 3 decares of orchard and one sheep pen and one mill with other buildings.

Many cattle were raised in the farm as great and small. The value of real estate

and animals was 59,446 kuruş; the total revenue was 1,000 kuruş and the tax

depending on the revenue was 25 kuruş. 4 non-Muslims were working in the

village.

FRENCH BAZERGAN TOBİNİ FARM

The farm which was registered in 1844 Temettuat record was probably the

Muhassıl Ahmed Gümüş Efendi Farm. When the management of the farm was at

French Bazergan Tobini, we can understand that his wife Angeliko was running

the farm. The farm had total 1,208 decares fields as 1,170 decares not planted,

110 decares planted. We can understand from the records that there was one

sheep pen and one mill and many great and small cattle. The estimated revenue

was 9,650 kuruş obtained from land, real estate and animals in the farm where

wheat, oat and flaxseeds were planted.

THE FARM IN ARMENIAN VILLAGE NEXT TO ALEMDAĞ

According to 1840 Temettuat records, Dersaadet-i şerif Ağası was in charge of

the management. The farm had 300 decares fields, 2,000 decares forest, one

water mill, 2 decares orchard, meadow, one sheep pen, 2 mansions, one coffee

shop and one bakery. The value of the farm excluding the animals was 50,000

kuruş. The value of real estate and animals was 60,960 kuruş. Then it can be

seen the management of the farm was given to someone else. For instance, the

document dated 1889, the owner of the farm was indicated as Italian citizen

Fransuva Faberil and it was registered as his Farm in Alemdağ; and according to

another document dated 1900 it was registered as Halimpaşa Farm in Alemdağ.

DÂRÜSSAADE AĞASI LEYLEK UZUN ABDULLAH AĞA FARM

It can be understood that the farm was around Alemdağ in the documents dated

1838. The document has the information of Darüssaade Ağası Leylek Uzun

Abdullah Ağa Farm animals as buffalo, cow, ox and goat numbers, the selling

products in the town, planted wheat, oat, flaxseed amount, wool and fixtures.

FARMS IN SULTANÇİFTLİĞİ

In 1840 there were 2 farms in Sultançiftliği Village borders. Both of them were

managed by Emin Efendi who was domiciled in Üsküdar Ayazma Neighborhood.

One of the farms had 100 decares of field, 5 rooms for helpers to stay, 4 sheep

pen, one storehouse and hayloft. Many great cattle were raised in the farms.

ÖMERLİ VILLAGE FARM

Although there is no detailed information in the records, we can understand that

there was a farm close to Ömerli. One of them was Şerifler farms and the other

was Çamcı Farm.

Besides them, it can be understood from the archive records that there was a

farm in Taşdelen and Hüseyinli villages.

THE FIRST ROAD BUILT IN ÇEKMEKÖY IN 1870

Since there were great number of farms, and imperial mansions in ÇEKMEKÖY,

the area had an importance. Many precautions were taken to be able to make

the area easy to arrive. Even though government had economic difficulties, they

still saved budget for construction and improvements. The macadam road built

between Kısıklı-Alemdağ can be shown as an example. The project was given

to constructor Abdurrahman Ağa and it was opened to public service on 10

February 1870.

ÇEKMEKÖY RIVERS, WATERS AND NATURAL BEAUTIES

Water is considered as one of the four elements necessary to sustain life.

Therefore, water is the life itself.

Not only human generations but also civilizations are developed with water. The

first civilizations were always settled next to water throughout history. Besides

many technological methods were improved to carry, save, use and protect

water from natural disasters.

The lands that nourished with water supplied various kinds of fruits, vegetables

and other products. Water is also a phenomenon that had an effect on our culture.

In literature, in art, in the songs, this effect and high water culture can be seen.

In this context water has an important value in our culture and society. That

value can be felt when people are served with water, they show their gratitude

by saying ‘be sacred like water’

Historically, there is no such city like ISTANBUL of which its fate was tied up

with water, and which is integrated with water on this level. Like poets tell us

in their poems; if you close your eyes and listen to ISTANBUL the first sound

will be the sound of water. ISTANBUL which has many stories about water,

was a real water civilization. Many civilizations lived in ISTANBUL, left water

structures here.

ISTANBUL water sources are divided into two parts, one being on the Asian side

and the other on the European side. The water on the Anatolian side of the city

are considered better for many aspects compared to water on the European side.

Natural flavor of the water on the Anatolian side is considered as unique with its

purity, softness and other chemical features. These waters are in the borders of

ÇEKMEKÖY.

Springs on the Anatolian side of Istanbul are classified as Çamlıca water source,

Kayışdağı water source and Alemdağ Water source. There are many water

resources on the eastern side of the Bosphorus besides these 3 water sources.

Alemdağ water springs are in the various spots of the land around Alemdağ

village.

Alemdağ water has its source in the various parts of the vast land around

the village. The hills’ altitude from sea varies from 300 to 450 meters. The

records reveal that land was covered with dense forests in the past. The big

part of the water sources is originally from ÇEKMEKÖY. They can be listed as

Taşdelen water source, Saray water source, Taflanlı water source, Mütevelli

water source, Ayazma water source, Küçükelmalı water source and Büyükelmalı

water source.

ÇEKMEKÖY WAS WATER HEALING CENTER

ÇEKMEKÖY and its neighborhood was one of the city attractions in ISTANBUL in

the 1930s. The reason why it was so popular was that it had magnificent forests

and delicious spring waters.

Since the area was very rich with its natural attractions, it was considered to be

used for treatments and as sanitarium. One of the ideas was to use water and its

healing nature and it was thought to build water clinics. This idea was published

on Cumhuriyet Newspaper and the natural attractions like forests, water sources

were written on the newspaper.

OTHER NATURAL BEAUTIES IN THE AREA

FLORA AND HABITAT OF ÇEKMEKÖY

Turkey is 32nd biggest country of the world and it has 780,576 square kilometers

territory and various kinds of soil types. Additionally, since the county lives four

seasons, it has a rich flora. Almost 10.500 different kinds of flowery plant taxon

are identified according to latest researches.

ISTANBUL attracts many immigrants as it is a social, cultural, political center.

Even though city constructions and urbanization ruined most of the greenery,

it still has more than 2,500 kinds of plants and it has a tremendous amount of

natural richness and it hosts hundreds of animal species. When it is considered,

ISTANBUL had a richer biodiversity with its 5,100 square kilometer territory

compared to countries like England or Holland.

The basin belonging to ÇEKMEKÖY is one of the most important natural

immigrant transition spot. The area presents a nice mosaic with its rich habitat

and different kinds of trees like oak, heathland, pasture, turbary and wetland.

ÇEKMEKÖY district is one of Istanbul’s and Turkey’s most important natural areas

and migration transition. One of the most important feature of this area is it

hosts the largest heathland in the Eastern Mediterranean and Eastern European

countries. These heathlands are one of the rarest habitats of the world. They host

various kinds of plant, bird, insect, reptile and amphibian species.

Especially in Ömerli Basin which is considered as one of the seventh most

important flora, have unprecise number of plants and animals. Society for the

protection of nature confirmed that 37 different rare plants were growing in the basin.

At least 10 of these plants are endemic to Turkey and they do not grow naturally anywhere

else in the worlds. The plants that grow in the borders of ÇEKMEKÖY; Istanbul Crocus, Kadıköy Crocus (Colchicum

Chalcedonicum), Marmarian Centaurea kilaea, Cirsium polycephalum, Amsonia orientalis Decne, Lathyrus Undulatus,

Colchicum Micranthum, Isoetes Duriei, Laurentia Gasparrinii, Crocus Pestalozzae, Euphorbia Amygdaloides Var Robbiae,

Bryophyta and Linum tauricum ssp. bosphori.

 

BIRDS

ÇEKMEKÖY is also a significant area for birds especially around Ömerli dam as it

is the transition area for Europe for migratory raptors and storks. These are the

bird species seen in the area; Anthus Campestris, Ciconia Nigra, Caprimulgus,

Emberiza Cirlus, Emberiza Hortulana, Falco Tinninculus, Hirunda Rustica,

Hippolais Pallida, Lanius Collurio, Luscinia Megarhynchos, Oenanthe, Saxicola

Torquata, Sylvia Melanocephala.398

Alemdağ snowbird and nightingale has a different kind of significance for

ÇEKMEKÖY. Therefore, it is necessary to examine them with more details.

ALEMDAĞI SNOWBIRD

Alemdağı snowbird is a type of bird. It is seen on the Asian side of ISTANBUL from

ÇEKMEKÖY until Alemdağ forest reaching to Riva with other migratory birds.

It is quite similar with other snowbirds with light blue, red, greenish, blackwhite

feathers. But its birdsong is much nicer and jovial. The bird was commonly

known after 19th century that Alemdağ became popular as a recreation area.

Drinking waters of Taşdelen and Malkuyusu, organizing events, resting under the

moonlight with forest chill became a passion especially for Üsküdar and Kadıköy

residents.

The ones who would say “we are going to listen to Alemdağı snowbird and drink

Taşdelen water’ were departing from, Üsküdar, Dudullu, Kısıklı, Sultançiftliği

with oxcarts full with joy. The intellectuals of ISTANBUL were also curious about

listening to Alemdağ snowbird like listening nightingale in Emirgan, frogs in

Göksu under the moonlight and sea in Bosphorus from the open windows of

Bosphorus mansions.

They were also famous composers of the time and they were organizing small

concerts. Sometimes they were organizing the competitions of making snowbirds

used to different birdsongs.

PLEASURE OF NIGHTINGALE IN ÇEKMEKÖY

Nightingale is a chirper bird with beautiful voice and nice birdsong. The country

side of the old ISTANBUL is famous with its chirper nightingale. There were two

different types of nightingales in Alemdağ; one of them was ordinary nightingale

and the other way big nightingale. 7th volume of ISTANBUL Encyclopedia

prepared by Reşat Ekrem Koçu talks about Alemdağ and nightingales as follows;

“For centuries Istanbul residents with taste and affection raced each other to the

vines, gardens, groves, and forests in order to listen to magnificent nightingales,

which are said to have painted roses red by the blood from their hearts full of love

for the roses. Just to listen to nightingales at night, people would travel by horses,

cars, boats, and ferries from far ends of the city to Kanlıca Bay and Alemdağı.”

Ahmet Rasim stated his ideas in Külliyatı Sâyü Tahrir as: “One night a nightingale

that started singing with the rising of the moon didn’t allow anyone to sleep all

night. Its singing was accompanied by others coming from all directions. Its

every chirp rose to sky bit by bit and came down as a pure tune. It was one of

those unforgettable moments of my life. This sound that rang in the silent night

sometimes with the most elegant and sweet harmony of the nature, sometimes

with such high pitch that pierced through the ears, never disturbed any of the

souls listening to it.”

HUNTING LODGES AND SUMMER PALACES

After the Edict of Gulhane, Balyan family was assigned as head architect for

many constructions especially like Dolmabahçe, Beylerbeyi and Çırağan. The

regulation of the streets in order to avoid the consequences of the fire, property

ownership of the floor, regulation of construction law, constructing building

from stone instead of wood were novelty in architecture.

Generally, 19th century palaces were the most important investments and it

was the first time throughout the Ottoman history there were so many palaces,

hunting lodges and mansions that got constructed. Most of them were located

on the Bosphorus and in forest lands and Alemdağ summer palace and Alemdağ

Hunting lodge was one of them.

ALEMDAĞ SUMMER PALACE AND ALEMDAĞ HUNTING LODGES

Alemdağ hunting lodge was built by Sultan Abdülmecid for his older brother

crown prince Abdülaziz in 1853. It was a stone 2 storey building built on a high

basement and it was designed by Sarkis Balyan for Sultan Abdülaziz (1861-

1876). The building was totally destroyed by the fire set by its watchman in

1940s and it was attacked by the Armenians in 1895. Abdülaziz was interested

in hunting. He used to go for hunting in Alemdağ quite often. Since he needed a

place to stay and rest for this hunting hobby, a hunting lodge was built in 1856,

3 years after the construction of summer palace in 1853. Since the hunting

lodge was built for Abdülaziz during his youth, it was named after him.

The buildings constructed in various places of the empire caused public works to

reach to areas and helped the regions. For instance, because of the mansion built

in Alemdağ during the reign of Abdülazziz, Upper Dudullu is more developed

than Lower Dudullu.

ABBAS HALIM PASHA HUNTING LODGE

Derin Türkömer gives information about the hunting lodge in this book consisting

conversations with Princess Zeynep Halim.

“I do not know the exact date the first time I took the rifle in my hand; I think

I was eighteen years old. I remember that I shot with 22 calibers. I knew my

uncle in law Abbas had interest in hunting and guns. He had a hunting lodge in

Koçullu close to Ömerli. One of his friends called Semih Bey built this place. He

was inspired by the houses in Hungry where he was educated for architecture.

We used to go there with our family and stay. A day in autumn, Abbas Bey told

me to get one of the riffles and bullets and hunt turtledows instead of sitting

home doing nothing. So I took one of his sons close to my age and we went out.

What did a turtledove look like, how it flied and how it could be hunted I had no

idea. So we happened to see one, I tried to shoot it but it did not fall. However, I

guess it should have been hurt by buckshots, it perched on a branch. Then I shot

it again and it fell. This was my first hunting story.

Princess Zeyneb Halim was the second generation granddaughter of Egypt’s ruler

Muhammad Ali (1769-1849).

She was born as the youngest between the 6 sisters in Bursa in 1915. Her father

was Prince Abbas Halim Paşa, her mother was the daughter of Hidiv Mehmet

Tevfik Paşa called Princess Hatice Tevfik Hanım. Prince Abbas Halim Pasha was

governor of Bursa for a short period and he became minister of public works

during the government of Committee of Union and Progress. At the same the

vizier of Ottomans Sait Halim Paşa was the uncle of Zeynep Hanım.

COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORTATION IN ÇEKMEKÖY

BUILDING THE LINE FOR TELEGRAPH BETWEEN

ALEMDAĞ AND ÜSKÜDAR

Ottoman Empire cared about the communication to be fast and efficient in the

region. That’s why from the foundation of empire they established a system called

‘ulak’ in other words messenger. While they were using Tatars with horses, the

ulak system continued until XVI. Century. The real organization of communication

started during the reign of Sultan Suleiman. The organization which is called

Menzil was better equipped and organized compared to previous system.

There were no radical changes until the reign of Mahmud II. While Mahmud II

wanted empire to be more centralized, he wanted to use better opportunities of

communication and he established a post office there, called as Posta Nezareti.

So the communication system became more organized and regulated and it also

helped people to benefit these opportunities.

After Edict of Gulhane, Ottoman Empire started to use telegraphs as a rapid

communication mean after England and France. While the very first experiments

of electric telegraph were in 1839, its use began in 1850s commonly. The effect

of telegraph was widely felt in the empire. Especially Sultans showed positive

reactions for it and they supported it to be widely used in the further cities

as well. Crimean War caused telegraph to get more common. The construction

of the telegraph line between ISTANBUL- Edirne started in March 1855. The

telegraph line which had 270 kilometers of wire usage was started to operate on

19 August 1955 and the first telegraph was sent.

After that telegraph lines were began to be constructed all around the country.

Sultan Abdülaziz constructed a telegraph line from Üsküdar to Alemdağ

Mansion since he used to come here to stay very often and wanted to have a

communication between here and the palace.

During the First World War telegraph was widely used between the other

communication tools. They had built a telegraph line in Kısırlık Village located

on the east and Hato sub-district located between Garzan and Sason so they

could communicate with eastern villages. One of the main telegraph centers

that communicated with eastern villages was Alemdağ Military Telegraph Center.

Alemdağ started to operate that way since May 1916.

TARİK-İ KEBİR WAS VITAL POINT OF BUSINESS

The only business road was passing from Alemdağ for Şile, Kartal and Beykoz

townships. This road was also crucial for other villages around the neighborhood.

Sultan Abdülhamid, who gave a great importance to construction and restoration

activities, restored the macadam road in 1880 that Abdülaziz built. This road

was called as “tarik-i kebir”.

Public used this road for many years. But after sometime it was not maintained

well. Alemdağ residents requested the road to be restored in 1899 by stating

that the condition of the road was bad. The sultan of that time Abdülhamid asked

Ticaret ve Nafia Nezareti (Ministry of Public Works) to do what was needed.

UNREALIZED DREAM; ÜSKÜDAR- ALEMDAĞ TRAM

The first tram with horses was opened between Karaköy- Beşiktaş on 31 July

1871 and it started to operate. Reaching tram to the other side of the city took

about 57 years and Üsküdar- Kısıklı tram could start to serve in 1928.

When tram with horses began to operate, public showed a great interest in it.

Shortly after Üsküdar residents took action. Üsküdar residents asked government

to bring tram with horses to Üsküdar as well. This request of Üsküdar residents

were taken into consideration. Also the company which built the tram line had a

right to build other tram lines in the Asian side of the city. They had this right for

5 years and there were still remaining 2 years for them. If the company wanted,

they could build tram line in Üsküdar. However the company did not have any

plans to build tram line in Üsküdar. Because there were other lines to be built on

European side of the city.

After that date, there had been many failed attempts to bring tram to Üsküdar.

For instance, Belgian Henry Bormans wanted to build a tram run by steam in

Üsküdar and its neighborhoods but his attempts also failed.

Even though first tram construction started in Istanbul 40 years ago they weren’t

constructed in Asian side of the city. One of the reasons was that it was considered

Administration of Anatolian Railways could oppose to these constructions.

In Üsküdar building tram lines got started in 1912. After that date building

electrical trams on the European side was mentioned. That’s why the tender

was announced to run tram line in Üsküdar, Kadıköy and their neighborhood.

The best offer was given by French Omnium D’Entreprise and its representative

Oktave Besançon. So that’s how they made an agreement with Besançon.

According to the agreement the company would built trams lines to Üsküdar-

Haydarpaşa - Kadıköy, Kadıköy - Moda and Kadıköy – Fenerbahçe lines and

Üsküdar- Kısıklı- Alemdağ. After the company got the privilege General

Directorate of Foundations started to be interested in it. The last stop of one

of the lines was Alemdağ forests and Taşdelen water source located at the end

of the one tram line belonged to foundations. Ministry developed a project

and instead of giving privilege to foreigner company, it offered construction

to be done by foundations. So using the benefits of Taşdelen Water source and

Alemdağ forests would be much easier. The ministry of public works informed

Ottoman Government on 26 Nisan 1912 about this issue.

French company Omnium D’Entreprise suggested that the privilege could not

be given to somebody else. But since the relations with France were not at its

best and the privilege was given for an unprecise period, Oktave Besançın and

his company could not keep its privilege. However, the company demanded

compensation for following years; it was declined by the Ottoman Empire.

 

FIRST WORLD WAR STOPPED THE TRAM CONSTRUCTION

After French company lost its right to build tram, the privilege was given to

General Directorate of Foundations for constructing Üsküdar- Kısıklı- Alemdağ

electric tram with the decision dated 8 March 1913.

The directorate would construct the tram starting from an appropriate point in

Üsküdar and going up to Alemdağ by passing from Bağlarbaşı and Kısıklı and

when the tramline was ready, the directorate would operate it as well.

General Directorate of Foundations started the construction from April 1914.

Since directorate also needed electricity to run the tramline, an electric factory

was decided to be built in Bağlarbaşı.

For this purpose, General Directorate of Foundations contacted with Bergman

Company located in Berlin and they gave necessary orders for building electric

factory. Some part of the factory was brought to Istanbul. They had made the

payment for this part of the factory as well as the others. Additionally, they had

started to restore the roads around the tramline.

However shortly after Ottoman Empire participated in First World War and all

operations related to tramline had to stop.

While many years passed, there were no attempts made for Üsküdar -Kısıklı

tramline construction. During the Armistice, some decisions were taken to build

the line but it was not possible to finish it.

After the declaration of Republic, the unfinished tramline project was again

on the agenda. A group of entrepreneurs lead by Süreyya Pasha searched for

solutions to finish the Üsküdar tramline.

They had contacted ISTANBUL municipality for this reason and the attempts were

made to start the constructions. They tried to launch a company. The name of

the company was, “Üsküdar-Kısıklı-Alemdağ Public Trams Turkish Corporation”.

Üsküdar- Kısıklı became the very first tramline of the Asian side of the city. after

the developments the name of the company was changed to “Üsküdar- Kadıköy

and neighborhood Public Trams Turkish Corporation” and new lines began to be

constructed. Even though it was planned until Alemdağ, none of the tramlines

could go until there.

RIVALRY BETWEEN BUS AND TRAM

FOR ÇEKMEKÖY – KADIKÖY LINE

One of the major developments related to transportation was the attempt

to expand bus transportation at the beginning of the 1930s.

ÇEKMEKÖY was among the places that benefited from these

opportunities. The bus route would be between Kadıköy-Taşdelen.

The proposal about the operation of buses between Kadiköy-

Taşdelen was examined by the Council and it was accepted. The

buses started to operate. The revenues of the buses were quite

good. The people who realized how buses made profit wanted to

set a bus line between Üsküdar and Kadıköy, so the rivalry started.

There were 15 busses in the mid-1931.

The rumors that in the summer of 1932 new bus lines would be

opened for recreation areas as Alemdağ-Kısıklı and Tumruk Water

source caused Üsküdar Tram Company to make some modifications.

First the signal device was installed to provide a faster

transportation. This application made the services much organized

and faster. While the trams had to wait for minutes at the stops,

they began to operate without waiting. Moreover, the company

prepared a convenient tram timetable for extra Çamlıca line.

The project which was designed to extend until Alemdağ was

actually intended for the development of the Asian side and it was

prepared before the First World War. Some parts of it were opened

for service including firstly Üsküdar-Kısıklı line.

It actually caused some development in Üsküdar but it was

less than expected. In the other words it did not bring enough

profit so it could not renovate itself, new carriages could not be

brought. Couple of buses were planned to be added but they were

not enough to solve the problem. Then the line was extended

until Kadıköy with almost one million debts. It still did not make

expected profit. When we look at mid-1950, it can be seen that

it was not operating properly. The tramlines were not maintained

well and extremely run-down. It also had lots of debts to Electric

Administration.

FIRST TELEPHONE CENTRAL OF ÇEKMEKÖY

The telephone was used for the first time in 1908 during the Ottoman Empire.

Kadıköy and Beyoğlu telephone centrals were opened in 1911. The first telephone

central was built in Ankara with the order of Atatürk in 1926. Then other centrals

began to open. Shortly after all cities started to have communication between

them since the telephone centrals were opened everywhere. The telephone

started to be used widely after the efforts of PTT after 1970s. It became more

common during the 80s when Turgut Özal was in charge of the government.

ÇEKMEKÖY region could use this service in 1985. For instance, Sultançiftliği

telephone central for 500 subscribers was built as a result of work of Üsküdar

Villages Water and Telephone Association at that date. The central costed 60

million liras and started operating with code number 1838 on 9 September

1985. It was used by Sultançiftliği, Sarıgazi, Alemdağ and Yenidoğan. Reşadiye

and Paşaköy could have one in 1986. ISTANBUL governor made an opening

speech saying “such facility is being done for the first time” for the central which

was built with the contributions of the public.

ÇEKMEKÖY AS RECREATION AREA

The recreation areas were the most popular attractions for the people in the past.

People were surging into recreation areas with the arrival of spring and revival of

nature. Recreation areas became popular starting from Tulip Era (1718-1730), it

expanded to Mahmoud II. (1808-1839) and Abdülmecid Periods (1839-1861) and

it became very common during Abdulhamid II. Period (1876-1909). Bosphorus

recreation areas attracted more people with the operations of Şirket-I Hayriye.

Some recreation areas were visited for their water sources and some others for

their magnificent view. Some people used to visit 3-4 recreation areas per day

since they enjoyed it a lot. They would have their lunch in one recreation area

and make afternoon walks in the other one. The third one was for the dinner and

after that they used to sail with a boat to watch the moon. During these visits,

men used to sit under the trees and next to water sources and women used to

visit the area by watching from a buggy.

The most popular recreation areas for ISTANBUL residents were Kâğıthane,

Göksu, Küçüksu, Beykoz, Çamlıca and Büyükdere.

Kayışdağı, Alemdağ, Taşdelen located in ÇEKMEKÖY were popular for public as

well as palace court and high ranking officers. According to Samiha Ayverdi,

ÇEKMEKÖY recreation area had entertainments as follows;

“Entertainment in Alemdağı was something else with theater companies, horse

acrobats, puppet and mime shows, music groups and seventy to eighty carts

participating. Once it was decided to organize these festivals in Alemdağı, not

just from Çamlıca, but also from Erenköyü and Göztepe criers would invite people,

participants would start getting ready by hiring cars, preparing food baskets, ice

cream boxes, and other necessities, and would start arriving in Muhacir village

two hours prior to sunrise. Along with musicians and singers, convoys of cars

would set on the road. They would arrive in Dudullu before the sunrise. Odes of

Sabahi would be sung while the morning mist slowly disappeared; a light and

moist chill would travel through the crowds. There would be still an innocent

excitement fueled by the fresh, clear and half awaken nature, only later to give

way to fiery and passionate desires. Playful looks wouldn’t have been settled on

their favorites yet, and the lonely souls not mingled together. Just like the nature

people would also listen, think, and wait. As the sun rose behind the mountains,

would slowly light up the first sparks of excitement throughout the cars lining

up at a slow pace. At that time, the melody of the songs would change, from

mellow cries of the early hours to the surprising passionate desires, and a mist

of pleasure would slowly dazzle the people. There would never be any fights or

arguments within this elite and noble crowd; even if there might be people of

poor manners time to time, they wouldn’t be able to act out in such crowds.

By noon the convoys would arrive in Alemdağı, and after a small chaos all the

families would pick their spot under a tree, would lay out the rugs, unload the

baskets; jugs would be filled with Taşdelen water, meals would be consumed,

music and games played, looks of love and desire would be thrown to each other.

Even when there were clashes of desires time to time, people would intervene

quickly, and the harmony of the crowd would be restored. As the evening set,

guards would go around to notify people of the return time, after taking a roll

call, cars would slowly start moving for the return journey, and tired but joyful

souls would not make it to their homes and mansions before midnight.”

There are still recreation areas and entertainment centers in Alemdağ, Koçullu,

Ömerli, Sırapınar ve Hüseyinli located in ÇEKMEKÖY like in the past and they still

attract people. These areas give a good opportunity for those who like to have

picnic and it is good for resting with its clean weather and natural beauties. The

recreation area is controlled by ÇEKMEKÖY municipality for any type of bugs and

tick risks.

For instance picnickers spend good time on recreation areas as Alemdağ

recreation area and Beykent Koşullu recreation area with their 52,000 decare

land. Alemdağ as the transition point of 2 different climates as Black Sea and

Marmara Sea is a favorite place for picnic-lovers with its clean weather.

While the picnic is free for individuals, a small amount of money is charged to

arrange foundation organizations with many participants. The water needs of

the picnickers are provided by Alemdağ Recreation area and it has many workers.

Also there will be no parking problem for the guests who like to spend a nice day

here.

ÇEKMEKÖY WAS INTERNSHIP AND CAMPING AREA FOR STUDENTS

It was very important for students to practice what they learned during the

Ottoman Empire. One of the practice and internship areas was ÇEKMEKÖY and

its neighborhood.

For example, in 1858 the students learning forest science were taken to Alemdağ

to see the weather casts at its place and have better information. They were

taken here with their teachers like an internship. The budget for Alemdağ travel

and overnight stay was calculated as 3,000 kuruş and the money was requested

from government through ministry of economics of its time. The amount was

decided to be paid by the order of Sultan Abdülmecid on 12 November 1858. We

can also see similar applications during the republican era. For instance, there

was a meeting held lead by governor and mayor to provide for the students in

need in 1937. There were Public Houses president, Public Party chiefs, charity

foundation representatives, minister of education and city council members.

During the meeting it was decided to help the poor students from one hand and

get the helps more regulated and organized. They also decided to organize a

commission to take care of the issue. The villages were included to this project

as well. First of all they had set a camp in Florya and the students who passed

the doctor control settled in a camp in Alemdağ and the ones in need of fresh air

would be sent to a camp in Florya.

Moreover on July 13 1943, Ministry of Education had ordered the school students

to do scouting activities. Then, first group of 48 students lead by Abdi Atamer

from Haydarpaşa High School set up a camp around Taşdelen Village in Alemdağ.

SULTANS IN ÇEKMEKÖY

Every article written about Alemdağ describes its natural beauties, its pleasant

and cool weather and its healing spring waters. Alemdağ grabbed the attention

from the people from the first settlement date. Because during the Byzantine

period, Alemdağ was an important region. It was all covered with trees from

Beykoz to Alemdağ. There was a hunting lodge located in a place called Meludion.

Byzantine Emperor Kontakuzinos gave his daughter Theodora to Ottoman Sultan

Orhan Bey, but he could not reach his goals. So he left the throne and crown and

he became a monk in Mangallar Monastery in Alemdağ. Furthermore depending on the

historical documents, Roman nobles had an imperial residence in the forest of Asian

side as well. The place which was called Damatris in Samandra had a hunting lodge

and an imperial residence. Emperors used to come here to rest and go for hunting

until 13th century. For example, II. Andronikos Paleologos moved to Damatris and stayed

there for a while after the big earthquake in 1296. Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Hunter

(1648-1687) and Murad IV also (1623- 1640) used to come to Alemdağ often for

hunting activities. Evliya Çelebi mentioned Alemdağ as “Alemdağı the place of hunting, nice

hunting parties can be hold here “in his book called Seyahatname (book of travels).

According to the information given in the historical sources, the hunting activities

were as important as almost like wars in the social life of Ottomans. Especially the

Sultans at the pursuit of victory, crown princes and important government officers

used to spend their free time at this hunting activity parties. Sultan Mehmed VI got his

nickname as ‘hunter’ due to these organized hunting activities by himself. Hunting was

a sign of power. Hunting shows strength, ability and being in control. The size of the

hunted animal represents the power of the monarch. Hunting had a special area and
a ceremony. Alemdağ region hosted many Ottoman sultans and rulers. No doubt that most

popular time of Alemdağ was the reign of Mahmud II. He used to come to Alemdağ very
often to rest and go for hunting since he really loved Alemdağ

recreation areas and Taşdelen springs. Sultan Mahmud II visited Alemdağ and Sarıgazi
area and spent a night there. Chief Officer of harem Abdullah Ağa one of the Dârüssaade
chiefs threw a banquet for Mahmud II. Sultan Mahmud II joined the banquet by taking all crown

princes, imperial officers and other attendants with him. He stayed there for 2

days. Then he went to Sarıgazi and visited Sarıgazi Tomb. Sultan Mahmud and

his companions spend one night in Sâib Paşa farm.

Since Mahmud II came here very often, the public started to be interested in

Alemdağ. Then they started to organize daytrips to Alemdağ from ISTANBUL and

some of them also were spending the nights in the tents there.

The son of Mahmud II, who suddenly inherited the throne due to his father’s

unexpected death, Abdülmecid (1838-1861) also, liked that area. Abdülmecid

was coming here to rest and also to gain information about the public opinion.

Particularly after the Friday and religious festival prayers the public could express

their complaints. Sometimes he used to go recreation or fair grounds to meet

more people. Sultan Abdülmecid visited Alemdağ in 1849 and he disbursed

4,350 kuruş to public.

Sultan Abdülaziz was also one of the Ottoman sultans visiting ÇEKMEKÖY.

Abdülaziz used to go out very often and made long trips with horses and buggy.

The forests of Maslak, Kâğıthane, Hekimbaşı Çiftliği, Beykoz and Alemdağ were

his favorite spots. Furthermore, he enjoyed to welcome his guests over there.

For example, he threw a hunting party to honor the French Empress Eugenie

in 1869 by bringing her to Alemdağ. Sultan Abdülaziz cared about building a

hunting lodge in Alemdağ. Sultan used to come to mansion built in Alemdağ

farm and hunt with his companions, organize wrestling competitions, horse

races, ram fights, and alfresco celebrations. He used to have his lunch or dinner

then return to ISTANBUL.

Sultan Abdülaziz came to Alemdağ during his visits to ÇEKMEKÖY and he stayed in

Alemdağ mansion. Even more his stay prevented a conspiracy. Because Hüseyin

Avni Pasha invaded grand vizier position.

Pasha ordered his friend Serasker District Governor Çirpanlı Abdülkerim Nadir

Pasha to catch Sultan Abdülaziz with cavalry and capture him in a jail in Selimiye

Barracks. But since Sultan Abdülaziz stayed there for one more night, they could

not achieve their goal.

HOLY QORAN WAS SENT TO ÇEKMEKÖY ON BEHALF OF ABDÜLHAMİD II

Sultan Abdülhamit had a great importance by being on the Ottoman throne for 33 years. He succeeded to run the Empire in a successful way when the country had tremendous

amount of difficulties in and out. He caused reactions due to his policy applied against separationists. He was even attempted to be murdered by Armenian committee. A group of Armenian party members (Taşnak) made detailed plans to kill him. The Armenians living in Ottoman Empire and the ones living in Europe came to ISTANBUL to make plans to conspire. An Armenian named Krisdap went

to Yıldız and he noted all the information about the time of Sultan’s visit to the mosque, the place where buggy waits for him, distance between the buggy and the mosque by steps. As a result, they had decided to put a buggy loaded with bombs as close as possible to Sultan and kill him including his companions. They had built a case to fit 120kg explosive material in the buggy where normally

riders sit and they prepared a 42 seconds circuit watch to ignite the bomb. The

buggy was planned to be ridden by an Armenian murderer Zare Haçikyan at the

age of 45 and he was a member of Armenian committee. Explosives were loaded

in the iron case under the buggy and there were 500 capsules fit in tin boxes.

When everything was ready, the bomb was exploded on 21 July 1905 while Sultan

Hamid was coming back to palace after Friday pray. Eventhough everything was

planned with all the details, since Sultan talked to Şeyhülislam on the way back

to palace, he got late for couple of minutes, so conspiracy was failed.

After the investigations, Edouard Joris who was from Austria was sentenced to

death. Then he was brought to palace after spending some time in the jail and

it was decided him to be sent to Europe as a spy to work against Armenians and

he was given 500 lira. As Sultan was not hurt during the bombing, qadi, mufti, military officers and

government officers gathered and prayed for Sultan’s health. They distributed

scarified animals, doles and Holy Koran to show gratitude. Some of the Holy

Koran handed out also came to ÇEKMEKÖY.

According to archive documents on the subject dated April 17, 1905, 3 copies

were sent to Kartal, 2 copies were sent to Alemdağ, ÇEKMEKÖY, Sarıgazi,

Samandra, the villages of Dudullu. So the 4 of copies given as a gift was in

Çekme Village and Alemdağ in the borders of ÇEKMEKÖY. Besides these places,

Holy Koran was sent to schools in Princess Islands and Şile. The district governors

of Kartal, Şile and Princess Island were responsible for this distribution.

ÇEKMEKÖY WAS A SANITARIUM

ÇEKMEKÖY was a place for healing diseases with its forests full of oxygen and

its natural water springs. Many people used to come here to find cures for their

ailments for centuries.

There were also famous people among the ones searching for cure. For instance,

the finance minister of Abdülmecid era Abdurrahman Nafiz Pasha was advised to

go to Alemdağ for fresh air and rest due to his bad medical condition. That’s why

pasha requested a permission to be able to go to Alemdağ and Grand Vizierate

allowed him to do so. Furthermore, Bulgarian exarch asked Grand Vizierate

permission to be able to go to Alemdağ and stay there for 15 days starting from

30 May 1894. He also wanted couple of officers to accompany him. The issue

was brought o Sultan Abdülhamid II and he ordered to indulge his desire so one

police officer and 2 cavalry officer accompanied him to Alemdağ.

ATATÜRK’S NOSTALGIA FOR ÇEKMEKÖY

The one of the most important visitors of ÇEKMEKÖY was the founder of the

Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Atatürk went to Üsküdar from

Dolmabahçe Palace and he passed to Şile by car. He was welcomed by cheers

of the public in Üsküdar and Şile. While he was going from Üsküdar to Şile, he

went up to Alemdağ and visited the water source of Taşdelen. After he examined

the site, he was touched by the indifference shown to the water source. Then

he talked to ISTANBUL governor and mayor Muhiddin Bey and he expressed his

will to take this water down to Üsküdar. The water source which was visited and

liked by Atatürk, Defneli water spring is also called Ghazi Spring referring Ghazi

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

He was offered to be taken to Alemdağ on his last days but since his medical

condition got worse he could not make it there and eventhough he really wanted

he died before visiting Alemdağ.

Şevket Süreyya Aydemir tells us about Atatürk’s will to go to Alemdağ with more

details in the episode of “Forest Longing” of his book called One Man.

One of the 7 doctors who took care of Atatürk on his last days, Dr. Mithat Reşat

Belger mentions Atatürk’s interest in Alemdağ. According to the interview given

by Belger to journalist Abdi İpekçi which was published on 10 November 1950,

Atatürk never thought of dying he thought he could live with this sickness. He

was planning to spend the rest of his life in Yalova, Florya and Alemdağ.

The rest of the story is told by Dr. Nihat Reşat Belger as follows;

“One day he came and told me;

-Please go and pick a nice place with clean weather in Alemdağ. I would like to

build a mansion and live there.

The next day we went to Alemdağ with a group of 8 people including Governor

Muhiddib Üstündağ and his personal clerk. There was a mansion left from Sultan

Aziz. I checked it and it was suitable. It was easy to make it ready after couple of

modifications and restorations. Governor asked us to prepare the mansion. I told

him not to hurry. Because I did not know the medical condition of Atatürk. When

I got back to palace, Atatürk wanted me to explain. I told him about the mansion

that we found. But he never mentioned again about the mansion.”

GALİP HOCA IN ÇEKMEKÖY

Another statesman hosted by the ÇEKMEKÖY was “Galip Hoca” of Independence War and

the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic as a key figure of Republican history

was Celal Bayar. His visit to ÇEKMEKÖY on 11 October 1938 was published in the

newspaper as follows; “The Prime Minister Celal Bayar accompanied by Governor ISTANBUL Muhiddin Üstündağ returned to ISTANBUL around 16:00 after making examinations around Alemdağ and Bendler. The prime minister traveled to Ankara by passing to Haydarpaşa around evening and taking a special wagon attached to Ankara Express train.

NATIONAL POET MEHMET AKIF SPENT HIS LAST DAYS IN ÇEKMEKÖY

One of the guests coming to Alemdağı for its healing nature, forests, air and waters was our

national poet Mehmet Akif Ersoy. During his stay in Egypt, Mehmet Akif frequently fell ill. He was

getting old and was longing his homeland. He wanted to return to ISTANBUL and die there.

Akif told his close friend from his years in Egypt, Prince Halim Bey, that he was very tired of working

abroad, and that he wanted to spend the last days of his life in his homeland, and write his last poems

there. In response to that Prince Halim Bey tells him about the forest and natural beauties of Alemdağı, and tell him that he would be delighted to host him at his mansion there. Very much

affected by his descriptions of Alemdağı and with a desire to see it, he returned

to ISTANBUL at the beginning of the summer of 1936. As soon as he landed

he was taken to the mansion of Princess Emine Abbas Halim. He was very well

received at the mansion. A private car was given to his disposal for him to be able to travel to Alemdağı. During his stay at Halim Bey’s farmhouse he used to go to ISTANBUL every 15 to

20 days to get the water retention in his abdominal and lungs removed.

After getting treatment at Nişantaşı Health Clinic for a month, he was sent home

to Mısır Apartment by the recommendation of Dr. Fuat Şemsi as his conditioned

worsened. Professor Burhanettin Tuğan took over his treatment. After staying her

for a while, he once again went to the farmhouse of Prince Halim in Alemdağı.

Our leading national poet Mehmet Akif spent the last days of his life in his beloved Alemdağı and

passed away on Sunday night, December 27, 1936, in Mısır Apartment in Beyoğlu.

ÇEKMEKÖY residents never forget their one-time guest Mehmet Akif. They commemorate him in

annual activities. Commemoration ceremonies, hosted by ÇEKMEKÖY mayor Ahmet Poyraz, are

well received by both the protocol and the public. Akif’s life is taught to the younger generations,

and middle school and high school students are awarded for reading of the National Anthem and

poetry competitions. Also various artists read.

 

BRITISH AMBASSADOR GEORGE KLARK WENT HUNTING IN ÇEKMEKÖY

ÇEKMEKÖY always attracted interest with its forests, natural springs, and other natural beauties not just from locals, but also from foreigners. It was the preferred place not just for picnics, entertainments

and resting, but also for other activities. For example, English Consul Sir George Klark, running away from heavy diplomacy of Ankara, got off the train in Pendik in November 6, 1931, and immediately

headed to Alemdağı for hunting. After spending two days here, the consul returned to Ankara.

WORLD’S OLDEST MAN ZARO AĞA ALSO LIVED IN ÇEKMEKÖY

When asked whether they would want to live a long and healthy life, no one will

say no. Life expectancy in Turkey is about 70. But there was a person who lived 2.5

times longer than that in these lands: Zaro Ağa. Naturally the long life of Zaro Ağa was interesting for many locals and foreigners. Some of this attention he was receiving was also directed towards ÇEKMEKÖY. He used to state that he owed his long life and health to the forests around

Alemdağı and the yogurt he would consumed from animals living in the area.

According to the records he was born in 1777, in the last quarter of the 18.

Century, in Merment village of Mutki district of Bitlis. His father was Simdin Ağa,

and mother was Mis Hanım. When he died in 1934 he was 157 years old, and when he was born there was Abdulhamid I. in power in the Ottoman Empire. Zaro Ağa lived approximately

157 years, 1884 months, 57,305 days, 1,375,296 hours, 82,517,760 minutes

and his heart beat 4,951,065,600 times. After spending his childhood in the village, he came to ISTANBUL during the rule of 28th Ottoman Sultan Selim III. At the time Zaro was a strong and fit young man. He was a worker in the construction of Nusretiye Mosque, Ortaköy Mosque,

Selimiye Barracks, and Dolmabahçe Palace, which were all getting built in those

years in ISTANBUL and have become our historical treasures nowadays. He was

very much loved by the tradesmen with his strength, calm nature, and honest

personality. Especially tradesmen in Karaköy, and Eminönü admired him.

While he was fighting against Napoleon’s forces under Cezzar Ahmet Paşa’s

command in 1798, he was noticed by the palace attendants for being well built

and served the rest of his military service in the palaces. During the abolishment

of the Janissary forces in 1826 he hid in the dungeons underneath Hagia Sophia

and saved his life. After getting wounded from his leg while he was fighting in the

Ottoman-Russian war of 1828 as a member of Mutkili Şerif Mirza Clan, he returned

first to his homeland, and later in 1830s returned to ISTANBUL. He mentions

working for the construction of Ortaköy Mosque in 1853 while he was in his 80s. After the Janissaries were abolished he worked as a porter at the customs. As he proved himself in this trade he soon became a leader in porters’ guild and led other porters for 20 years while getting a commission of the work carried out at the docks. At the time there was a conflict taking place between Armenian and Kurdish porters. Zaro Ağa became an important figure among the Kurdish porters. So much that

even when he couldn’t carry out the work himself anymore, he was still respected highly. During ISTANBUL mayor Surgeon MD Emin Bey’s period he was appointed as the head porter of the municipality and a salary of 50 liras was allocated to him. Zaro Ağa also worked as a model for a short period. He was allowed to model for the female students in the Fine Arts School through the initiative of one of our first female painters, Mihri Müşfik Hanım. He lived a life as long as a quarter of the length

of Ottoman Empire. He has seen two thirds of all Ottoman Sultans. When he was born Abdulhamid I. was in power. Following that he witnessed the rule of Selim III., Mustafa IV., Mahmud II., Abdulmecid, Abdulaziz, Murad V., Abdulhamid II., Mehmet Reşat V., and the last Sultan Mehmed Vahdeddin. He also witnessed the caliphacy of the last caliph Abdulmecid Efendi, and the abolishment of the caliphate. Greeks, Armenians, and Jewish immigrating to the United States in 1920s and 30s formed an interesting market for the entertainment industry. Shrewd organizers being aware of this brought dancers and magicians from ISTANBUL to America, and organized concerts. Zaro Ağa also took part in these organizations highly popular by the immigrants missing their homeland. In the early years of the Republic two Jewish Americans convinced Zaro Ağa to go to the United States by claiming that he would quickly get reach there, and see many new places in the meantime. He accepted the offer thinking that he would live a little more comfortably than his last years that passed with financial

struggles. He didn’t let anyone know that he was going to the United States. He was well known by the reporters due to his very old age. Permission from the United States government was granted for his to travel, a costume was purchased with beads and a hat. Before sailing off to America he

visited İzmir and chatted with the public there. He also stopped by Athens on the way and visited M. Venizelos. They took him from city to city and exhibited him. They dressed him up in various

costumes. They put boxing gloves on him and published him in the newspapers with a title that read “He’s 150 years old but challenges the youngsters”. They made him hold a glass of ayran and wrote “I owe my 150 years to ayran” in the papers. They published him with young woman around him and wrote “150 year old playboy”. After all this the organizers made a lot of money for them and left

Zaro Ağa back in his shack in Tophane empty handed. Zaro Ağa, who was presented to Atatürk twice, had 13 children of which 5 were girls, more than 30 grandchildren, as many grandchildren’s children, and he even saw his grandchildren’s grandchildren. No matter how long he lived, he

passed away on June 29, 1934 like every other mortal. He was the focus of interest even in his death as he was when he was alive. All local and foreign reporters hearing that he was hospitalized rushed

to Şişli Ethal Hospital. One of the reporters present there, Hikmet Feridun Es, explained the secret his

long life as “the air and water of Alemdağı where old-youngsters of 100 years of age sit at the

coffee shops, and the nigella seeded pita breads and ayran made of goat’s milk yogurt”.

Zaro Ağa attracted attention even after his death. Whenever there was an article about a long life,

his name would be the first to be remembered.

RELIGIOUS STRUCTURES IN ÇEKMEKÖY

Mosque, synagogue, church or other prayer halls formed the epicenter of villages, which were the smallest form of settlement in rural parts of the Ottoman Empire. Families giving life to villages would gather around these religious structures and formed settlements. People who were familiar with each other and would vouch for each other would gather as a social network in these villages, therefore villages would have a homogeneous religious make up. In general, villages were formed around differing religions. But there were exceptions to this rule. In some parts even though Muslims

and non-Muslims had their own neighborhoods, they also shared common facilities.

Non-Muslims practiced their religion freely in the Ottoman Empire governed by the Islamic law. Many

non-Muslims even took refuge and settled in the Ottoman Empire as they faced torments in other regions. There’s a high number of documents and information found in the Prime Minister’s Ottoman Archives about faith and believers in the Ottoman Empire. There’s information about the historical course of temples in these documents. As can be seen below, while the government officers provided for the needs of the mosques, they also were involved with the needs of churches, synagogues

and other temples. There’s significant information found about the prayer places in and around

ÇEKMEKÖY. The information about prayer places is as follows:

İBRAHİM NESİM EFENDİ MOSQUE

According to the documents there used to be a prayer room in Çekme village of

Üsküdar, built by the treasurer of the throne room İbrahim Nesim Efendi in 1799.

One of the notable persons of the town Mehmed Halife sent a petition stating

that there weren’t any mosques in ÇEKMEKÖY and its surroundings for Friday and

Holiday prayers, and requested the prayer room to be restored as a mosque. The

petition was approved and prayer room was converted into a mosque by adding a

minber. In addition, a preacher was employed with the funds from Throne Room

Treasurer İbrahim Nesim Efendi Foundation. From that date onwards the mosque

was called İbrahim Nesim Efendi Mosque.

When İbrahim Nesim Ağa Mosque’s preacher Mehmed in ÇEKMEKÖY resigned from

his position in 1801, Hacı Hasan Halife was appointed to the position in May 13,

1801. It’s understood that a school building was built next to the mosque at a

later date. According to a document from 1851, the mosque, school building,

and imam’s house went through repairs at that date. First an inspection was held

to calculate the costs, then the work began. At first it was planned out to build a

wooden minaret, but during the repairs was decided to build it in brick. During a

second inspection the costs turned out to be higher, and extra funds were needed.

To meet the extra costs, help from Imperial Treasury was requested. A part of the

funds was met by the Imperial Treasury and the rest by Laleli Foundation.

According to another document dating from 1895 a petition for İbrahim Nesim

Efendi Mosque was given by a woman named Fatma. In the petition it was stated

that the mosque was lacking oil and candles, and was requesting them to be

provided. According to the document the mosque was repaired in 1891. As a

result of the petition the request was approved and candles, oil and other needs

were provided for starting from Ramadan month of 1313.

ÇEKME VILLAGE MOSQUE

According to the information provided by Hakkı Raif Ayyıldız, Çekme Köy Mosque

was a stone building with a tiled wooden rooftop, and a short stone minaret.

Founder was 1876 Balkan immigrant Lofçalı Ali Efendi. It was built on a slope.

It was accessed by climbing a few stone steps next to the base of minaret. First

the shoe racks, then a hallway for the late arrivers, which was separated from

the main prayer hall by a cage, existed. Ayyıldız describes the features of Çekme

Village Mosque as follows;

 “Minaret door is also in the prayer hall, accessed through a room sitting next to

the shoe racks which was used as a classroom until the village school was built

in 1928. More correctly this room was added to the mosque as a school by the

founder of the mosque. Village reeve had started work on blocking the doorway

of this room connecting to the mosque to turn it into a village guest house. Next

to this room and in the back of the mosque there was also a large space owned

by the village which was rented out as a commercial space. It can be accessed by

an entrance from the road side.

On the western side wall of the mosque there’s a courtyard in the ditch in relation

to the road. There’s a porch with a fountain in front of it. Road is reached by

climbing stairs in front of the fountain and the courtyard.”

SIRAPINAR MUSTAFA AĞA MOSQUE

Year of foundation for the mosque built by Head Gardener for the Palaces,

Mustafa Ağa is not known. But according to Ekrem Hakkı Ayverdi’s research, it

might have been built in 1530s.

Many people had founded pious foundations including Head Gardener Mustafa

Ağa. These foundations especially appointed attendants to the mosques in

villages in and around Beykoz, and provided for their needs. İskender Ağa

Foundation (Son of Head Gardener Abdullah), İsa Beğ Foundation, and Mustafa

Ağa Foundation (son of Abdurrahman) particularly invested in Sırapınar village.

A deed of trust for İskender Ağa Foundation dating from 1544 and signed by

Mevlana Ebussuud was found. Conditions of the foundation were stated as

follow: “Estates should be entrusted to the Head Gardeners, and the prayers shall

be read by teachers. Administrators are the Head Gardener and Treasurer of the

Gardens.” It appears that İsa Beğ Foundation and Mustafa Ağa Foundation were

founded before İskender Ağa Foundation. Deed of trust for İsa Beğ Foundation

was written in the appendix of Mustafa Ağa Foundation.

An imam and müezzin were appointed to the mosque in Sırapınar village by İsa

Beğ Foundation. Conditions of the İsa Beğ Foundation were as follow: “Preachers

and cantors shall recite a prayer for the sake of Mustafa Ağa Foundation trustees.

General administrator is Yusuf.”

There’s a deed of trust for the pious foundation of Mustafa Ağa, dating from

1530 and signed by Mevlana Mehmed’s son Aliyyü’l-Fenari. Conditions of the

foundation were as follow: “Crops of the foundation should be spent on the expenditures and later on the estates and later on the old and needy people residing in Constantinople, and the

Head Officer of the Gardens shall be the volunteer inspector and the complaints

should be made to him. General administrator is Yusuf.” It’s possible to find records about the mosque in Sırapınar village in the archives. Its name continued to be Mustafa Ağa Mosque. The first of the records about the mosque date back to 1726, and was regarding appointments of imams and preachers. As the imam named Mehmed resigned from his duties, a person named Hüseyin

Halife was appointed. In 1830 İbrahim Halife was appointed for the vacant

preacher position at the mosque. Also in 1835, Halil Halife was appointed to the

vacant position much the same way. This mosque located in Sırapınar village served for long years to the Muslim community. The mosque, which was in Sırapınar village within Ömerli subdistrict,

was deserted during the Greek occupation, and along with the school,

teacher’s and preacher’s rooms it was heavily damaged. In 1922 a benefactor

named Gül Ahmed from Muratlı village paid for the repairs. An honor was given

by the government to Gül Ahmed for this charitable work.

ÖMERLİ HASAN EFENDİ MOSQUE

A benefactor named Hasan Efendi had this mosque built in Ömerli village.

According to a record dating from 1837, a new imam-preacher named Seyyid

Mehmed Halife was appointed to the mosque for 2 akçes a day, after the former

imam-preacher Seyyid Hüseyin Halife passed away.

SULTANÇİFTLİĞİ VILLAGE MOSQUE

It appears that there weren’t any mosques in Sultançiftliği village until 1838. In

a petition given by the village residents it was stated that the Muslim community

was deprived of praying as a congregation. Village residents’ plea was taken

into consideration, and as a result, a mosque and a school building were built by

Sultan’s orders in Sultançiftliği village which was annexed by Atik Valide Sultan

Foundation. For the newly built mosque and school it was decided to appoint

imam, preacher, handyman, and teacher, of whom the salaries were paid by Atik

Valide Sultan Foundation. According to this decision, a total of 80 kuruş was

allocated, of which 40 to be given to imam, 10 to the preacher, 10 to cantor, 10

to the administrator, and 10 to the teacher.

Residents of Sultançiftliği village stated in a petition sent to the government in

1876 that the teacher of the school belonging to Atik Valide Sultan Foundation

in the village, Hacı Hasan Efendi had poor financial means, and requested an

increase for his salary from the foundation in order for him to do his job properly.

According to another document dating from 1898, the mosque in Sultançiftliği

and Atik Valide Sultan primary school were both old and worn out. The condition

of the building was negatively effecting education. Since the teacher wasn’t able

to carry out his lesson plans because of the condition of the building, students

were not at a level to be tested as they should be. A request for funds for repairs

was placed from the treasury for the school building, and from the royal pious

foundations for the mosque.

ALEMDAĞ SURP NİŞAN CHURCH

There’s also information in archives about churches found in some of the villages.

But there’s no information given about the date of construction. A repair work

was permitted on the church after a request by the Armenian Patriarch of

ISTANBUL in 1833. Based on that we can tell that the construction took place

before 1833. Also in 1838, Armenian Patriarch informs about the roof tiles needing

to be replaced for the Armenian Church in Alemdağı village, and requests

permission for the work. On July 20, 1838 permission was granted for

the repair work.

According to another document dated later, repair work was carried out with the permission and help of the Sultan, and Armenian Patriarch İstepan declared his gratitude. One year after the repair work, there was more damage on the building due to a heavy winter storm, and help for repairs were requested again. According to other documents the church needed repairs and renovations very frequently. Because there were two repair requests placed by ISTANBUL Armenian Patriarch

Bishop Natyos in 1844 and 1846. Both claims were approved and Armenian’s requests were met. But the church and the Armenian population in the village proved not to be worthy of these good

wills by their actions in later years. The Armenian Church in Alemdağ village was one of the most important secret meeting and operating places of Dashnak rebels before WWI. As a result, it was converted to a mosque. According to the records of 1960s, mosque was decorated with straw

mats, a few pieces of kilim and prayer rugs, two candle sticks on both sides of mihrap, two wall gas lamps, one hanging gas lamp, and one wall clock. Wealth of the village was sufficient to decorate the mosque in a much better fashion. Unfortunately, during that period, the mosque didn’t have an

Imam.

EPIDEMICS AND HEALTH IN ÇEKMEKÖY

19th century was a period of contagious disease turning into epidemics all around the world. ISTANBUL, which was the administrative capital of Ottoman Empire as well as the financial capital, was in a vulnerable position for outbreaks of cholera as it was one of the most bustling cities in the world. It had a very suitable environment for cholera to spread quickly with its dense population and

almost non-existing infrastructure. As a result, it became an epidemic many times in ISTANBUL throughout 19th century. First cholera epidemic in ISTANBUL took place in 1831, killing about six thousand people. During the epidemic of 1865, which spread through Asia, Africa, Europe

and Americas, 30 thousand people died in ISTANBUL within a month. During this period Sultan Abdulhamid II. invited foreign doctors to both fight off the epidemics, and create a new front in the ongoing competition in politics and economics with the west.

Outbreaks of cholera appeared in ÇEKMEKÖY and Beykoz area towards the end of 19th century. But there were many more cases of animal disease in the area in between 1890 and 1900. For example, there was contagious disease detected in animals in Hüseyinli and Ömerli villages of Beykoz, and in Şile in January, 1889. A committee of teachers from veterinarian faculty was sent to the area regarding the outbreak. Sırapınar and Koçullu villages were also taken in quarantine due to the epidemics. After inspections were done in 1889, quarantine measures were lifted in Koçullu

and Sırapınar villages. Towards the end of June of 1889 a severe case of cattle’s plague broke out in

Muslim and Armenian neighborhoods of Sultançiftliği village of Kartal district. 52 cattle died in seven days. Foot and mouth disease was also discovered in inspections. A sanitary cordon was declared and necessary precautions were taken. A type of contagious disease appeared in water buffalos in Şile, Hüseyinli and Ömerli villages of Beykoz district in January of 1890. As the epidemic started

getting more serious, precautions were taken to protect the animals in Çavuşbaşı and Alemdağı farms. Also surrounding villages were put in quarantine in order to prevent disease spreading.

To fight off the epidemics in the area various measures were taken on top of keeping the area in quarantine. In 1894, a team led by Hüsnü Efendi from the Health Ministry set up a quarantine office in Ömerli village of Beykoz. In April of 1889 there were cases of contagious animal disease in Beykoz and Kartal districts. Veterinarian Sergeant Yusuf Ziya Efendi was assigned for the investigation and treatment of the disease, and preparing a report. According to his report, disease had disappeared except for Koçullu and Sırapınar villages, villagers who were not affected, were allowed to transport animals and goods to other neighborhoods. In November of 1905 there was an outbreak of red mullet disease in villages of Sırapınar, Koçullu, Ömerli, and Muratlı of Beykoz, and other villages within

Üsküdar, Kartal, Gebze, Şile and Küçükçekmece districts. Through investigations it was decided that the outbreak was reaching serious levels and necessary precautions were taken.

PRAYERS AT ALEMDAĞ TO GET RID OFF THE PLAGUE

ISTANBUL suffered frequently from epidemics such as plague and cholera, probably because of being one of the places with a high circulation of people. A plague swept through ISTANBUL in July, 1952. On July 12, 1592 a prayer in Okmeydanı was organized to get rid of the plague. Also the date of the Eid holiday that year couldn’t be agreed on (September 18) due to an argument between the judges of ISTANBUL and Üsküdar. Everyone was confused about the eve and the starting day of the holiday.

As the plague kept spreading Murad III. called all the residents to pray at Alemdağı in order to get rid of the curse of the plague. All the religious scholars, sheiks and the public were carried over to Anadolu Fortress by the navy ships. Since almost everyone responded to such a call there was hardly anyone left in ISTANBUL. All the stores and markets were closed down. Tens of thousands of

people reached Alemdağı on foot or by vehicles. Everyone spent the evening in Alemdağı and attended the prayers during sunrise. All the animals donated by the Sultan were butchered and all the crowds were fed. The largest meal of the history of ISTANBUL was served. According to the records, number of deaths, which were about 325 per day before the prayers, dropped down to about 100, and the sick ones started recovering. Also for the curse of the plague to leave those in the dungeons of ISTANBUL, who had served long enough for their crimes, were released as a good deed.

HEALTH CLINIC IN ÇEKMEKÖY FROM GÖKAY

Ord. Prof. Dr. Fahreddin Kerim Gökay, who was one of the famous governor and mayors of ISTANBUL as well as serving as a minister in republican period, was another one of the people showing an interest in ÇEKMEKÖY. Gökay had a health clinic built where Alemdağı residents

could get treatment for free. Construction started on July 26, 1969 with the residents of the area attending. A piece of land inherited from Gökay’s wife’s father in Alemdağ Sultançiftliği was designated for the health clinic. For that purpose, a mansion within the land was demolished and a clinic

was built to meet all the health needs of residents. During the inauguration speech of Canipbey Health Clinic, Prof. Dr. Fahreddin Kerim Gökay stated that Gökay Mental Health Clinic in Göztepe, which started operating in February, 1967, had very successful outcomes and had treated 5,608 people for free, and Alemdağ Health Clinic, which was to be completed in two months, was going to function as an emergency station as well and health problems of villagers were going to be treated for free.

NATURAL DISASTERS AND WILD FIRES IN ÇEKMEKÖY

ÇEKMEKÖY and its surroundings suffered from earthquakes, famine, drought, floods, epidemics and wild fires. Wild fires stand out a little more than others within these disasters. Since the area was rich in forests, frequent wild fires were causing a great damage. Records of wild fires and other natural disasters can be found in the archives. For example, a fire started on Tuesday, July 19, 1892, around 7 o’clock in the shrubbery above ÇEKMEKÖY windmill next to Çavuşbaşı Çiftliği. Fire later spread

through the grazing lands of the farm and was put out only after burning down 50 decares of shrubbery. According to the records there were also fires in the outskirts of Kayışdağı and Alemdağı, which were put out soon after they started. A fire started on Thursday, July 21, 1892 around 6 o’clock within Laz immigrants’ area of Soğuk Su and Kavak Kuyular in Alemdağı Coppice Forests Foundation.

Approximately an area of 200 decares of shrubbery and arbutus burned down during the fire. The fire later spread to the oak grove of the coppice forest and burned down another 100 decares of land. Rangers and immigrants showed a great amount of effort to put out the fire. Due to these great efforts the fire was finally put out completely around 11 o’clock. On March 18,1911 a fire starting around 6 o’clock, burned down an area of 300 decares in Beykoz Çavuşbaşı Çiftliği area. With the help of the residents the fire was put out. On Friday, April 7, 1916, a fire burned down a shrubbery of 50 decares in Eğerli Mezarlı area of Ömerli village of Beykoz district. Residents’ efforts prevented the fire from spreading to a larger area. A fire starting in November 1916 in Beykoz burned down Beykoz Government Offices building. As the government offices building burned down, it was

decided to move district center to Ömerli village for rearranging and registering population, title, deed and tax records. On August 25, 1917 a fire started in the forest around Şerifler Farm of Ömerli

district, and Kurtdoğmuş and Kaymaz farms of Kartal district. As the news of the fire were received, villagers and sufficient other forces were moved to the area and the fire was put out in a short amount of time. Just two days later again in Şerifler Farm’s Bağcedere area of Ömerli district a fire started in a forest owned by Hasan Ağa and approximately 8 decares of land burned down. On April 7, 1918 a fire started at Karanlıkdere area close to Polonezköy. A great effort was spent to prevent the fire from spreading to the forest and it was successful. But burning down 15 decares of land couldn’t be prevented. It was reported by Ömerli Governorate that an investigation was undergoing, and it was

suspected that the fire had started due to a cigarette discarded by a member of the Fuel Battalion in the area. In 1921 Greeks attacked Sırapınar village of Ömerli sub-district. During the attack animals of the villagers were seized and farming lands were put on fire. As a result, villagers pledged to the government for their taxes to be dismissed or postponed. In the response from the government a dismissal of the taxes was declined but they were postponed. On February 13, 1922 a fire started accidentally in the hayloft of ÇEKMEKÖY resident Yunus’s son Mustafa. It was put out before it spread around. But the hay that was worth 200 Liras and some coal couldn’t be saved. Water was needed the most to put out the fires. But sometimes too much water was also harmful. Especially when there was too much rain it was troubling for the population. It’s possible to find evidence such cases in the records. For example, Hüseyinli village was heavily damaged due to the flooding of Riva river

in February of 1910. Fortunately, there weren’t any deaths. On top of the fires and floods, another devastating disaster causing many deaths and damages to properties were the earthquakes. There might be small and large earthquakes in ISTANBUL and its surroundings. The most damaging of those earthquakes effecting ISTANBUL and its vicinity happened on July 10, 1894. The earthquake that was called “great earth movement” or “grand earthquake” in records was felt in a large area, and was especially damaging for ISTANBUL and surroundings. Researchers divided the areas that were affected by the earthquake to five different categories. Most affected areas were considered within the first category. ÇEKMEKÖY and its surroundings were also in this category. Even though there’re no exact figures on lives lost, there were many houses, businesses, and temples such as mosques and churches that were either completely destroyed or heavily damaged.

WILD FIRES OF REPUBLICAN ERA

On March 27, 1940 a fire starting in Alemdağı burned downed a shrubbery area of 150 decares that also included oak and chestnut trees. Once Üsküdar Fire Department was notified, along with the firemen, gendarme, forest rangers and villagers were sent to the area to put out the fire. Since the fire took place close to Reşadiye village, villagers there were especially concerned. During the investigation it was found out that the fire was caused by a mentally disabled teenager named Harun. He declared that after throwing away the cigarette he smoked the shrubs around him caught on fire, he tried to put it out but wasn’t successful, and finally as it kept spreading he got scared and alarmed

the gendarme. On May 30, 1942 a fire started in a forest belonging to Foundations Administration

in Alemdağı Taşdelen area. Starting around 16:00 o’clock, it quickly spread and burned down an area

of 5 square kilometers. Somehow the fire made a leap and spread to Baltacı Farm as well. After

burning down another 3 square kilometers of an area in this farm, it was taken under control.

Üsküdar fire department, villagers, gendarme, and maintenance crew worked until the late hours of the night to put it out. It was suspected that the fire was started by a discarded cigarette bud. There were many fires in July of 1945 in İstanbul. Some of those were in ÇEKMEKÖY area.

Fire that started on July 10, 1945 in the shrubbery area of Ömerli village started spreading quickly and by covering Aydos hills north of Pendik, along with the forests in Beykoz, it burned down a significant forest area. Fire that kept burning in various  locations since that day couldn’t be kept under control, and started threatening Şile and Gebze districts along with Beykoz, Üsküdar, and Kartal.

Along with the district governors of six districts on the forest parts of the Anatolian side and gendarme commanders, forest department engineers and civil servants also took part in efforts to put out the fire.

Another similar fire starting in Polonezköy are reach all the way to Taşdelen. Fire starting around Polonez village of Beykoz reached Taşdelen by traveling through Çavuşbaşı Çiftliği and from the back side of Kandilli and Çamlıca hills. Fire spread rapidly around Alemdağ and reached Baltacı and Sultan farms. Halimpaşa, Baltacı Farm groves and Yahudi Farm also burned down completely. That fire could be seen from higher parts of the city such as Galata and Beyazıd towers. The previous day while the fire in Samandıra village of Kartal area was almost out, it restarted around Kurtköy area and started growing again. Fires in Şile, Gebze, and Belgrad forests were also hardly put out. To be able to put out the fires in these areas both the public and soldiers showed a great effort, putting forward their lives.

On September 30, 1989 around 12:30 o’clock a fire started for an unknown reason in the forests surrounding Alemdağ village. By taking action quickly, firemen were able to put it out by 14:00 o’clock before it grew larger. Another fire started for an unknown reason on July 20, 1995 around 13:00 o’clock in forests covered with pine trees around Lower Dudullu Alemdağ Çırçırdere area. The fire that started simultaneously in three different locations came under control through fire department’s work. In addition to the fire department, 2 construction machinery, one helicopter and two planes took part in the process.

ÇEKMEKÖY IN LITERATURE AND FINE ARTS

ÇEKMEKÖY area attracted people of all sorts of trades. ÇEKMEKÖY was the subject of poems written by poets, stories, novels and memoirs written by authors, articles written by journalists, paintings by artists; in short was the subject of all kinds of artwork. For example, ÇEKMEKÖY is mentioned in the works of 17th century Ottoman poet, historian, and Hanefi sect Islamic law scholar Nev’izâde Atâî. In his mesnevi work called Âlemnüma (Sâkinâme), Nev”îzâde Atâî paints distant parts of the city such as Yüşa, Göksu, Gümüşservi, Alemdağ, and Akbaba, and through a comparison between Rumeli Fortress and Anatolian Fortress, talks about all the beauties of these areas.

ÇEKMEKÖY is also found in the poems of Ottoman period court poet Sabit. Sabit, whose real name was Alaeddin, was born in Bosnia in 1650. Arriving to ISTANBUL in his youth, he received medresah education. He worked as a teacher in Tekirdağ, and as a judge in Bosnia, Çorlu, Burgaz, Kefe, Konya, Yanya, and Diyarbakır. He was belonged to Bayrami cult. He died in ISTANBUL in 1712, and

is buried by the foot of Bayrami Sheik Sarı Abdullah Efendi in Topkapı. His favorite parts of ISTANBUL were the centers of entertainment such as Kağıthane, Hisarlar, Çengelköy, Sarıyer, Okmeydanı, Alemdağ, and Göksu. In fact, he even mentioned these places in his mesnevi poems. Such as:

There came the rulers of ISTANBUL / Each one owning a nice mansion They went to the fortresses for pleasure / To be able to watch the rivers They go the distances all in a sudden / And reach Alemdağ at once. Another one of Ottoman poets showing an interest in ÇEKMEKÖY is Gedai. He lived between 1810 and 1889. His real name was Ahmed. Even though he was originally from Tokat, he was nicknamed “Beşiktaşlı Gedai (Gedai from Beşiktaş)” because of the part of town he lived in after moving to ISTANBUL. He spent the first years of his youth working at his father’s logging business. He became deeply saddened after not being allowed to marry the girl he was in love with and a short

while after the girl dying from tuberculosis. As he was taken to festivities with music by his friends to cheer him up, he started playing saz and reading poems. Gedai’s special interest specifically for some parts of ISTANBUL can be seen in his poems. Gedai’s dreams and longings are full of memories from spring time feasts in the gardens of Üsküdar, and Bağlarbaşı; with unforgettable days and nights in

Haydarpaşa, Gebze, Kartal, Pendik and Alemdağ.

BEŞİKTAŞLIYAN WROTE POEMS FOR ALEMDAĞ

Another poet writing about ÇEKMEKÖY in his poems was one of the best lyrical

poets of the 19th Armenian literature and the first Armenian theater play wright

Mugırdiç Beşiktaşliyan. He was born in 1828 in ISTANBUL and died in Ortaköy in

1868. He’s buried in Şişli Armenian Catholic cemetery. Some of his works include

poems titled “İlkbahar”, “Sonbahar”, “Alemdağ”, “Avdet”, “Yüşa Dede Tepesi’nde

Bir Gezinti”. He wrote his work in high style and in old Armenian language.

Abdülhak Hamid also mentions in his memoirs his family’s farms and groves

in Beykoz. He talks about Hekimbaşı Grove and the small country house there,

about how they move from waterside mansion to the one in Çamlıca when the

cherry and grape season comes around, and how hard they tried to keep them

standing despite the heavy costs for over 60 years he lived in those places.

AHMET RASİM USED TO LISTEN TO NIGHTINGALES AT ALEMDAĞ

Alemdağ was famous for its nightingales. People from great distances would

make their way to Alemdağ to be able to listen to the sounds of nightingales.

Such journeys and experiences in Alemdağ would later be mentioned in memoirs.

One such visit was mentioned in the work of Ahmet Rasim titled “Külliyat-I Sa’y

ü Tahrir”:

 “One night a nightingale that started singing with the rising of the moon didn’t

allow anyone to sleep all night. Its singing was accompanied by others coming

from all directions. Its every chirp rose to sky bit by bit and came down as a pure

tune. It was one of those unforgettable moments of my life. This sound that rang

in the silent night sometimes with the most elegant and sweet harmony of the

nature, sometimes with such high pitch that pierced through the ears, never

disturbed any of the souls listening to it.”

HALİL PASHA WAS A PAINTER OF ALEMDAĞ

It’s possible to come across ÇEKMEKÖY in the paintings of Şeker Ahmed Paşa, who

is one of the milestones of the modern Turkish painting, and Artillery General

Ferik Selim Paşa’s son Halil Paşa (1852-1939). His work titled “Alemdağ’da Yaz”

(summer in Alemdağ) was exhibited in 1902 in an exhibition held on Beyoğlu

Posta Street. Famous poet, author and painter Diran Çırakyan also included ÇEKMEKÖY in his

works. He was the son of debt collector of Osmanlı Bankası (Ottoman Bank),

Arapkirli Kasbar Çırakyan. He was born in Üsküdar in 1875, and received his first

education at Surp Haç School. He had a great interest in poetry and especially

painting since his childhood. He graduated from Berberyan School in Üsküdar in 1891. There, he published a weekly hand written newspaper. After that he continued on to Sanayi-i Nefise

(Fine Arts) School for a year, and was engaged in painting for approximately

two years. His most important works are two oil paintings titled “Taşdelen Yolu”

and “Bafra Yolu”. In 1895 a group of people that included journalists visited Alemdağı area. They

wrote about their experiences, observations and other attractive beauties of the

area under the title “Alemdağ’da Bir Cevelan” in two issues of Servet-I Fünun the

Wealth of Knowledge Journal. In another article published in Servet-i Fünun the Wealth of Knowledge Journal, water sources of ISTANBUL were examined under the title “Fine Waters”.

Another author mentioning ÇEKMEKÖY area in his work is Sait Faik Abasıyanık, who wrote the natural beauties of Alemdağı area. His last work that he got published during his lifetime was titled “Alemdağ’da Var Bir Yılan”. It’s worth mentioning the story written by Selami İzzet in 1932 that was published in Cumhuriyet newspaper about ÇEKMEKÖY and its surroundings. The story evolved around an old woman confined to bed in this sad and exemplary story which is fascinating to read.

DEVELOPMENTS IN AND AROUND ÇEKMEKÖY AFTER THE FOUNDING OF TURKISH REPUBLIC

By signing Mudros Armistice Agreement at the end of WWI (October 30 1918),

Ottoman Empire accepted its defeat and its remaining lands were occupied

by Allied Forces. A national resistance movement was organized by the public

during WWI and its aftermath, and in the meantime bandits and gangs that

were taking advantage of the chaotic situation were punished. Occupying forces

also had to leave our country. New republic was declared under the leadership

of Mustafa Kemal. After that people started the recovery process to be able to

return the pre-war days.

DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES IN VILLAGES

After the new republic was established the country started developing by a joint

effort by everyone. There were changes made in administrative and civil matters.

There were six jurisdictions in ISTANBUL at the time. With the addition of Kartal,

Beykoz and Silivri in 1928 the number of jurisdictions rose to 9. Emphasis was

put on development projects with building roads taking the lead. Construction of

Üsküdar-Kısıklı-Şile and Şeyhli-Alemdağ junctions started after 1929.

ÇEKMEKÖY, Reşadiye, Alemdar, and Sultançiftliği were villages under Üsküdar

district in 1936. At the time, district governorate of Üsküdar had significant

development projects regarding the mentioned villages. Üsküdar governorate

had decided to erect monuments in every village in order to introduce the new

reforms, and the first such monument was erected in Alemdar village in May

24th, 1936, accompanied by opening ceremonies and a country-style feast.

Guests were taken to Alemdar village by cars organized by Üsküdar Governorate.

Alemdar village had a population of 300 in 1936. It had five thousand decares

of forests, and 10 decares of agricultural land. Guests arrived at Cumhuriyet

(Republic) Square after visiting the village. There was a sculpture of Atatürk set

on a marble platform in the middle of the square.

Along with the crowds arriving from the villages of Reşadiye, Sultançiftliği,

Dudular (Dudullu), and Ümraniye, there gathered about 4000 people in Alemdar

village. After the formal speeches inauguration of the sculpture was held. On the name

plate of the sculpture “Dedicated to the great savior of Alemdar villagers” was

written. The mentioned sculpture, which sits in the courtyard of Alemdar Health

Clinic as of 2013, is known to be one of the very few sculptures that were made

while Mustafa Kemal was still alive.

After the opening ceremonies villagers took the guests to Taşdelen Springs

and a feast was given by one of the villagers named İbrahim. After Alemdar

village a similar ceremony was held in Ümraniye in 1936, and two weeks later in

Sultançiftliği for the opening of Atatürk sculptures.

Üsküdar Governorate’s efforts for developing the villages at that time are

apparent. Villagers were in support of such efforts.

Governor and villages prepared a five-year development plan for ÇEKMEKÖY,

Reşadiye, Alemdar, and Sultançiftliği in a joint effort.

Health works, development moves, agriculture, culture and sport works were

included in this plan. All the roads within and around the villages were going to

be paved with the same cobblestones found in cities. There were already some

of it paved at the time. It was discovered that the land in Reşadiye and Alemdar villages were extremely suitable for growing hazelnut trees, therefore every household in these two

villages prepared three decares of their land for this purpose, and were ready

for planting saplings in February. In February saplings were to be planted by a

ceremony. Providing every village with clean spring water was an important task within the

plan. Reşadiye village had a good source of water, but the waterways were to be

repaired as they needed maintenance. New water sources were also going to be brought to Sultançiftliği and Alemdar villages. One of the main reasons of disease in villages were the existence of piles of fertilizing manure at homes. By an order there were a communal fertilizer

facility developed in every village, and all the villagers started depositing their

manure there. There were already sculptures of Atatürk erected in Republic Squares of Alemdar,

Reşadiye, Sultançiftliği, Dudullu, and ÇEKMEKÖY villages. Such sculptures were

also to be erected in the Republic Squares of remaining two villages. A radio machine was to be purchased for every village. A traveling cinema machine was also to be purchased with seven villages joining together. If the movie projector was to be purchased, a film was to be shown in a different village every night of the week, introducing villagers to subjects of agriculture, health, nation and world

news. A sports area was to be organized in every village where competitions of wrestling, horse riding, javelin, athletics, and football would be held. A medicine cabinet was to be found in villages. A doctor coming to examine a patient was going to find every necessary medicine for first aid in these cabinets.

All the wells were to be renovated, and refitted with stones. All the empty land was to be planted gradually, and efforts were to be put to turn them into forests. Public toilets were to be built, and sewage system was to be installed where possible. Through all this work seven villages of Üsküdar were going to be fully developed. There were efforts put in public order and security, and necessary precautions were taken. For example, Deputy Mayor Lütfi Aksoy opened the new police station in 1939 in Alemdağ, built for that purpose. There were also investments made in education in ÇEKMEKÖY at that time. Former governor Lütfi Aksoy contributed a great deal both to Üsküdar district center and its villages after becoming the deputy mayor for Üsküdar. First schools were built

in ÇEKMEKÖY and Sultançiftliği villages. In addition to these, boarding school built in Alemdağ is also worth a mention. Three teachers were appointed to this boarding school in 1939. Of those, Hadiye Hanım and Yaşar Nezihe had graduated from Girl’s School for Teaching in ISTANBUL. A teacher from Çanakkale Centrel School, Hüsnü Başaran, was appointed as vice-principal of Alemdağ boarding school. It was apparent that deputy mayor Lütfi Aksoy put great emphasis on ÇEKMEKÖY and its surroundings in 1943. He visited the area frequently, listening to the problems of villagers, and meeting their needs. For example, during a meeting held in August 24, 1943, villagers in Alemdağı and Sultançiftliği mentioned that wheat and such crops didn’t grow in their fields. Lütfi Aksoy requested a survey of the soil to determine suitable crops from Agricultural Directorate of the Province. A decision was made to plant new crops according to the results of this study. An extensive evelopment plan was drafted for villages within ISTANBUL Province in 1938. According to 1935 polls,

ISTANBUL province’s population was 883,414. Of those, 760,991 were living within the urban area, 122,423 were living in villages. There was a great variety within the province’s natural formation, climate, crops, farming, and other rural products. A need for preparing a development plan according to the State’s instructions and local needs in order to boost rural life was apparent. Villages were divided into four categories according to their population when drafting this plan. Villages with a population above 1.000 were category A, above 500 were category B, between 150 and 500 were category C, and below 150 were category D. Needs of villages and the priority of works were determined according to these categories. In ÇEKMEKÖY area there were no villages that fell within category (A). While Ömerli was considered in category (B), Hüseyinli, Sırapınar, Alemdar, ÇEKMEKÖY, Reşadiye and Sultançiftliği were category (C), and Koçullu village was in category (D).

Ömerli village was under Beykoz district in 1938. With a population of 563, its total income for the year 1938 added up to 4,391 Liras. Works in Ömerli which was in category (B) were grouped together as culture, agriculture, economy, health, social work, public works, and security. According

to this plan, works to be carried out in Ömerli village were as follow:

For villages under category (C): In 1938 Hüseyinli village was under Beykoz district, with a population of 242, and an income of 1,275 Liras for the year of 1938. Sırapınar was also under

Beykoz district, with a population of 214, and an income of 919 Liras. During

that time Alemdar, ÇEKMEKÖY, Reşadiye and Sultançiftliği were villages under

Üsküdar district. Alemdar had a population of 330, with an income of 2,520 Lira;

ÇEKMEKÖY’s population was 250, and income 1,602 Liras; Reşadiye’s population

was 250 with an income of 1,311 Liras, and Sultançiftliği’s population was 187,

with and income of 1,611 Liras.

Koçullu village under category (D) had a population of 132 and income of 763

Liras.

According to the development project, works and services planned to be carried

out in Hüseyinli, Sırapınar, Alemdar, ÇEKMEKÖY, Reşadiye, and Sultançiftliği

villages were grouped as culture, agriculture and economy, health and social

works, public works, and public security and safety. Such works were:

1- Cultural Works: Building schools in villages and bringing books to educate

villagers.

2- Agriculture and Economics Works: Planting trees, protecting forests,

informing the government if contagious disease in animals are noticed,

protecting farmed lands, every year farming one or more fields in the name of

the village through a collaborative work within villagers, and after harvesting

and setting aside the seeds for next year, selling the crops and depositing money

into the village fund.

3- Health and Social Works: Draining water deposits within the village,

bringing potable water to the village through enclosed waterways, constructing

fountains, building suitable barns for animals, constructing a toilet for every

household that is enclosed or has a well or is connected to sewage, building

enclosed drainage systems for used water and preventing them to mix with

wells, fountains and springs, keeping streets clean, farming and harvesting the

fields of villagers who are serving in the armed forces, or are orphans, through

collaborative work getting over any natural disasters, building homes with rooms

separated from barns, burying any rotten or smelling products outside of village

borders, arranging village cemeteries, and organizing sporting events such as

wrestling, archery etc.

4- Public Works: Building and maintaining roads within village borders that

connect the village to government centers or bordering villages, building bridges

where necessary along these roads, preventing any digs that may harm or kill

animals that fall into it.

5- Public Security and Safety Works: Preventing horse riding in the town

square when it’s crowded, preventing overloading of animals, accepting the

invitation of the city council when called as a witness.

Necessary plan and maps were provided to be able to achieve such works.

1941 data for the villages of Ömerli, Hüseyinli, Sırapınar, Alemdar, ÇEKMEKÖY,

Reşadiye, Sultançiftliği, and Koçullu were as follow:

In 1941 Alemdar, ÇEKMEKÖY, Sultançiftliği and Reşadiye were under the

jurisdiction of Üsküdar district’s Kısıklı sub district. At the time there were 98

houses and 330 people in Alemdar; 80 houses and 350 people in ÇEKMEKÖY,

135 houses and 258 people in Reşadiye, and 85 houses and 231 people in

Sultançiftliği.

According to the 1950 population polls Alemdar, ÇEKMEKÖY, Sultançiftliği and

Reşadiye were under the jurisdiction of Üsküdar district’s Kısıklı sub-district. On

that date population in Alemdar was 499, in ÇEKMEKÖY 448, in Reşadiye 312

and in Sultançiftliği 300. Villages of Ömerli, Hüseyinli, Sırapınar and Koçullu

were under the jurisdiction of Beykoz district’s Mahmut Şevket Paşa sub-district.

In 1960 Alemdar, ÇEKMEKÖY, Sultançiftliği and Reşadiye were parts of Kısıklı subdistrict

of Üsküdar. Also in 1960 population numbers were 690 in Alemdar (408

male, 282 female), 461 in ÇEKMEKÖY (269 male, 192 female), 331 in Reşadiye

(160 male, 171 female) and 365 in Sultançiftliği (210 male, 155 female).

In 1960 Ömerli, Hüseyinli, Koçullu, and Sırapınar were within Mahmut Şevket

Paşa sub-district of Beykoz district. Ömerli was also the sub-district center.

Village Sub-district District Number of Houses Population Population per

house

Population numbers were 1,366 in Ömerli (808 male, 558 female), 396 in

Hüseyinli (236 male, 160 female), 92 in Koçullu (49 male, 43 female) and 292

in Sırapınar (157 male, 135 female).

In 1966 city council of ISTANBUL decided to install potable water pipe lines to

Alemdağı and Sultançiftliği villages within Üsküdar district. According to this

decision the cost was estimated at 61,000 Turkish Liras and the first installment

costing 4,300 Turkish Liras.

Changes in administrative structures in some villages were made in 1967. While

Ömerli, Koçullu, Sırapınar and Hüseyinli stayed under Beykoz district, Mahmut

Şevket Paşa sub-district as before, 7 sub-district administrations within Üsküdar

district were abolished, and villages of Alemdar, ÇEKMEKÖY, Reşadiye and

Sultançiftliği that were previously under those sub-districts came directly under

Üsküdar district’s central municipality.

Population figures in 1975 were as follow: Ömerli 256, Koçullu 210, Sırapınar

247, Hüseyinli 340, Alemdar 3,056, ÇEKMEKÖY 1,850, Reşadiye 300 ve

Sultançiftliği 925.

Administrative situation in 1980 was the same as 1975. Population figures in

1980 were as follow: Ömerli 1,472, Koçullu 292, Sırapınar 323, Hüseyinli 402,

Alemdar 4,044, ÇEKMEKÖY 1,938, Reşadiye 420 and Sultançiftliği 2,035.

Village Sub-district District Number of Houses Population Population per

house

Administrative changes that were made in 1987 also affected ÇEKMEKÖY and

its surrounding villages. Villages that were part of Üsküdar and Beykoz districts

until then became part of Ümraniye district as it was established as one in 1987.

First settlers of Ümraniye were the immigrants first from Batumi, then from

Yugoslavia and Bulgari who arrived after WWI. Due to that it was famed as

“immigrant’s village” for a while. Ümraniye, which stayed as a village up until

1960s, received a large number of immigrants after being designated as an

Organized Industrial Zone. First municipality was founded in 1963. After the

1980 coup d’état, Ümraniye municipality was abolished and it became part of

the Üsküdar district. It once again became a district in 1987, and the first local

elections were held in 1989. City council of ISTANBUL acknowledged Ümraniye as a district on July 31st, 1984. Along with Ümraniye, Büyükçekmece, Küçükçekmece and Pendik also

became districts on this date. In accordance with that ruling of the city council,

Dudullu, Ihlamurkuyu, Samandıra, and Alemdağ became towns under Ümraniye

district. In 1987 neighborhoods of İstiklal, Namık Kemal, Mustafa Kemal, Çakmak, and

Alemdar, Aşağı Dudullu, ÇEKMEKÖY, Reşadiye, Sultançiftliği, Ümraniye, Sarıgazi,

Yenidoğan and Yukarı Dudullu were listed under the jurisdiction of Ümraniye

district in the official registry.

Year Village Name Sub-district District Population

1975 Ömerli (Bucak Merkezi) M. Şevket Paşa Beykoz 256

1980 Ömerli (Bucak Merkezi) M. Şevket Paşa 1.472

1975 Hüseyinli M. Şevket Paşa Beykoz 340

1980 Hüseyinli M. Şevket Paşa 402

1975 Koçullu M. Şevket Paşa Beykoz 210

1980 Koçullu M. Şevket Paşa Beykoz 292

1975 Sırapınar M. Şevket Paşa Beykoz 247

1980 Sırapınar M. Şevket Paşa Beykoz 323

1975 Alemdar Merkez Üsküdar 3.056

1980 Alemdar Merkez Üsküdar 4.044

1975 Çekmeköy Merkez Üsküdar 1.850

1980 Çekmeköy Merkez Üsküdar 1.938

1975 Reşadiye Merkez Üsküdar 300

1980 Reşadiye Merkez Üsküdar 420

1975 Sultançiftliği Merkez Üsküdar 925

1980 Sultançiftliği Merkez Üsküdar 2.035

In 1994 Alemdağ, ÇEKMEKÖY, Ömerli and Sultançiftliği towns came under the jurisdiction of

Ümraniye district. There weren’t any changes made to Hüseyinli, Koçullu, Reşadiye, and

Sırapınar villages under Ümraniye district. Population figures for 1997 for Alemdağ, ÇEKMEKÖY, Ömerli, and Sultançiftliği towns and Hüseyinli, Koçullu, Reşadiye and Sırapınar villages are shown at the table on the right. In the year 1997 industrial activities in the area reach a new high. Industrial

production in almost every village between Ümraniye and Şile increased, with Ümraniye having the largest increase. Lush forests still exist partially in this area. Industrial development caused some damaged to these forests. Some of the area was taken out of forest category in 1944 due to damages, some parts of it were turned into farming lands, and others were used for settlements. With the

arrival of industrial establishments to the forest villages, population increased and other types of work than agriculture increased. Towards the end of 1990s the area went through a rapid development with

Dudullu leading the way. There’re over 30 industrial establishments in Dudullu. Forests surrounding Dudullu were largely damaged. In those years there were three factories in ÇEKMEKÖY. A large area in the northern part of ÇEKMEKÖY is covered with illegal settlements. 21 industrial operations exist in Alemdağ village. There’s an illegal residential settlement nearby the village. With the development of commerce, the village is obtaining a town-like feel. There’re also 16 industrial organizations in Sultançiftliği village. All the old forest areas of the village are taken over. A section of forest areas was taken over by illegal settlements.

The role of road and transportation conditions in the development of industrialization in this part of ISTANBUL is apparent in the village of Reşadiye. In Reşadiye, where it’s connected to Alemdağı village through an asphalt road and to Cumhuriyet village through a dirt road, and surrounded by forests, in 1997 90% of the population was occupied with agriculture or forestry. One petrol-chemistry, one artificial leather, and one polyester workshop operate in the village. With a population of 420, there’re only two grocery stores, two coffee shops and one school in the village. As Alemdağ village provides for the needs of this small village, it will be a while before other facilities develop there.

Also here most of the forests around the village have disappeared. In the year 2000, population in villages under Ümraniye district were 700 in Hüseyinli, 1,017 in Koçullu, 2,074 in Reşadiye, and 667 in Sırapınar. These villages became part of ÇEKMEKÖY district in 2010. In that year population numbers were 748 in Hüseyinli, 1,400 in Koçullu, 1,969 in Reşadiye, 796 in Sırapınar. Looking into population figures, there’s not a significant change in social and cultural aspects in the area up until 1960s. Important changes in population structure took place since then. There have been significant social changes in Turkey since 1950s. In the political arena one-party rule ended and multipleparty

period started. Shift from agricultural production to industrial production increased. Parallel to this, a rapid immigration from rural areas to urban areas took place. According to the domestic immigration movements, most of it took place to ISTANBUL and other big cities. While ISTANBUL was ranking first as the city receiving the most immigrants up until 1980s, Kocaeli has replaced it since then.

That’s largely due to industrialization in İzmit and its surroundings. The area where ÇEKMEKÖY district is situated nowadays is in between two cities that receive the highest number of domestic immigrants. Therefore, it’s one of the areas most affected by immigration movements. Due to industrialization, high rates of immigration to the area continue presently. Also military facilities

built in the area have been instrumental in bringing all the needs of civilization to the area. Population increase in residential quarters verifies that as well. As stated in the statistical data listed above, there hadn’t been a great increase in population in the area up until 1960s including the Ottoman period. Population increase even in just the few years was greater than the sum of a few centuries.

ÇEKMEKÖY and its surroundings became attractive through industrialization and other business development that picked up in 1970s, and especially became the preferred residence for workers in trade zones such as İMES, KADOSAN and MODOKO. Even though social and economic development is present in ÇEKMEKÖY, it’s still possible to find traces of country lifestyle within the agriculture, farming, and gardening taking place in some of the areas. Due to this social and economic

development taking place in the area, through an administrative change in 2008 ÇEKMEKÖY became a district by joining Alemdağ, ÇEKMEKÖY, Ömerli, Sultançiftliği townships and Hüseyinli, Koçullu, Reşadiye and Sırapınar villages, which were under the Ümraniye district previously. ÇEKMEKÖY, which borders Şile, Beykoz, Ümraniye, and Sancaktepe, is found on an area of 14,800 hectares

and contains 17 neighborhoods and 5 villages. ÇEKMEKÖY participated as a district for the first time during the local elections of March 29, 2009. Number of registered voters are 94,921. There were 80,499 votes casted in 308 ballots, out of which 78,150 were valid. Ahmet Poyraz of Justice and Development Party (AKP) became the first mayor of ÇEKMEKÖY district by winning 43.4% of the valid votes, totaling up to 33,868.

• 
• 
• 
•