Nuri Demirağ, also known Mühürdarzade Nuri, (born on May 7, 1886, in Divriği, Sivas, Turkey; died on November 13, 1957) was an entrepreneur, industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. He also initiated the multi-party period in Turkey by founding the National Development Party (Milli Kalkınma Partisi) in 1945.

EARLY LIFE

Mühürdarzade Nuri, who took the Demirağ surname following the Surname Law in 1934, was born on May 7, 1886 in the town of Divriği in Turkey’s Sivas province, to a middle-class family. His paternal side, the Mühürdarzades, were a well-known family in the town, and his father, Ömer Bey, was an investigating judge. The Mühürzades are one of the four Turkish families that Mengücek Khan brought with him when he settled in Divriği. In the 13th century, the preservation of the Great Mosque of Divriği, built by Hüsamettin Ahmet Şah, was given to the Mühürzade family. Many prominent residents of Divriği are members of the family.1

Her mother, Ayşe Hanım, a housewife, was the granddaughter of Muratzade Hacı Ali Efendi, a judge during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Mahmut II, who was later exiled to Divriği, Sivas. The Muratzades are also among the well-known families of Divriği.Ömer Bey and Ayşe Hanım had two boys from their marriage: Nuri (1886) and Naci (1889). After the birth of Naci, Ömer Bey was kicked by a horse in a village where he went to investigate a murder. The wound was not able to heal due to his diabetes, and he died in the line of the duty in Yıldızeli district of Sivas in 1889.

After Ömer Bey’s death, Ayşe Hanım had to take the responsibility for three-year-old Nuri and three-month-old Naci. The income for the family of three was around 90 cents per month, consisting of state pension and income of several acres of land. Nuri, who completed his primary and secondary education in Divriği Rüştiyesi under these conditions, was appointed as a deputy teacher to the same school thanks to his high marks as a student.

DAYS IN THE CIVIL SERVICE

The teacher salary was not enough for Demirağ, so he took an examination offered by Ziraat Bankası in 1906 to work for the bank, and after passing, he was appointed to a new branch in the Kangal district of Sivas. This appointment provided an important experience for Demirağ, who would face economic and commercial issues for the first time. As a 20-year-old , he managed the branch for one-and-a-half years and was then assigned to the bank’s Koçgiri branch in Sivas.

One of the most important events to shape Demirağ’s character occurred in 1909. During a famine in Koçgiri, he took the initiative and sold the grain belonging to Ziraat Bankası to the public at low price. This sale, which was initially perceived as a corruption, caused Demirağ to undergo an investigation, but after the investigation he was completely acquitted, and his reputation grew.3

After the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era in 1908, reform efforts in every field began throughout the Ottoman Empire. Finance was one areas that saw new and strict regulated implemented. He took an exam offered by the Ministry of Finance in 1910 and passed. In 1911, he was appointed as the deputy manager of the Hasköy Revenue Office in İstanbul.4

ISTANBUL AND FIRST ENTREPRENEURSHIP

After his appointment to Istanbul, Demirağ advanced rapidly in his civil service career. He worked as a civil servant between 1911 and 1920, throughout World War I, when the Ottoman Empire dissolved and Istanbul was occupied.

In 1912, Demirağ was appointed to the revenue administration in Beyoğlu, İstanbul. The district of Beyoğlu was known in the Ottoman Empire for its non-Muslim population. During this time, the famous Taksim Barracks and Talimhane Square in Beyoğlu were put up for sale. Demirağ did his best to prevent this sale, which was well under its actual value. Despite his effort, he was ultimately dismissed, and the officer who replaced him approved the sale.Demirağ then became an inspector for the Ministry of Finance in 1920, after holding various civil servant positions. While Istanbul was under foreign occupation, Turks faced many problems in the then-capital Istanbul, which held a strong portion of minorities.

A turning point in Demirağ’s life happened one day when was leaving a branch in the Kurtuluş neighborhood of Istanbul where he went for inspection. As he left, he was surrounded by a group Greek youths. After attacking Demirağ, they take the fez off his head and threw it to the ground. Although he thought about responding, he decided not to because it would have bad consequences for the Turks.This event completely changed Demirağ’s life. He resigned from his civil service in 1920, saying, “I cannot serve a government whose national dignity and honor is trampled on by couple of palikarya (Greek youth).”Commercial life in occupied Istanbul was largely controlled by minorities. Demirağ, after leaving the civil service, had only 252 Turkish liras. He first entered the cigarette paper business with his money, and then started to produce his own cigarette paper under the name of Turkish Victory. Choosing such a name in occupied Istanbul was an important sign of Demirağ’s sentiments and identity. He also joined the Association for the Defense of National Rights (Müdâfaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti) in the Maçka area of Istanbul in order to support the Turkish independence movement.

The Turkish Victory cigarette paper became very popular in only a short period of time. However, Demirağ had to shut down his business after various new legal regulations, so he launched a new business under the name “Mühürdarzade Kantariye Import-Export Tobacco Customs Company.” After the War of Independence, which ended with the victory of the Turks in October 1922, Demirağ amassed a fortune of 84,000 Turkish liras, indicating his importance as a businessman.

REPUBLIC PERIOD

After the establishment of Turkish Republic, Demirağ founded a contracting company with his brother, Naci. French company Reji Jenaral, which was going to build the Samsun-Sivas railway, left the railway unfinished. Demirağ participated in the tender for the first 7 km of this railway and won. He built more than 1000 km of railways in total, which perhaps inspired Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to suggest for him the surname Demirağ. He is considered one of the most important businessmen of the young republic. In 1936, Turkey’s budget was 212 million Turkish liras, while Demirağ’s fortune stood at 11 million Turkish liras, amounting to 5% of the annual Turkish budget.8

Benefiting from protectionist state policies in the early republic period, Demirağ invested all the money he earned from other businesses in the country while himself facing very low profits. He offered the lowest price in every tender in which he bid.

Apart from railways, Demirağ also made important construction and industrial investments. Some of these were the Sümerbank Merinos Factory, Karabük Iron and Steel Factory, İzmit Seka Paper Factory, Sivas Cement Factory, Istanbul Fruit and Vegetable Market building, the Ministry of Culture building, the Parliament Building, and many station buildings and bridges.

CHASING A DREAM

One of Demirağ’s biggest dreams was to produce domestic aircraft. To this end, he established an aircraft workshop in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul in 1936. In the same year, Demirağ also started the construction of a secondary school named ‘Sky School’ in his hometown of Divriği in order to train people to work in the aviation industry. The first domestic passenger plane was manufactured in the Beşiktaş Demirağ Aircraft Factory. The aircraft flew to Divriği, the birthplace of Demirağ, in August 1941. A total of 15 aircraft were manufactured that year. The first education institute in Turkey offering aviation education in a modern sense was opened in July 1941 in the Yeşilköy district of Istanbul under the name of Gök School. Including the Sky School, this facility housed an airport and aircraft maintenance areas. According to various sources, around 32,000 flights were made from the Sky School and 290 pilots were trained there.

Meanwhile, the production of 10 training aircraft and 65 gliders ordered by the Turkish Aeronautical Association continued. The Undersecretary of Air requested that the test flights of the ordered aircraft to be made in Eskişehir. Engineer Selahattin Alan, a partner and friend of Nuri Demirağ, wanted to make this flight himself.

The test plane, however, fell into a ditch which was dug to prevent the animals from entering the runway and Alan died. The lack of space, the pilot not knowing the runway, and the large number of visitors and aircraft were among the other reasons that led the accident. The Turkish Aeronautical Association canceled the plane orders with an official letter on March 1, 1939, although the official report stated that the Nu D. 36 plane could be used after some technical changes. Demirağ made a written objection regarding the technical issues in the report and asked for additional time to rectify the problems. He also requested that the flight test to be done again in Yeşilköy, but the contract was canceled with a written reply of the Turkish Aeronautical Association on March 24, 1939. The cancellation of the aircraft and glider order hurt Demirağ financially. These developments were the beginning of the end for the industrialist, who invested almost all his wealth in the air industry.He wrote two letters to the then President İsmet İnönü in 1939 and 1940 to solve the problem, but he did not get the result he wanted. As a last resort, Nuri Demirağ sued the Turkish Aeronautical Association in 1943. He built the first Turkish twin-engine passenger plane, named Nu. D. 38, in 1944, while the case was continuing. The plane was first flown by Demirağ’s son, Galip, on February 11, 1944. No buyer in Turkey purchased the plane, despite its world-class production at the time.

Meanwhile, the court case concluded and Demirağ lost. He would not only lose the case, but the airport, the Sky School, and the hangars and facilities at Yeşilköy would be expropriated in 1944. There have been various comments arguing that Demirağ’s position against the government had an effect on the way events unfolded. He could not get results he wanted from the courts, so Demirağ founded the National Development Party in 1945 in an effort to fight in the political field. This enabled Turkey to make its transition to multi-party politics.

POLITICAL LIFE

The National Development Party, however, did not achieve the desired success, even if it offered a very critical voice during the multiparty period in Turkish political life. Unlike the Republican People’s Party, which was the only party until 1945, the National Development Party was considered to be more democratic and aligned with the country’s values.

In an interview with the Cumhuriyet newspaper published on July 11, 1945, Demirağ outlined his party’s principles: patriotism, democracy, and parliamentarianism. Due to the difference he had with his friends in politics, Demirağ was expelled from his own party on July 1946, though he became the leader of the party again a year later. In its 13-year life, the National Development Party was not successful. As a result, Demirağ became an independent candidate in Sivas for the Democratic Party in the 1954 elections following the request of the Democrat Party leader and Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, and he was elected to parliament. His parliamentary term ended in 1957, and he was unable to run for re-election due to health problems. Demirağ died on November 13, 1957.

According to his eldest daughter, Mefkure Azak, close to his death Demirağ told her: “I came to the world 30 years early, my daughter. If I had come 30 years later, I could have fulfilled all my projects. I couldn’t do everything I wanted.”

REFERENCES

  1. Ziya Şakir, Nuri Demirağ Kimdir?, 1947
  2. Fatih Dervişoğlu, Nuri Demirağ, Ötüken Yayınları
  3. Necmetdin Deliorman, Bütün Dünya, Türk Demiryolları, Türk Uçakları Yaptı, Bir Nuri Demirağ Vardı, Başkent Üniversitesi Kültür Yayını,2003
  4. Ziya Şakir, Nuri Demirağ Kimdir?, 1947
  5. Necmetdin Deliorman, Bütün Dünya, 2003
  6. Ziya Şakir, Nuri Demirağ Kimdir?, 1947
  7. Necdet Sakaoğlu, Portre Nuri Demirağ, Popüler Tarih Dergisi, Temmuz 2000
  8. Osman Yalçın, Mühürdarzade Nuri Bey‘in (Demirağ) Hayatı ve Çalışmaları, 2009
  9. Ziya Şakir, Nuri Demirağ Kimdir?