134. Today in 1920s Turkey: 8 January 1927 (Oxcarts Are Banned from Istanbul’s Streets)
Türkçe:
Zamana Uymak Gerek!
Uymayana dünya yüzü cehennem kesilir!
İstanbul Belediyesi şehir içinde manda ve öküz arabalarının dolaşmasını yasak etti. Çünkü bu arabalar ağır yürürler. Halbuki İstanbul sokakları yıldırım gibi koşan otomobiller, kamyonlarla dolup taşıyor. Bu öküz ve manda arabaları ötekilerin yürüyüşüne engel oluyorlar. Onun için belediye bu ağır arabaları şehirde yasak etti. Öküz ve manda arabaları sahiplerine dostça tavsiyemiz şudur ki mallarını satıp, üste para koyup derhal bir kamyon alsınlar. Şimdi herkes işi çabuk olsun istiyor. Artık elektrikli tramvaylar bile ağır gelmeye başladı. Vaktiyle atlı tramvaylarla, kupe arabalarıyla Edirne kapılarından Sirkecilere nasıl gelip gidermişiz bilmem. İşte terakki, medeniyet insanı bu kadar şaşırtıyor. Kupe arabası nerede, faytonlara bile binen yok. İşi olan otomobile atlayınca kuş gibi uçuyor. Böyle zamanda şehir içinde manda, öküz arabasına tahammül edilir mi? Zaten Avrupa’da öküzler ve mandalar ancak kesilip yenmek için beslenir. Onların işini ya beygirler görür yahut da otomobiller, kamyonlar, lokomobiller, traktörler. Çare yok biz de bu medeniyete gireceğiz. Bir vakitler mum yakıyorduk, sonra gaz çıktı, onu yaktık. Şimdi de elektrik var. Onunla ışıklanıyoruz. Her iki şey eskiyi kapı dışarı eder. Bu kayideyi bellemeli ve terakkiye, medeniyete aykırı gitmemeli. Gidince adamı eziyorlar. Bizden doğruyu söylemek!
It Is Necessary to Adapt to the Times
The face of the world turns to hell for those who do not adapt!
The Istanbul Municipality banned water buffalo carts and oxcarts from traveling within the city, because these vehicles move slowly. Whereas Istanbul’s streets are swarming with automobiles and trucks running at lightning speed. These ox and water buffalo carts are preventing the movement of the others. That is why the municipality has banned these slow vehicles in the city. Our friendly advice to the owners of oxcarts and water buffalo carts is this: they should sell off their goods and adding money to it, buy a truck immediately. Now everyone wants their work to happen quickly. Nowadays even the electrical trolleys seem too slow. I have no idea how, back in the day, we would go back and forth between the Edirne gate and Sirkeci on horsecars and carriages. This is how much progress and civilization can baffle a person. Forget carriages, nobody even rides phaetons (anymore). When a busy person hops into an automobile they fly like a bird. At a time like this can water buffalo and ox carts be tolerated in the city? Already in Europe water buffalo and oxen are raised only to be slaughtered and eaten. Their needs are either met with horses or automobiles, trucks, locomobiles, and tractors. There is no (other) way, we too are going to enter this civilization. At one time we were lighting candles, then gas was available, so we burned that. And now there is electricity. We illuminate with that. Both things force the old (things) out the door. One must learn this rule and not oppose advancement and civilization. They will crush a man if he opposes. We speak the truth!
Comments:
When covering the 1920s, histories about Turkey typically focus on major reforms such as the abolition of the Caliphate, alphabet reform, hat/dress reform, weights and measures reform, educational reform, the closing of dervish lodges, reform in the penal code etc. As a result, however, other “changes” in society can get overlooked or lost in the vast sea of relatively greater, or more impactful legislative initiatives. But much is happening on the ground in the 1920s, especially in the country’s most densely populated city: Istanbul.
Some of these changes are legislative and others are driven more by market forces. For instance, in December of 1923 the curtains (perde) separating male and female commuters on public transportation were removed (trains, trolleys, ferries). Indeed, even in the 1920s Istanbul’s streets were teaming with fast-paced transportation vehicles which also posed a threat to commuters. The threat of the modern vehicle is echoed in public service announcements such as this example. Cartoonists also took to the pen to criticize and raise awareness of traffic-related violence (see posts #2 and #55). Consumerism, a staple of modern life, was also on the rise at this time and its effects on transportation can be deduced from the many advertisements for vehicles that began appearing in print media in the 1920s including those ran by automotive manufacturers such as Ford and Mercedes-Benz.
Thus, it should come as no surprise that as the decade progressed into 1927, finally, slow-moving, non-motorized vehicles were banned from the already chaotic streets of Istanbul. The present column spills quite a bit of ink justifying this change to an imagined audience who may find the ban objectionable. The author explains why the change was necessary and even provides a bit of advice for anyone still earning a living using oxcarts (presumably transporters of goods/wares, peddlers, and other small businesses): sell all your goods, add money to it and buy a motorized vehicle. Of course, such a course of action is always easier said than done… How, for instance, are they to sell their goods if they cannot carry them through the streets because their oxcart is not allowed?
Nevertheless, as the author suggests, joining modernity is more of a necessity than a voluntary choice because “progress” (terakki) and “civilization” (medeniyet) sweep people up, force old technologies out, and “crush” those who stand in their way. As such, resistance, according to this column is futile.
Note: More content from the very same issue of Karagöz can be accessed with the below links:
Originally published at https://steemit.com on January 8, 2018.
