18. Today in 1920s Turkey: 10 September 1925 (Oldest Man Alive Is Also Modern)
Türkçe
Biraz da Şaka: Zaro Ağa da Şapka Giydi!
Zaro Ağa’nın yüz elli sene yaşadığının esbabı varmış. Çünkü nihayet o da, o uzun hayatının bugünlerinde şapka giyecek imiş! Kim derdi ki Sultan Mahmut’un zamanında Tophane’de kapıcılık eden Zaro Ağa padişahlar’ın top attığını görecek ve nihayet Cumhuriyet idaresini idrak edecek ve nihayet yüz elli senelik başına şapka giyecektir.
Ne mühim bir inkilap geçirdiğimizi anlamak için düşünmeli ki bugün memnuniyetle şapka giyen Zaro Ağa eğer Sultan Mahmut devrinde — hoş o kadar uzağa da gitmeğe hacet yok ya- şapka giymiş olsaydı mutlaka başını şapkasıyla beraber uçururlardı. Zaro Ağa’nın şapkalı başı için saadetler temenni ederiz .
Altyazı (sağ): Merhaba Beyler!
Altyazı (sol): Zaro Ağa’nın dün aldırdığımız resmi
English
A Bit of Fun: Even Zaro Ağa Has Worn a Hat!
There are reasons for Zaro Ağa living one hundred and fifty years. Because finally he, too, during this time in his long life will have worn a hat! Who could have predicted that the [same] Zaro Ağa who was a doorkeeper/custodian/janitor in Tophane during the time of Sultan Mahmut would see the sultans fire cannons and [then] eventually witness the Republican administration and finally [also] wear a hat on his one-hundred-fifty-year-old head.
In order to understand how significant the reform is that we just undertook we must remember that if the Zaro Ağa of today who happily wears a hat tried to wear a hat during the era of Sultan Mahmut-although one need not even go back that far — they would have certainly beheaded him hat and all. We wish much happiness to Zaro Ağa’s hat-wearing head.
Caption (right): Hello gentlemen!
Caption (left): The picture of Zaro Ağa that we acquired yesterday.
Commentary:
Zaro Ağa, a Kurdish porter and laborer, was a local celebrity in Istanbul in the 1920s. The newspaper Cumhuriyet often featured short news snippets about Zaro Ağa, whose greatest claim to fame was his advanced age. Zaro Ağa’s fame transcends his own era, as even he has his own Wikipedia page today.
The article sensationalizes this old man’s rejection of the fez and acceptance of the Western-style hat — a topic of continuous discussion in the months leading up to the passing of the Hat Reform law of 25 November 1925, after which the wearing fezzes became illegal because they were considered to be symbols of the past and markers of a non-Western “other.” Thus, to force the Turkish nation as a whole to “appear” more modern the old headgear was banished by law and fezzes were replaced with new hats. This law was faced with considerable opposition which is why stories like this one are meant to be both humorous and propagandistic as they explore light-hearted venues for promoting the new headdress. Due to his unparalleled advanced age, the example of Zaro Ağa negates any arguments against change that are based on the belief that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. The message is simple: even the oldest man in our society has modernized his appearance and so should you.
The story of Zaro Ağa’s flexible attitude is presented at the expense of Ottoman Sultan Mahmut II (r. 1808–1839). Even though Mahmud II was a reformer, he is portrayed here as an irrational, bloodthirsty despot. Many Ottoman sultans of the recent past were treated with disdain in the post-revolutionary Republican press, and it is telling to see that even reformist figures such as Mahmut II were no exception to this trend. In fact, Mahmut II was the very sultan who made it mandatory to wear the fez on the grounds that it appeared more modern than the turban in the 19th century. Finally, the era of the sultans in once more criticized with the claim that under Mahmut II people could not even wear modern hats (to say nothing of the fact that the type of hat that Zaro Ağa is wearing in the photograph did not exist until the late 19th century) without the risk of execution. Ironically, it was the Republican government that later ended up executing dozens of protesters who opposed the hat law in November and December 1925.
Today in 1920s Turkey has covered content relating to hat reform on several other occasions. One article published a few months prior to the reform employed satire to devalue the soon-to-be abolished headgear. Whereas a cartoon published a few months after the reform claimed that fezzes were already a thing of the past by framing them as appropriate collectibles for foreign tourists. A most interesting cartoon published only several weeks after the reform, however, reveals how members of the public “protested” the ban on fezzes and turbans by not leaving the house, and thus, avoiding the necessity to wear any of the prescribed types of Western substitutes for the fez.
Originally published at https://steemit.com on September 10, 2018.
