tükrçe links to original Turkish article
(Hürriyet Newspaper, 27 March 2022)
Istanbul fashion in the mid-1930s.
mines in the Bosphorus see this TNT report about
mines drifting from Odessa to the Bosphorus. At
least one has arrived. The Turkish Agriculture and
Forestry Ministry has banned fishing boats from the
Black Sea waters from the Bulgarian border to Kefken.
Russia is threatening nuclear facilities in Ukraine and the entire world
is on edge. Once again, gas masks and shelters are on the agenda.
Turkey experienced similar anxiety in the 1930s as WWII was
approaching, with regard to chemical weapons.
In the 1930s chemical weapons of mass destruction were considered
the most dangerous threat and Turkey was one of the earliest countries
to recognize this. In fact, the "Directorate for Protection Against
Poison and Suffocating Gas and Air Attacks" was established within
the Ministry of Health, while the "General Gas Command" was set up
in the General Staff HQS. Universities held conferences on poison gas,
with one professor declaring that "the coming wars will be wars of
poison gases."
The General Staff organized conferences, too, and İsmet (İnönü) Paşa,
Fevzi (Çakmak) Paşa, along with other senior army officers, were saying
that "someone wearing a mask will definitely avoid death." Associations
were founded and courses given, with a detailed curriculum for lessons in
"poison gases". Ultimately, the first gas mask factory was opened in
Mamak, Ankara, on 31 October 1935, with two types of masks produced:
the "Turkish peoples mask" and the "Kızılay (Red Crescent) mask".
There was high demand for the masks and the Kızılay mask was sold
to employees in three installments. As for shelters, Mr. Schossberger,
a German specialist in gas shelters, was brought to Turkey in 1937. The
old "sarnıç" (underground cisterns) in Istanbul were examined for use as
shelters and it was determined that the Binbirdirek "sarnıç" could house
10,000 people and the Yerebatan "sarnıç" 30,000. There were abıout 100
of these "sırnaç" in Istanbul at that time and where there weren't any
new shelters were built.
Drills were held and airplanes would fly over Istanbul as if attacking.
Sirens blared and people rushed to the shelters. Many people, though,
misunderstood the drills and assumed that real gas bombs would be
dropped so there were those who wouldn't leave their homes for days
on end. People rushed to the bakeries for bread, while newspapers
carried headlines imploring people to "remain calm".
Poison gas was first used by the Germans in WWI and at least 90,000
people died from the gas. Turkish soldiers were first exposed to poison
gas during WWI in Galicia (Romania), when it was used against them
by the Russians.
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