The house where the 2nd president of Turkey lived.
We’ve joined this wonderful group called the Friends of the American Research Institute which supports scholars and archaeologists all over Turkey. The group does tours in and around Ankara and it also holds, lectures, movie nights, and even an “Antiques Road Show.” It’s been great learning about Turkey from this standpoint as opposed to being just your run-of-the-mill tourist.
One of the places they took us was to Pembe Köşk, which was the home of the second president, Ismet Inönü. He was a great friend of Ataturk, who actually gave him his name. He was named after the location of the last battle of the War of Independence. He was president from 1938-1950.
The organization (FARIT) has built a relationship with his daughter, Ozden Toker, and she took us around the house herself telling us personal stories about her father and of course the items in the house.
As we sipped wine, we wandered through the bottom part of the house and listened to a history that amazed me since I could only imagine the people that she was talking about. For example, Jim and I were completely intrigued by a chess set that was given to Inönü by Stalin. They were red and white pieces, with a very propogandist theme. The white pieces were Czarist with starving peasants in chains for pawns. The red pieces were, of course, the communists, the pawns here were happy workers wielding scythes and clutching bundles of wheat. Very interesting!
Pembe Köşk is only open twice a year, in April and October, but if you happen to be passing through during those times, I would certainly put it on my list.