Nuri Demirağ (born 1886 in

Divriği Divriği (formerly Tephrike, Greek: Τεφρική) is a small town and district of Sivas Province of Turkey. The town lies on gentle slope on the south bank of the Çaltısuyu river, a tributary of the Karasu river. The Great Mosque and Hospit ...

– died November 13, 1957 in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

) was an early Turkish industrialist and politician, who was one of the first millionaires of the

Turkish Republic Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

Biography

His first enterprise was a cigarette paper factory which commenced production in 1922. Starting from the late 1920s, Demirağ began to invest his capital in the development of the Turkish railway network. Because of this investment, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gave him the surname ''Demirağ'' (meaning "Iron web") when the

Surname Law Surname law can refer to any law regulating the use of surnames. Canada From 1941 to 1978, the Government of Canada issued disc numbers to identify Inuit in their records. In the mid-1960s Project Surname began, and, headed by Abe Okpik, Inuit ...

was put into effect in 1934. In 1936 he established an aircraft factory employing 500 people in Beşiktaş,

(later nationalized by the government and now occupied by the

Istanbul Naval Museum The Istanbul Naval Museum ( Turkish: ''İstanbul Deniz Müzesi'') is a national naval museum, located at Beşiktaş district of Istanbul in Turkey. It was established in 1897 by the Ottoman Minister of Navy Bozcaadalı Hasan Hüsnü Pasha. The ...

). The production of the Nu D.36 two-seat trainer biplane, and Nu D.38 twin-engine

high-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing co ...

light transport plane took place in this factory. In 1945 he founded the first opposition party, which was named ''Milli Kalkınma Partisi'' ( National Development Party), but his party failed to receive the required number of votes for entering the

Turkish parliament The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

in the 1946 and 1950 general elections, and was eventually dissolved in 1958, a year after his death. In 1954, he was elected as a

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Sivas Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is ...

on behalf of the Democratic Party, which won the general elections. Demirağ donated his airplanes to his flying school (''Gök Okulu'') in

Yeşilköy (; meaning "Green Village"; prior to 1926, San Stefano or Santo Stefano el, Άγιος Στέφανος, Ágios Stéfanos, tr, Ayastefanos) is an affluent neighbourhood ( tr, mahalle) in the district of Bakırköy, Istanbul, Turkey, on the M ...

, which he established for attracting the interest of young Turks in aviation. The land upon which the school was built was later nationalized by the Turkish government in order to enlarge the neighbouring Yeşilköy Airport ( Atatürk International Airport) which was originally established as a military air base of the

Ottoman Air Force The Aviation Squadrons of the Ottoman Empire were military aviation units of the Ottoman Army and Navy.Edward J. Erickson, ''Ordered To Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War'', "Appendix D The Ottoman Aviation Inspectorate an ...

in 1911. Demirağ died in 1957 from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

External links

Biography of Nuri Demirağ

References

Businesspeople in aviation 20th-century Turkish businesspeople Turkish philanthropists 1886 births 1957 deaths People from Divriği Turkish industrialists Railway entrepreneurs Deaths from diabetes Deputies of Sivas Leaders of political parties in Turkey 20th-century philanthropists Turkish political party founders {{Turkey-business-bio-stub