PEMBE KÖŞK
Pembe Köşk (Pink Villa) in Ankara was where “National Chief” İsmet İnönü, the second president of the Republic of Turkey, spent 48 years, where important decisions were taken in the early years of the republic. It stands out as one of the oldest houses of Ankara. Since 1987 the villa has been open for visitors and this year is open to the public for a month starting on 20 April. İsmet İnönü’s daughter, Özden Toker, still lives in the villa and personally guides visitors through her home. Toker prepares the exhibits herself, taking them out of chests, preparing them and identifying the theme for exhibitions.
By Özgür Özcan
The villa where İsmet İnönü lived until his death was bought by him as a wine estate in 1924 and it witnessed the beginnings of the social and cultural life of the young Turkish Republic. The residence was where many meetings concerning revolutionary works chaired by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk took place. It was also the site for Ankara’s first formal ball, on 22 February 1927. Many of the capital’s first concerts, exhibitions and scientific meetings took place in Pembe Kösk and its gardens. Chess, billiards, and horse riding contests were also held there. In its gardens experiments were carried out on what sort of flowers and trees are best suited to the Ankara climate.
İsmet İnönü’s family continued to live in Pembe Köşk after his death. They open the ground floor of the two-story house as a ‘museum’ for visitors. The goods of the house from 1920s are preserved in their original forms. In the lounge at the entrance, İsmet İnönü’s chess table, wedding gifts from his military comrades, his uniforms from 1906 and the clothes of his wife, Mevhibe İnönü, are on display for visitors. The whole building and the curtains in this lounge have been preserved like the first day they were built and the authenticity of the ceiling hasn’t lost its originality.
In the middle room is the section where Mevhibe İnönü hosted her friends. Özden Toker stated that her mother invited her guests on the first and third Wednesday of every month and that she offered them simits and cookies that she had baked herself. In this room is Mevhibe Hanım’s dress that she wore at her engagement ceremony, her wedding dress and Özden Toker’s childhood clothes. The upright piano given to Mevhibe Hanım by İsmet İnönü and his gift chess sets are on display in this room.
THE TABLE AT WHICH NATIONAL MATTERS WERE DISCUSSED
Undoubtedly the most interesting place in the house is the dining room. The lounge, which was designed and decorated with the special efforts of Atatürk, has been preserved in its original form from 1927. Atatürk used to call İnönü at nights and tell him he was coming to Pembe Köşk with 10-20 people. Atatürk solved many problems of the period with his friends around this dinner table. The dining table is exhibited in the way it was originally set up. “THERE IS STILL MUCH MORE TO BE DONE “ Özden Toker says that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had come to Pembe Köşk with his adopted daughter. She recalls memories of those days.
“We played with Ülkü upstairs in my room until dinner time. Then they called us when it was time for dinner. One day when we were having dinner, Atatürk talked to everybody and then turned to me and said ‘Okay, Özden. What do you want to do when you grow up?’ I told him that I wanted to be a teacher. Atatürk liked this answer a lot. And then he encouraged me by saying ‘What we have done so far has been done by the help of our teachers but there is so much more to be done. Therefore, we need good teachers and students.’ Then he turned to Ülkü and he asked the same question to her. She said she wanted to be a ballerina. He liked this answer as well and he told Ülkü to stand on the stool. Ülkü did so and she turned around on the stool. Everybody applauded. We had such wonderful days.” Together with the permanent items, temporary exhibitions are organized in the glass ballroom that was subsequently added to the house. The special subject of the exhibition this spring is the Izmir Economy Congress that was between 17 February and 4 March 1923. İsmet Pasha’s and his family’s life memories, letters and objects are on show at the exhibition. Upstairs is where Ozden Toker lives and is closed to visitors. There is a study room which belonged to İsmet İnönü, and a library with 8,500 German, French, English and Arabic books. Toker draws attention to the importance of telling history to children with love. She says they pay attention in order to display colorful details of life that will be interesting for children. “Children here will feel as if they are in the footsteps of Atatürk and İsmet Pasha,” she said. In the exhibition, there are also photographs of Atatürk and İsmet İnönü taken at the celebrations of Republic Day.
