Representatives of modern life in young Turkey – Sugar factories

Abstract

The Ottoman Empire has not been able to realize the industrial revolution because of internal disturbances, religious pressures and long-lasting wars. The Republic of Turkey, which was founded after the War of Independence and afterwards, set modernization, which can be defined as an innovation and a break from what is traditional, and industrialization as the main goal. This goal is not only for bureaucrats in the upper echelons of the state, or for wealthy families, but for all citizens of the Republic of Turkey. Industrial facilities of the Republican era became distribution channels for modernization to reach the public people. Sugar factories are among the examples of these modern industrial structures. Sugar factories have enriched the places where they have been established both economically and socially. Also local people have had a chance to meet with opportunities they had never had chance to meet before, such as sports, cinema, literacy and vocational courses, balls, lodgings, even electricity through sugar factories. When the development and diversity of the buildings in the factory sites are examined, factories represent young Turkey’s effort to offer social and cultural activities. Sugar factories have become in fact the representatives of modern life and the documents of transformation from traditional into modern. In this article, information on the sugar factories, one of the early Republican era industrial structures, was presented and their contribution to social life was examined. © 2018, VUC Praha, a.s.. All rights reserved.