Ataturk Airport; It Should Be "Atatürk Aviation Museum"

Yesilkoy has a special place and importance in Turkish aviation history. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the initiatives of Defense Minister Mahmut Şevket Pasha, efforts were made to provide balloons and airplanes to the army and to establish the necessary facilities for these. He wanted the airport to be built on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, but since a suitable place could not be found, the search was directed to the European side. In order to carry out these studies, the Ottoman Empire wanted to direct and manage the aviation activities with the information it received from the military attachés.

In order to give an official identity to the duties and organizational activities specified on 1 June 1911 and to give an identity to these activities, the Chief of Staff of the 2nd Branch of the General Staff. The "Aviation Commission" of the Air Force was established under the chairmanship of İsmail. This core organization was considered the foundation of the Air Force, the first official institution of aviation in the history of the Ottoman army, and became the date of institutionalization, organization and foundation of aviation. This date is celebrated today as the "Foundation Day of the Air Force".

For the first time at Yeşilköy airport, the commission formed an aircraft company for the armies as an air class air organization, and these companies formed the first military unit of aviation in the world. Also in this period, Süreyya İlmen was tasked with establishing an aircraft station and school in Sefaköy, near Yeşilköy, and this organization constituted the first base and school of the Air Force.

Action was taken to establish the Aircraft School (Air School), which was envisaged by Mr. Süreyya and the Aircraft Commission, and an air facility near Yeşilköy. Near the northern border of Yeşilköy Airport, work began in January 1912 for the establishment of the Aircraft Station (Air Square) and the Air School. 2 hangars and 1 aerodrome were started to be built and the first important step in aviation history was taken. Between Yeşilköy and Sefaköy, the construction of a flight runway with a width of 700 meters and a length of 1500 meters and 2 aircraft hangars with a height of 16 meters for the protection of aircraft were completed in May 1912. The first grass-covered airport was built in Istanbul, and it was opened in Yeşilköy in 1912 for military purposes. Yeşilköy Airport, which was established as a military square in 1912, is also an airport where civilian flights are made and became the place where civil air transportation was started for the first time in Turkey in the same year.

At the beginning of 1912, the Turkish Army had its first pilots and planes, and the first plane was brought to Yeşilköy. Aviation efforts in the Turkish army accelerated, the number of personnel increased, and the aircraft companies established at the beginning of the First World War and the aviators began to perform active continental duties.

Later, these hangars and the square were put into service as the first "Air School" in Sefaköy/Yeşilköy on 3 July 1912 with some additions. With the opening of the Air School, the Turkish Army started to train its flight officers in its country.
Yeşilköy Air School has been one of the most important stages and had a great impact on the development and strengthening of Turkish military aviation. Apart from providing training to the pilots and mechanics of our land and navy forces, Istanbul was the center of all aviation studies until the occupation of Istanbul and flight trials were carried out in this area. On February 21, 1912, Captain Fesa Evrensev successfully completed his flight training and became the owner of the Turkish Army's No. 1 flight badge. Yusuf Kenan received his flight badge and returned home. Captain Evrensev had the title of "First Turkish Pilot" and was appointed as a teacher to this school together with Lieutenant Yusuf Kenan.

On April 26, 1912, 2 planes purchased from France in Yeşilköy were delivered to the first teachers of the Air School, Turkish pilots Captain Evrensev and Lieutenant Yusuf Kenan. Fesa Evrensev made a rehearsal flight in front of the sultan and the public with the plane named "Celaleddin". It has been celebrated as "Pilots Day" on April 26, since 2000, due to the flight of Fesa Evrensev, who was the first Turkish pilot to fly in the Turkish sky, on April 26, 1912, with the first Turkish plane. Yusuf Kenan and Fesa Evrensev went down in history as the first Turkish aviators to fly with the first Turkish plane. In June 1914, "Yeşilköy Naval Air School" affiliated to the Ministry of the Navy was established next to Yeşilköy Air School to train naval pilots and started training in a place near the lighthouse in Yeşilköy.

During this period, the Turkish Air Force was organized as Air School, Airports, Aircraft Squadrons, Fixed Balloon Squadrons, Anti-Aircraft Artillery Units and Meteorology Stations. However, upon the Ottoman Empire's acceptance of defeat in the First World War and the signing of the Armistice of Mudros on October 30, 1918, the country, especially Istanbul, was occupied by the Allied Powers, and a new era has been entered in Turkish military aviation since this date. . With the victory of the War of Independence and the signing of the Mudanya Armistice on 11 October 1922, The third occupation has officially come to an end.

With the Treaty of Lausanne signed on July 24, 1923, the Istanbul Air Branch Directorate was established in Yeşilköy under the Air Force Inspection Board. Its aim was to take over the Yeşilköy Airport and all the stocks in the area from the British invaders. At the end of the 1960s, the Air Academy started to be re-established in Yeşilköy under the name "Air Academy" and was opened on July 21, 1967 here, where Turkish aviation was born and grew up.

Yeşilköy Airport has also been a very important place in terms of Civil aviation history and started the Bucharest-Istanbul service from Yeşilköy to Compagnie Franco-Roumaine de Navigation Aerienne (CFRNA) on October 3, 1922. As of 14 September 1924, a 20-year contract was signed with the company, the project to build a new airport was approved, and the area just north of the Sirkeci-Halkalı railway was allocated free of charge. On 17 August 1925, the CFRNA company, under the name of Compagnie Internationele de Navigation Aerienne (CIDNA), completed the construction of two aircraft hangars, an administrative building and supporting underground fuel tanks, repair shops and spare parts warehouses in 1926, and Turkey's first "International Civil Airport". has been created.

The first big steps were taken in the field of civil aviation when the "Turkish Aircraft Society" was established by the order of Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK in 1925, 16 months after the proclamation of the Republic. Initiatives have been initiated to bring the Military Airfield in Yeşilköy to civil aviation. With the establishment of the Republic, the first step of civil aviation in Istanbul was taken in Yeşilköy, the country's first international square, on August 17, 1925, and it was used for military purposes as the Military Airfield until 1933. Established in 1933, the national airline company was opened to civil flights under the name "Yeşilköy Airport" with the Istanbul-Ankara flight for flights. CIDNA was renamed Air France on 31 December 1933, but the contract was canceled at the beginning of 1937 at its request and its assets were purchased by the Ministry of Public Works for 19,950 lira.

With the opening of Yeşilköy Airport, the Ministry of Public Works decided to turn it into a modern airport in 1938 and a contract was signed with Chicago Civil Aviation in 1944. Construction of an airport for international flights began in Yeşilköy in 1949 and was completed in 1953. On May 23, 1953, the facilities were given to the control of the Ministry of Transport and on August 1, 1953, after the necessary tests and controls, it was opened to international air traffic as Turkey's largest and first international airport. On July 29, 1985, it was named “ATATÜRK Airport” after the liberation of modern Turkey and its founder, the Great Leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK. The airport's ground handling, air traffic services and aviation communications management was taken over by the State Airports Authority (DHMI) on February 26, 1956.

Yesilkoy ATATÜRK Airport is the history of Turkish aviation that connects our country to the world. It constitutes an important place for the salvation and establishment of the Turkish nation. It is the Civil International Airport where Turkish Aviation was first established and the first flight of the Republic of Turkey, which declared its independence with the victory of the National Struggle, was made. Yeşilköy Airport bid farewell to the lands where Turkish aviation was established and Civil aviation was started. The airport, which has been serving the military aviation for a century and civil aviation for more than 80 years under the name of "Yeşilköy Airport", has had a very important place in the history of Turkish aviation.

When the process from the establishment of Yeşilköy Airport to the present is examined, Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK has led and guided the Turkish military and civil aviation to reach world standards and provide development, and has provided all kinds of support and contribution. He is the leader of world peace, international understanding, friendship and cooperation, respects human rights, and does not discriminate between people by color, religion, language and race. He created a modern, contemporary and civilized state by making extraordinary revolutions, set an example for the oppressed world states as a revolutionary leader, and was accepted as the leader and exemplary leader of the 21st century fighting against colonial and expansionist states. The establishment of Yeşilköy ATATÜRK Airport, which is of great importance in terms of Turkish Military and Civil Aviation History, bearing the name of the founder of the Turkish Republic and the savior of the Turkish nation, as an "ATATÜRK AVIATION MUSEUM" would be appropriate in terms of keeping the history alive in the most beautiful and effective way.