Learning from the Past…

Dear reader! This time, I will take you to Iğdır in the 1950s. I will present two articles from the newspaper called PAMUKOVA, published by Mecit Hun in those years, to show how Iğdır's fundamental problems were approached back then. In these days when we discuss the importance of Civil Society Organizations for Iğdır, I believe these two articles hold value as guidance and self-criticism.

FIRST ARTICLE

The first article I will present to your attention below was written by Mecit Hun, editor-in-chief of the PAMUKOVA newspaper, on November 5, 1954, and published in the newspaper. The title of the article was "On the Occasion of the New Assembly (Turkish Grand National Assembly) Works." In those years, Iğdır was a district of Kars. It was striving to become a province. The article continues as follows:

"The Grand National Assembly began its 1954-55 work with the speech of our President, Mr. Celâl Bayar. It is undoubtedly our greatest wish to see issues related to Iğdır and its main causes on the agenda, which is full of draft laws concerning various economic and financial matters of Turkey, rapidly developing with great effort and speed, as well as important topics related to domestic and foreign policy, and various verbal and written parliamentary questions. It must surely be our right, and even our most essential demand, to see Iğdır, which possesses all economic and geographical advantages in favor of becoming a province, enter the phase of realizing this age-old aspiration. Iğdır should be a symbol of a developing Turkey, a vast cotton production and consumption center between the Russian and Iranian borders, an industrial city with smoking factory chimneys, and a brand new province. If action is taken with this goal and purpose, it is certain that you will see Iğdır as a tourist center of Turkey in a few years. The people of Iğdır should consider this. But not just DP (Democrat Party) members, CHP (Republican People's Party) members, CMP (Republican Nation Party) members, or neutral Iğdır residents, but all the inhabitants of Iğdır... It is necessary to re-form the delegations prepared to be sent to Ankara a few months ago, now that the Assembly has opened, and to reinforce them with brochures that will enlighten the relevant authorities on matters concerning Iğdır. We invite our fellow citizens to unite in good faith in this cause, not by burdening the municipality, but by making personal sacrifices."

SECOND ARTICLE

The second article I will present to you was also written by Mecit Hun, editor-in-chief of the PAMUKOVA newspaper, and was published on October 29, 1954. The title of the article was "People of Iğdır Want a Hospital." Mecit Hun first writes an introductory text summarizing the situation. Later, a telegram is prepared with the presidents of Iğdır's civil society organizations and prominent figures of the time and sent to the Kars Governorship.

INTRODUCTORY TEXT WRITTEN BY MECİT HUN

"The people of Iğdır want the Iğdır Health Center to be converted into a hospital. The directive (regulation) of the Ministry of Health and Social Assistance, which changed the organization and staff of health centers, was discussed the day before yesterday in the district hygiene council. As is known, according to the new directive (regulation), health centers will no longer have specialist doctors in their staff, and no operations will be performed under any circumstances. However, if seriously ill patients requiring surgery arrive, their transfer to the nearest hospital will be ensured. If we consider the situation of a patient in a place like Iğdır, which is far from a hospital center and especially deprived of transportation facilities in winter, who urgently needs surgery, alongside the new directive (regulation) put into effect by the Ministry of Health and Social Assistance, the seriousness of the situation becomes evident. Nevertheless, we are in no way of the opinion that such a directive (regulation) is unnecessary. Indeed, in view of the current doctor crisis and the concentration of existing doctors in large centers like Istanbul and Ankara, we understand under what conditions the government finds doctors for hospitals and health centers. For this reason, it is certainly a necessary requirement that health centers, the majority of which are very close to hospital centers, be subjected to such a restriction, and it is not in vain. However, it is necessary to differentiate places with exceptional characteristics like Iğdır from this general requirement. For this reason, the idea that the Iğdır Health Center should absolutely be converted into a hospital dominated the Hygiene Council meeting held the day before yesterday, and it has also prompted the people of Iğdır to make rightful wishes and applications in this direction. On this occasion, the following telegram was sent to the Provincial Authority two days ago:

TELEGRAM SENT TO KARS GOVERNORSHIP

NOTE: Young people may not know the word "telegram." In those years, when email or WhatsApp did not exist, the fastest means of written communication was the telegram. To prevent sentences from getting mixed up in the telegram, "STOP" was written after each sentence. I wanted to stick to the original text.

THE SENT TELEGRAM

To the Esteemed Governorship of Kars, KARS

The directive (regulation) for health centers, which aims to staff health centers with general practitioners and henceforth to transfer patients requiring surgery to the nearest hospitals instead of performing operations in health centers, will be put into effect today by the district hygiene council. STOP. Considering Iğdır's population density and its distance from hospital centers, especially the unsuitability of roads in winter, the application of the aforementioned directive to our health center will be a disaster and calamity for the health of the people of Iğdır. STOP. For this reason, we have serious concerns regarding our health. STOP. We respectfully request and implore the esteemed Provincial Authority, acting as an interpreter of these feelings and thoughts of the people of Iğdır, and based on the authority granted by the aforementioned directive, to initiate action with the relevant parties to convert the Iğdır Health Center into a small-scale hospital:

Mayor: Ali Ural

Democrat Party Chairman: Nağdali Parlar

Chamber of Commerce Chairman: Abdurrezak Güneş

Municipal Council Member: Hasan Tezel

General Assembly Member (Provincial General Assembly Member): Eşref Kaya

General Assembly Member (Provincial General Assembly Member): Musa Doğan

Manufacturer: Osman Ataman

Council Member (Municipal Council Member): Ali Işık

Council Member (Municipal Council Member): Eşref Başaran

Cotton Union Chairman: Talât Tufan

Merchant: Fazıl Baykal

Journalist: Mecit Hun

We are convinced that the DP government, whose sole aim in all its actions is the peace and interests of the people, will fulfill this important and rightful wish of the people of Iğdır.

CONCLUSION

Dear reader! In Iğdır of the 1950s, civil society organizations, political parties, merchants, manufacturers, and journalists were able to come together to create a bottom-up pressure mechanism to solve a fundamental problem of the district. Iğdır needs to identify its problems, create public opinion, and persuade the state in this direction with a similar initiative. Dear Civil Society Organizations, the responsibility is yours!