115. Today in 1920s Turkey: 3 October 1928 (Four Valiant Lads Cycle from Izmir to Istanbul)

(Photograph with caption, Karagöz, 3 October 1928, no. 2144, page 3.)

Türkçe:
Bu İzmirli yiğit delikanlılar bisikletle İzmir’den İstanbul’a tam 27 memlekete uğrayarak gelmişlerdir. 1 Sabri, 2 Nuri, 3 Niyazi, 4 Bedii Beyler’dir. Hepsini tebrik ederiz.

English:
These valiant young men traveled from Izmir to Istanbul by bicycle stopping in precisely 27 individual towns. They are 1 Sabri, 2 Nuri, 3 Niyazi, 4 Bedii. We congratulate them all.

Comments
I admit that I have a special affinity to these types of stories. Journals such as Karagöz, Köroğlu, and Babacan often included proverbial “snapshots” from across the country to share the interesting news and accomplishments of the country’s people. Popular periodicals such as Karagöz made the sharing of information even more palatable by using a simple vernacular language and plenty of images that can appeal to even a semi-literate audience. Moreover, by sharing the accomplishments of average citizens these papers also disseminate inspirational models for emulation. A host of positive messages could be read into this story, which consists of but a brief caption. The story promotes team work, personal initiative, and modern fitness practices. It also presents an example of regular, healthy citizens setting difficult goals and succeeding in accomplishing them.

Anyone choosing to do so could read even further into the story by confirming that there must be about 470-some kilometers of functional road connecting the two major cities. The addition of the 27 towns to the caption allows the reader to imagine a vibrant landscape of many “homelands” (memleket), each of which witnessed a stretch of this great voyage. It does leave me with a few questions, the most pressing of which is “how long did the journey take?” I also wonder how old these young men were when they embarked on this monumental endeavor.

Today in 1920s Turkey has covered numerous examples of similar stories from across the country. The related themes of fitness, healthy youth, and sport-like uniformed activities was the subject of a similarly formatted “story” from earlier in the year, accessible here. Even more recently here, Karagöz introduces its readers to a town that pooled its resources together to purchase its own airplane. Köroğlu covered the life of a 110-year-old woman here, while Karagöz’s brief article about a markswoman winning a competition can be found here.

(Entire page, Karagöz, 3 October 1928, no. 2144, page 3.)