39. Today in 1920s Turkey: 14 December 1927 (Istanbul: Planning Ahead for Snow... in December)

(News snippet, Karagöz, 14 December 1927, no. 2060, page 3.)

Comments:
This short blurb featured on the third page of Karagöz’s 14 December 1927 issue cleverly critiques the Istanbul municipality’s poor planning skills while also subtly exposing the laziness/complacency of newspaper reporters who neglected to point the major logistical error in the municipality’s “preparation” attempts. Noting how these unnamed newspapers simultaneously ran stories about the snow machine order and the immense amount of snowfall taking place across the country right now, Karagöz points out the obvious flaw in this plan: an order of heavy machinery from across the Atlantic would take at least three months to ship. Meaning that if the order was only recently placed, the costly solution for clearing this season’s snow would arrive too late to be of any use this winter.

English:

What’s All the Rush, My Dear!
Yesterday’s Istanbul newspapers contained the following story:
“In preparation for winter the Istanbul municipality has ordered machines from America to clear snow from the streets.”
Isn’t it strange that the same papers also included this news:
“Two meters of snow fell on Trabzon, in addition to strong [صوئو] snow Ankara received a hands width of snow.”
The municipality is making winter preparations and ordering machines from America. So then will these machines, which will take at least three months to arrive here from America, [instead] be tasked with cleaning the flowers that open in the Spring?

Türkçe:

Bu Ne Acele Acanım!
Dünkü Istanbul gazetelerinde şu havadis vardı:
“Istanbul şehremaneti kış hazırlığı yapmak üzere Amerika’ya sokaklardan karları süpürecek kar makineleri sipariş etmiştir.”
Tuhaf değil mi, yine aynı gazetelerde şu havadis de vardı:
“Trabzon’a iki metre kar yağmış, Ankara’ya şiddetli [صوئو] karla beraber bir karıştan fazla kar düşmüştür.”
Emanet kış hazırlığı yapıyor ve Amerika’ya makine ısmarlıyor. Peki ama Amerika’dan en aşağı üç ayda gelecek makine burada ilk baharın açan çiçeklerini mi süpürecek?

(Entire page, Karagöz, 14 December 1927, no. 2060, page 3.)