Türkiye`de avangart modernizmin bir örneği olarakTercüman Gazetesi binası

Abstract

Bu çalışma, 1974 yılında Zeytinburnu İlçesi, Merkezefendi Mahallesi, MevlevihaneSokağı'nda İstanbul'un ana arterlerinden biri D100 karayolu (E5) üzerinde TercümanGazetesi tarafından inşa edilmiş olan Tercüman Binası'nı konu edinmektedir. GünayÇilingiroğlu ve Muhlis Tunca tarafından tasarlanan, statik projesi Rasin Etimantarafından hazırlanan yapı, ölçeği ve formu sayesinde bağlamından farklılaşarak, E5üzerinde bir röper noktası teşkil etmektedir. Tercüman Binası, 1960 sonrasıuluslararası modernizmden kopuşun başladığı, farklı mimari yaklaşımlarıngeliştirildiği bir mimarlık ortamında, diğer örneklerle karşılaştırıldığında özgün biryaklaşımı yansıtmaktadır. Alışılmışın dışındaki formu, temsil ettiği kimlik ve Türkinşaat sektöründeki değerine karşın mimarlık tarihçileri ve eleştirmenleri tarafındanbirkaç makalede ve genellikle 20. yüzyıl Türk mimarlığı anlatılarında kısaca yerverilmiş olan yapı, dönemin bütün dinamikleri içinde değerlendirilmemiş, ortaya çıkışsüreci, bu süreci etkileyen ideoloji ve amaçlarla birlikte bütünsel bir yaklaşımlaincelenmemiştir. Dönemin bütün dinamikleriyle Tercüman Gazetesi Binası'nıdeğerlendiren tezde, mimarların aldığı eğitimler, birikimleri ve tasarım prensipleri,gazetenin sahibi Kemal Ilıcak, dönemin siyasi fikir ayrılıklarından kaynaklanan güçmücadeleleri ve medyanın siyasi destekçileri, ekonomik olarak var olma stratejilerikendisine yer edinmektedir. Araştırma, tüm yönleriyle Tercüman Gazetesi Binası'nındeğerlendirilmesini gerçekleştirebilmek için öncelikle gazetenin kurumsal yapısını vegelişimini ortaya koyar. Yapının mimarları Günay Çilingiroğlu ve Muhlis Tunca'nıntasarım yaklaşımlarını analiz eder ve dünya çapındaki diğer yaklaşımlarla karşılaştırır.Tercüman Binası'nın mimari özelliklerini, yapıldıktan sonra geçirdiği değişimleri vegünümüzdeki halini inceler. Araştırma ortaya koyulurken, öncelikle TercümanGazetesi'nin 1972-1977 yılları arasındaki yayınları taranarak, kendi söylemi üzerindenyapıya yüklenen misyon analiz edilir. Gazetenin yapıyı kendisi ve toplum arasındafiziksel bir ara yüz oluşturacak biçimde simgesel duruşundan nasıl yararlandığı ortayaçıkarılmıştır. Yapının mimari özellikleri ve inşa sürecine dair detaylara ZeytinburnuBelediyesi'ndeki proje, dilekçe ve yazışmalardan yararlanarak ulaşılmıştır.Araştırmanın diğer başlıca kaynağını, o dönemin mimari dinamiklerine, mimarlarınözel yaşamlarına ve kurumsal yapının iç yüzüne şahitlik etmiş, GünayÇilingiroğlu'nun meslektaşı Cafer Bozkurt, Mimar Doğan Hasol, Tercüman Lisesiİdari Müdürlüğü görevini üstlenmiş Cezmi Bayram ve eski Tercüman yazarı BurhanAyeri ile yapılmış kişisel görüşmeler oluşturmaktadır. Çalışma, gazetenin ideolojikkonumuyla kurumsal mimarisi arasındaki ilişkiyi sorgulanmış, Türk mimarlığındabenzerlerinin neden yapılmamış olduğu ve yazın dünyasında neden hak ettiği ölçüdeyer almamış olduğunun cevapları aranmıştır.

The subject of this thesis is concerned with Günay Çilingiroğlu and Muhlis Tunca'sTercüman Newspaper Building, which was constructed as a result of a limited designcompetition in 1974. Tercüman, an influential right-wing newspaper of the 1970s and1980s, differs from other media groups in Turkey as it adopted new practices in manyaspects. Tercüman's state-of-the art building vividly represents its pioneeringcharacter, and this study aims to provide a detailed account for this innovative buildingin line with the social and political practices experienced in Turkey in the second halfof the 20th century.Traditionally Turkish newspapers were located in Babıali in the old Istanbul andGalata across the Golden Horn both in the late Ottoman and early Republican Turkey.Over time many of those newspapers, however, ceased their operation or moved outof Babıali, due to the rapidly changing social, financial and technological conditionsin the second half of the 20th century. Those changes felt in Turkish media gained pacein the 1990s, and many newspapers moved to İkitelli and Güneşli districts on thewestern fringes of Istanbul. They also combined their power with the TV broadcastingand eventually became powerful tools in the hands of major Turkish companies in linewith neo-liberal policies dominated the 1980 and 1990s Turkey. TercümanNewspaper, on the other hand, took the same steps long before many other Turkishmedia groups, and became the first major Turkish newspaper transferred itsheadquarters from Babıali to the outside of the city walls encircling the old Istanbul in1974.While the Tercüman Newspaper Building showed significant architectural design andconstruction practices, its existence in Turkish architectural literature is very limited.Atilla Yücel's article `Tercüman Newspaper Building: On Form, Symbol andFunction` published in Mimarlık in 1985 and Şevki Vanlı's `A Few Side of TurkishArchitecture in the Last 30 Years` in Yapı are the only primary sources that can befound in the literature. Furthermore, Şevki Vanlı, in his book `Unwanted to Know 20thCentury Turkish Architecture`, interprets Tercüman Newspaper Building as anexample of `individual design initiatives` and describes Günay Çilingiroğlu andMuhlis Tunca among the architects who interpreted the rationalism gained bymodernism with sensitivity and put it in the whole of design. In his book `Architectureand the Turkish City: Istanbul's Urban History since the Ottomans` published in 2017,Murat Gül describes Tercüman Newspaper building as one of the few ''trailblazing''projects in Istanbul in the 1970s and saw the building as a significant indicator ofprogressiveness of socialy conservative circles in Turkey.The brief evaluations mentioned above give some clues about the building and itsarchitects. However, the true meaning Tercüman Building in modern Turkisharchitecture can only be understood after a detailed analysis of the newspaper'sinstitutional objectives in line with the political and economic atmosphere of the period. Furthermore, the aspiration and vision of the employer, the design tendenciesof the architects and the construction technologies used in the building are the othersignificant aspects that can help a comprehensive understanding of TercümanNewspaper Building's place in modern Turkish architecture. In addition to theunprecedented architectural features of the building, the question of the ideologicalfactors effective in determining these architectural approaches forms the starting pointof the thesis. How does the building used as an interface between the newspaper'svision and society? How has it been possible for the newspaper, which has aconservative and nationalist ideological line, to adopt such an avant-garde, modernist,contemporary architectural style?Considering the questions above the first major part of this study focuses onTercüman's institutional history and its transformation that played a vital role in itsbuilding's architectural character. Therefore, the social and political structure ofTurkey after the Second World War has been examined in this part. In particular, theideological base of the newspaper, its connection with Turkish society and the tasks itimposes on itself are all considered as significant factors that are closely related to theformation of the architectural expression of the building. The changes andtransformation in the Turkish press after 1960 in line with the political, economic andsocial developments are also discussed in the first part of the thesis. In the formationof the political environment that helped the emergence of pluralism in the press, thepolitical parties and their ideological tendencies established during this period havebeen surveyed. In this perspective, the emergence of the Tercüman Newspaper, itsideological tendencies, its development strategies and the factors that increase itsspatial needs have been discussed.The second part of the thesis starts with a survey of the architectural production andapproaches of Günay Çilingiroğlu and Muhlis Tunca. Some other buildings designedby those architects including Erzurum Municipality (1967), Istanbul AdvertisingAgency (1972), SSK Kızılay Building (1973), Karaköy Trade Center (1978),Altunizade Calligraphy School (1996) and Ortaköy Esma Sultan Complexes TouristicFacilities have been briefly examined to understand their architectural tendencies.Then, a detailed and chronological description of the design and construction process,architectural features such as the location, spatial organization, structure, facadefeatures of the Tercüman Building have been analyzed. In particular, a critical questionhow the reflections of the symbolism created by the architecture in the ideologicalsense played such an important role in the building's corporate identity is examined. Adetailed reading of both external composition and interior arrangement of the buildingcan help to understand how the architects' used symbolism as a powerful design toolin this significant project. The later sections of the second part focus on the change ofuse and related physical alterations applied to the building after 1986. The buildingwas first converted into a Private Tercüman High School, and this alteration requiredsignificant changes on the building's external mass where new blocks wereconstructed adjacent to the principal building. The financial difficulties that Tercümanhad to face with in the 1990s draws a turning point in the history of the building.Finally, current status of the building has been portrayed and compared with the initialmotivation and aims drafted by the owners in the 1970s. The conclusion section sumsthe finding of the thesis and provides answers for some important questions regardingthe relationship between the conservative character of the newspaper and the avantgarde building representing some unprecedented features both architecturally andconstruction methodologies. And the question about the lack of interests that exists inTurkish architectural literature about Tercüman Building is answered. The primary source for the research in this thesis is archives of the various newspapersincluding Tercüman, Milliyet and İstanbul Bayram which have been deposited atAtatürk Library and the Press Museum. Detailed readings have been conductedthrough the articles published in those newspapers to understand the relationshipbetween the Tercüman's vision, political aims, relevant ideological objectives and thebuilding. Architectural and structural project applications, correspondence, petitionsand minutes in the Zeytinburnu Municipality and Istanbul Second Renewal AreaConservation Board archives have been carefully searched. Various interviews havebeen conducted with Cezmi Bayram, who was the Director of Private Tercüman HighSchool, and Burhan Ayeri, a former Tercüman writer. In order to understand the designapproaches of Günay Çilingiroğlu and Muhlis Tunca, interviews were also made withDoğan Hasol and Cafer Bozkurt, who were close colleagues of Çilingiroğlu and Tunca.