Upper floor of ‘Pembe Köşk’ to open to visit

ISTANBUL

The upper floor of the mansion where İsmet İnönü, the second president and one of the founders of the modern Turkish Republic lived, will be opened to visitors as a museum next year.

Though the lower floor of the mansion called Pembe Köşk (Pink Mansion) in capital Ankara’s Çankaya district can be visited, only family members could see the upper floor, where there was a bedroom and a study room.

92-year-old Özden Toker, the daughter of İnönü, lived on the upper floor for 89 years until three years ago.

Toker moved out of there so that the upper floor could also be opened to visitors. The upper floor of the mansion, which is under preparation for the museum, will also be opened to visitors next year.

Giving a special tour to a group of special guests for the first time before the opening of the upper floor, Özden also shared her memories about Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic and his father İnönü.

“One day, Atatürk was holding a child’s hand as he was coming here. ‘I brought you a friend,’ he said, introducing Ülkü [Adatepe]. She was two years younger than me. We went to the room and played house”

Özden expressed her first encounter with Atatürk’s adopted daughter Ülkü Adatepe.

Stating that a large dining table was still used by the family for meals during the times when the museum was closed, Toker noted that she witnessed special dialogues at this table and historic decisions.

Toker also noted that the carpet with Türkiye’s map figure on the floor of the small room where Erdal İnönü, the son of İnönü, lived will be exhibited on the wall of the room.

Providing the reason of the color of the mansion, Toker pointed out that as Ankara had a quite dry climate when it first started to be urbanized as the capital, Atatürk wanted to create some vitality in the city.

Accordingly, Atatürk demanded that his house and the mansion where the İnönü couple lived were painted pink.