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Entrance to the SEKA Paper Museum in İzmit, 2017
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Industry · planning, factories and everyday life

Industrial plans, factories and production towns

Factories of the 1930s were more than machines and production lines. Some campuses combined housing, schools, health, sport and culture into a new model of work and urban life, while seeking domestic production of essential imports.

1933—1938Kayseri · Nazilli · İzmit · Bursa · nationwide
Cobija / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

Cobija's photograph of 28 January 2017 shows the museum preserving the paper industry's heritage, not the factory's opening in 1936. Wikimedia's 1280-pixel scaled version.

Sümerbank
1933
First Industrial Plan
1934
Etibank
1935
Nazilli
1937
In this dossier: jump to a section
01

Rebuilding production after war

The Republic's industrial transformation was not simply a list of factories appearing in a single year. Years of war had left an urgent need to reconnect capital, equipment, transport and labour. What should be produced was only one question: where would machinery come from, which towns could support a plant, and how would its output reach consumers? Atatürk's objective of economic independence operated within these practical problems. Following a production chain rather than a ceremonial opening makes farmers, engineers, workers and financiers visible within the story.

Sugar production demonstrates initiatives that preceded the major state factories of the 1930s. Nuri Şeker's undertaking in Uşak developed through local investors. Alpullu began production on 26 November 1926 and Uşak on 17 December. Beet growing and industrial processing depended on one another: a factory needed a reliable crop and transport, not just a building. These examples show an economy that included entrepreneurial and local activity. Industrialisation was connected to agriculture rather than conceived as its opposite.

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02

Sümerbank combined financing with industrial operation

The world depression beginning in 1929 changed trading and financing conditions. During the 1930s the state's direct investment role increased. The First Five-Year Industrial Plan concentrated on capacity in selected manufacturing branches; it was not a promise to complete every aspect of society in five years. Textiles, paper and glass were among the products through which imported manufactures could partly be replaced by domestic output. Access to materials, energy and transport gave factory locations an economic rationale.

Sümerbank's founding legislation was adopted on 3 June 1933 and the institution began operating on 11 July. It joined banking with running industrial enterprises, so describing it only as a deposit bank misses its purpose. Project development, machinery, establishment finance and subsequent management could be connected within one institutional framework. İsmet İnönü and Celal Bayar's responsibilities in government and economic administration illustrate the implementation of policies supported by Atatürk. Legislation, funding and technical personnel were the means of turning a political objective into working production.

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03

Kayseri and Nazilli: understanding cotton manufacture

The foundation of the Sümerbank textile factory in Kayseri was laid on 20 May 1934, followed by its opening on 16 September 1935. Nazilli's printed-cotton factory opened on 9 October 1937. Financing and technical cooperation with the Soviet Union formed an important part of these investments. That specific relationship does not mean the entire Turkish economy adopted the Soviet system. Credit, machinery and expertise for particular plants were used to establish national manufacturing capacity.

To understand a textile factory, follow the movement from raw material to finished goods. Preparing cotton fibre, spinning yarn, weaving and processing printed cloth involve different skills. Nazilli's printed fabric was therefore the result of a production sequence, not merely a number of looms. Materials and quality control also required workers able to maintain equipment. Reading Kayseri and Nazilli together supplies two town-based examples of how industrial investment connected with employment and everyday consumption, without treating their plants as identical.

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04

Bursa Merinos and the woollen industry

Bursa's Merinos factory opened on 2 February 1938. Although often listed alongside Kayseri and Nazilli, its woollen production involved a different raw material and technical chain. Wool manufacture connected livestock production to processing in a city. This relationship was not just a matter of selling whatever a farm happened to provide: industrial use required suitable material characteristics. Explaining different branches separately is essential to understanding an industrial map rather than only memorising its names.

The Merinos Textile Industry Museum now presents the factory's history through machinery and stages of production. Looking at a preserved machine becomes more useful when its place in the sequence is considered: what arrived at it, what operation occurred, and where did the material go next? Equipment is physical evidence of technical knowledge. The site's later cultural uses create another historical layer. A museum or cultural centre today should not be confused with the arrangements and daily working life of the factory in 1938.

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05

Paper in İzmit and glass at Paşabahçe took different routes

The investment in İzmit's paper industry should be read alongside the technical work of chemist Mehmed Ali Kâğıtçı. Establishment work beginning in 1934 was followed by production in 1936. The heritage now familiar under the SEKA name should not be described as though that later institutional name belonged unchanged to every earlier stage. Paper connected industrial production to education and administration: books, notebooks, newspapers and correspondence all depended on a material supply. The paper museum in İzmit preserves equipment and institutional memory associated with that history.

Paşabahçe's glass investment developed through İş Bankası, not through an identical Sümerbank arrangement. Its foundation was laid on 14 August 1934, initial production took place on 4 July 1935, and the formal opening followed on 29 November. Glass manufacture combined furnace and temperature management with skilled work. Separating establishment, production and ceremonial dates exposes the process behind an anniversary headline. Earlier glassmaking traditions in Turkey do not diminish the significance of a modern factory; they simply prevent its story from being mistaken for the beginning of all glassmaking.

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06

MTA and Etibank: research and operation were different tasks

Established under Law No. 2804 in 1935, the Mineral Research and Exploration Institute (MTA) investigated industry's raw-material base. Geological surveys, chemical analysis, mapping and technical training were among its tasks. Etibank, established in the same year, was associated with exploitation and finance. Listing both institutions as though they were factories hides this division of responsibilities.

Ore is not a finished industrial product: research must connect with processing and transport. MTA's history describes iron exploration around Divriği in 1937, helping explain the chain between mineral deposits and heavy-industrial investment at Karabük.

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07

Karabük: foundations in 1937, iron in 1939

The foundation of the Karabük iron and steel works was laid on 3 April 1937. The blast furnace was fired on 9 September 1939 and the first iron was obtained on 10 September. Those production dates came after Atatürk's death. An investment initiated during his presidency and the later start of operation should therefore not be compressed into one event. The groundbreaking attended by İsmet İnönü marked government commitment; turning that commitment into an operating plant required sustained technical preparation and work.

Unlike a factory supplying cloth or sugar directly for consumption, iron and steel provide inputs for other production. Construction, transport and machinery make the connections that explain heavy industry's strategic importance. The industrial town developing around Karabük also illustrates effects extending beyond the factory fence. Housing, workforce movement and urban services became needs associated with production. Ending the economic narrative abruptly in 1938 conceals how investments begun under Atatürk continued to shape the Republic afterwards.

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08

Factories created working lives and urban landscapes

Early Republican factories also left a legacy of technical learning and social facilities. Workers' housing, health provision, and sporting or cultural activity formed parts of some major industrial campuses. Kâğıtspor, established in İzmit in 1937, offers a concrete connection between a production community and organised sport. Understanding these places requires workers learning skills, maintenance teams keeping equipment running and suppliers' contributions to appear alongside management decisions. A factory was not only a symbol directed from the capital; it was an organisation sustained by everyday work.

For a historical journey, treat Kayseri, Nazilli, Bursa, İzmit and Karabük as different questions rather than interchangeable stops. Follow cotton processing in Kayseri, printing and the factory-town relationship in Nazilli, wool in Bursa, paper and technical memory in İzmit, and heavy industry in Karabük. Check present-day museum and site access separately before visiting. The 2017 photograph of the SEKA museum on this page is clearly modern museum context. It is not presented as a photograph of production or an opening ceremony in the 1930s.

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Read the turning points together

  1. 1926

    Sugar factories enter production

    Alpullu started on 26 November and Uşak on 17 December. Local initiative and agricultural raw materials were important early components of industrial development.

  2. 1933

    Sümerbank is established

    Legislation on 3 June was followed by the start of operation on 11 July, joining industrial financing with the management of enterprises.

  3. 1934–1935

    Kayseri and Paşabahçe

    Kayseri's 1934 foundation led to its opening on 16 September 1935. Initial glass production at Paşabahçe took place on 4 July 1935.

  4. 1936

    Paper manufacture in İzmit

    Following technical preparation involving Mehmed Ali Kâğıtçı, the large-scale paper factory entered production.

  5. 1937

    Nazilli opens; Karabük's foundation is laid

    Karabük's groundbreaking was on 3 April, while Nazilli opened on 9 October. The two dates represent different stages of industrial investment.

  6. 1938

    Merinos opens

    The woollen factory inaugurated in Bursa on 2 February represented a raw-material and technical chain distinct from cotton textiles.

  7. 1939

    The first iron at Karabük

    Firing the furnace on 9 September was followed by the first iron on 10 September. The investment begun under Atatürk reached production after his death.

Explore the archive and documentary context

Salt Online · Zafer Toprak

Economy and society in the early Republic, 1923–1946

Historian Zafer Toprak's lecture at Salt Galata on 9 May 2023 places post-war economic development alongside social change. This is a retrospective lecture, not archival footage of factory openings.

Choosing to load the player connects to YouTube and shares technical data such as your IP address with Google. Autoplay is off. This choice does not change your cookie preferences. The publisher may restrict regional access or embedding; the official link below provides an alternative.

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Questions and historical distinctions

Did Atatürk personally establish every factory?

Atatürk was the president shaping the economic direction and attending some openings. Parliamentary laws, government decisions, banks' financing, overseas technical cooperation and workers' contributions had distinct roles. Explaining every plant as the result of a single personal instruction removes the institutions and people who made it operate.

Did the industrial plan nationalise the whole economy?

No. It focused on selected industrial investments; private enterprise, agriculture and commerce continued. İş Bankası's role in glass production was institutionally different from Sümerbank's textile operations. Growing public investment did not mean all economic activity was placed inside one state organisation.

Why is Karabük associated with the Atatürk period?

Because its foundation was laid in 1937 during his presidency. The first iron was produced in 1939. Dating the decision and preparations is different from dating completed production. Keeping both stages visible credits policy under Atatürk and subsequent implementation without moving later achievements backwards in time.

How can these factories' histories be explored today?

Consider industrial museum machinery, surviving campuses and institutional archives together. Ask separately about materials, energy, transport, technical learning and workers' everyday lives. An opening date or building photograph alone cannot explain what a factory produced or how it changed its surroundings.

Cumhuriyet Atlas

Continue the story here

17 February 1925—1937

Agriculture: tax, science, farms and cooperatives

Abolition of the tithe, model farms, scientific education, seed and animal breeding, and the search for credit.

Explore →
26 August 1924—1938

National banks, credit and monetary sovereignty

The distinct roles of İş Bankası, the Central Bank, Sümerbank, Etibank, Halkbank and a reorganized Ziraat Bankası.

Explore →
17 February—4 March 1923

The İzmir Economic Congress and economic sovereignty

Farmers, merchants, industrialists and workers debated the new state’s economic aims while Lausanne negotiations continued.

Explore →

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Documents and sources15 sources

Official reference points used to verify the chronology and interpretive frame on this page.

  1. Sümerbank ↗ATATÜRK ANSİKLOPEDİSİ

    The industrial bank founded in 1933, its factories and social campuses.

  2. Etibank ↗ATATÜRK ANSİKLOPEDİSİ

    The bank founded in 1935 to finance mining and energy investment.

  3. Atatürk’s economic policy ↗ATATÜRK ANSİKLOPEDİSİ

    The balance among economic sovereignty, private enterprise, public investment and planning.

  4. Timeline of paper industry in İzmit ↗SEKA Kâğıt Müzesi

    Primary institutional record for production, education and institutional dates.

  5. The foundation of the Merinos factory ↗Merinos Atatürk Kongre ve Kültür Merkezi

    Primary institutional record for production, education and institutional dates.

  6. Karabük: groundbreaking and first production dates ↗Kardemir

    Primary institutional record for production, education and institutional dates.

  7. From Etibank to Eti Maden ↗Eti Maden

    Reference for founding dates, institutional functions and period context.

  8. MTA · Tandoğan Engin ve Yusuf Ziya Özkan: Maden arama tarihçesi, 1935–2002 ↗bulten.mta.gov.tr
  9. Sümer Holding · Kuruluş ve tarihçe ↗sumerholding.gov.tr
  10. Atatürk Ansiklopedisi · Kayseri Sümerbank Mensucat Fabrikası ↗ataturkansiklopedisi.gov.tr
  11. Türkşeker · Türkiye'de şeker sanayisinin kuruluşu ↗www.turkseker.gov.tr
  12. Bursa Müzeleri · Merinos Tekstil Sanayi Müzesi ↗www.bursamuze.com
  13. Şişecam · İlerlememizin 90 yılı ↗www.sisecam.com
  14. Kardemir · Kurumsal tanıtım ve kuruluş kronolojisi ↗www.kardemir.com
  15. Salt · Zafer Toprak'ın erken Cumhuriyet ekonomisi konuşması ↗saltonline.org