ATATÜRK OPENED THE MERINOS FACTORY

The opening ceremony of the Merinos Factory was held with the participation of tens of thousands of people today. The people had taken to the roads early and continued to flow towards the factory like a flood. The area around the factory had become impassable with crowds of people in the afternoon. Provincial officials, commanders, party, municipality, community center, Sümerbank officials, Chamber of Commerce, bank managers, all the manufacturers and traders in our city, military continents, schoolchildren and enormous crowds of people were present.

Atatürk's arrival, at exactly 16 o'clock, the Great Leader honored the Merinos factory, accompanied by the Deputy Prime Minister, Internal Affairs, Public Works and Economy Deputies, and among the people's heartfelt cheers. The people who filled the squares shouted, "Exist, live Atatürk!" he shouted, scattering over the horizons of Bursa in this hum. Here, Governor Şefik Soyer welcomed Atatürk. At the big gate of the Atatürk factory, they got out of their cars and went straight to the rest room of the factory. Here they rested for a while. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister and the other Deputies went out to the balcony and listened to the beautiful speech of Bursa Mayor Neşet Kiper, which translated the feelings of the people of Bursa, and then the Prime Minister Celál Bayar delivered a very exciting speech with an increasing voice. Atatürk opens the factory With constant applause, "

"Good luck," he said.

Atatürk entered the factory from here, inspected all the apartments one by one, and got an explanation from the factory manager, Ömer. They visited the merino yarn exhibition prepared at the Badehu factory. Here they examined the threads and the fabrics made from these threads. After that, they signed the book prepared in a special office of the factory.

While Atatürk was leaving the factory, they talked to the merino breeders who were next to the door, and they saw half-blood merinos raised on farms here and got explanations from the people involved. Meanwhile, while a schoolgirl named Mukaddes was trying to get a picture by getting close to Atatürk with her camera in hand, Atatürk shook the hand of the schoolgirl and first asked whose daughter she was. Mukaddes said that he could not respond immediately because of the excitement he felt for seeing his Great Ancestor soon.

Sümerbank Merinos Wool Industry Weaving Factory was established as a 'wool textile inputs factory' within the framework of Turkey's first industrialization initiatives. Famous businessman and entrepreneur Nuri Demirağ undertook the construction of the factory, the foundation of which was laid on November 28, 1935 by the then Prime Minister İsmet İnönü and Deputy Minister of Economy Celal Bayar. The opening of the Merinos Factory, which was completed in about two years, was made by President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on February 2, 1938, during his 17th visit to Bursa.

President Atatürk, after receiving the golden key of the factory presented to him by Sümerbank General Manager Nurullah Esat Sümer, made investigations inside the factory and then wrote his feelings on the first pages of the honor book as follows:

“The Sümer Bank Merino Factory will increase national joy as a very valuable work. This work will help the industrial development (development) of the country, especially the Bursa region, and to meet the great national need. I congratulate the Ministry of Economy on the achievement of the work. I would like to thank Sümer Bank Directorate and wish success to its director in the high knowledge and fully organized administration as I have seen the factory.” K. Ataturk