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Spring
2014 5
they finally agreed.
By now it was 1908. The Ottoman Empire
was stirring uncontrollably. Asia Minor was
on the point of major changes. The auto-
cratic regime was facing many gripes mostly
from young Turks who ached to see more
liberal policies in their government. The end
result was a revolt headed by Enver Pasha.
The Young Turks assumed power, restored
the defunct 1876 constitution (which under
Abdulhamid II guaranteed freedom of religion
and the press) and installed Mehmed V on
the throne.
Indeed, the public were astonished the next
day when newspapers declared strange terms
such as ‘freedom’,‘nation’ and ‘parliament’.
Under the slogan of “huriet” (liberty), all
barriers of race, community and religion had
seemingly melted away. It was a period of
both social and economic liberalism. Women
even began to appear unveiled in public.
At that moment, however, MacLachlan
was preoccupied in this rather self-imposed
project of Meles street. A month had barely
past when workmen threw down their picks
and shovels.
“It was a time of wild rejoicing,” wrote
MacLahlan in his diary.
Unfortunately, property owners translated
‘huriet” as being absolved from paying for
the renovation of Meles street and it would
be another eight months before MacLachlan
convinced them that they still had to bear up
to their responsibilities.
“In due course the work was completed
and again Meles street became the finest
street in the whole city of Smyrna,” he wrote
proudly.
For IC, the 1908 Turkish revolt meant that
Muslims could now freely attend the school.
Turkish students began to flock to the school.
(Indeed, by 1914 they represented a quarter
of the students).
With the influx of Turkish students rapidly
increasing the already large and growing
student population, the school was practically
bursting at the seams. MacLachlan had to
rent additional properties on the opposite side
of Meles street. Eventually, however, there
were no more properties to rent. Unable to
accommodate any more boarders inside the
school, a large number of students boarded
in restaurants and lodging houses “expos-
ing them to dangers and temptations of the
city,” wrote MacLachlan in the 1908 Annual
Report of the school. “We must emphasize
the imperative necessity of providing addi-
tional accommodations at the earliest possible
dates.”
The Protestant Minister began to envision
a bigger campus. Perhaps on a land a bit fur-
ther away. Somewhere where he could finally
live out his dream: a large campus with ample
playing fields, a large gym area, theatre, and
perhaps even a farm where students can
learn agriculture and tend to animals.
He began to get excited about his idea. By
now, he knew quite well that where there’s a
will then there’s a way. Unbeknown to him,
it was an idea that would ultimately save IC
from being completely destroyed only 12
years later.
To be continued….
Historical information based on: an interview
with Dr. Howard Reed (summer 2011); Pot-
pourri of Sidelights and Shadows from Turkey,
by Alexander MacLachlan, 1937, the 5th An-
nual Report of the International College (June
30th 1908), Between the Great IDEA and
Kemalism: The YMCA at Izmir in the 1920s by
Samuel David Lenser (Master thesis for Boise
State University)
Smyrna
(Part VII)
IC students pose on or near Meles Street