Nuri Demirağ

Nuri Demirağ
Nuri Demirağ

Nuri Demirağ (born 1886 in Divriği – died 1957 in Istanbul) was an early Turkish industrialist. He was one of the first millionaires of the Turkish Republic. His first innovation was the production of cigarette paper. Demirağ then invested his capital in the development of the Turkish railway network. Because of this investment, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gave him the surname Demirağ, which translates as "Network of iron".

In 1936 he started his own aircraft factory at Beşiktaş, Istanbul (later nationalized by the government and now occupied by the Istanbul Naval Museum). Approximately 500 employees worked there to complete the very first Turkish aeroplane. Demirağ tried to sell the Nu D.36 to Turkey as well as to countries such as Egypt, Iran, Iraq, the Netherlands and Spain. The construction of another aircraft, the Nu D.38, followed the first one.

In 1946 he founded the first opposition party, which was named Milli Kalkınma Partisi (National Development Party), but his party suffered an eclipse by the Demokrat Parti (Democratic Party) and was dissolved in 1958. He was elected deputy of Sivas for the Democratic Party as an independent candidate in 1954.

As a result of government interference, Demirağ donated his aircraft to his flying school (Gök Okulu) in Yeşilköy, created to interest young Turks in aircraft technology. The land upon which the school was built was later nationalized by the Turkish government and is now the Atatürk International Airport.

Demirağ died in 1957 from diabetes.

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