The Touring and Automobile Club of Turkey () (TTOK), also known as Turkish Automobile Association, is an amateur and international organization dedicated to tourism and the automobile sector. It was founded in 1923 at the behest of

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

by a group of intellectuals led by Reşit Saffet Atabinen, a diplomat at the time and a historian. The club is a member of

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; ) is an international organisation with two primary functions surrounding use of the automobile. Its mobility division advocacy, advocates the interests of motoring organisations, the automot ...

(FIA) and

Alliance Internationale de Tourisme An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are call ...

(AIT).

History

The association was established right after the proclamation of the Republic as "Turkish Travel Association" (). It was renamed later to "Touring Club Turc" (). In 1930, the association received the legal status of a non-profit organization, and gained rights with regard to customs and traffic laws. The club, working for many years in the beginning as a governmental agency, served in the fields of tourism, culture and technical issues. Highly needed materials for tourism such as prospectuses, posters, tourist guides and road maps in the early period of the newly founded republic were prepared and published by the association. Furthermore, it established and organized the first language courses, tourist guide exams, tourism congresses and conferences. The association, located in an office at

Galata Galata is the former name of the Karaköy neighbourhood in Istanbul, which is located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn. The district is connected to the historic Fatih district by several bridges that cross the Golden Horn, most nota ...

, Istanbul with two rooms only and with two employees, had the assistance of a small number of volunteers with wide travelling experience. Despite its limited personal and financial resources, it achieved remarkable success. An important event in the history of the club was the hosting of a meeting of the International Touring Alliance (AIT), the club became a member of shortly. For this purpose, Atatürk ordered the formally opening of

Dolmabahçe Palace Dolmabahçe Palace ( ) is a 19th-century imperial palace located in Istanbul, Turkey, along the European shore of the Bosporus, which served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1887 and from 1909 to 1922. Histor ...

to public for the first time since the abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate. He announced to the Istanbul press that the Touring Club Association will be under his personal protection. In order to keep up with increasing requirements following the economic developments at home and abroad during the 1950s, the association moved its office to another places and expanded its workforce step by step. In 1971, the club signed an agreement with the Ministry of Customs and Finance to charge commission for temporary import license at the border that was granted to abroad living Turkish people, who came to Turkey by car. This fee was fifty percent less than that was charged by the European associations. This income secured the club's financial source for projected activities. Following the signing of an agreement with the Municipality of Istanbul in 1979, the club started, under the leadership of

Çelik Gülersoy Çelik Gülersoy (September 23, 1930 in Hakkâri – July 6, 2003 in Istanbul) was a Turkish lawyer, historical preservationist, writer and poet. He is best remembered for the heritage conservation works he carried out on historical sites during h ...

, a comprehensive cultural and touristic restoration project. Many historical buildings and palace parks were renovated and opened to public use as recreational venues, among them

Chora Church The Chora Church or Kariye Mosque () is a Byzantine architecture, Byzantine church, now converted to a mosque (for the second time), in the Edirnekapı, Istanbul, Edirnekapı neighborhood of Fatih district, Istanbul, Turkey. It is famous for ...

environs (1977),

Çamlıca Hill Çamlıca Hill () (), aka Big Çamlıca Hill () to differentiate it from the nearby Little Çamlıca Hill (), is a hill in the Üsküdar district of the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey. At above sea level, Çamlıca Hill offers a panoramic view o ...

(1980),

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

and Çadır pavilions within

Yıldız Park Yıldız Park () is a historical, urban park in Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is one of the largest public parks in Istanbul. The park is located in Yıldız, Beşiktaş, Yıldız quarter between the palaces of Yıldız Palace, Yı ...

(1982),

Yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...

Pink Pink is a pale tint of red, the color of the Dianthus plumarius, pink flower. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, p ...

and

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

pavilions within

Emirgan Park Emirgan Park ( or rarely ''Emirgan Parkı'') is a historical urban park located in the Emirgan neighbourhood in the Sarıyer district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the European coast of the Bosphorus. It is one of the largest public parks in Istanbul. ...

(1979–1983),

Hotel Yeşil Ev The Hagia Sofia Mansions Istanbul, Curio Collection by Hilton, previously known as Hotel Yeşil Ev, (literally: Hotel Green House) is a historic wooden mansion, located in the Sultanahmet, Fatih, Sultanahmet neighborhood of Istanbul, Turkey, whic ...

(1984),

Khedive Palace The Khedive's Palace (, "Khedive Palace"), also known as Çubuklu Palace (''Çubuklu Sarayı''), is located on the Asian side of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, and was once the residence of Khedive Abbas II of Egypt and Sudan. In English it ...

(1984) and Soğukçeşme Street (1985–1986) The obligation to take a temporary import document from customs was lifted in 1990 resulting in a great income loss for the club. Finally in 1994, another source of its finance diminished as the administration of historical recreational venues ended when the city's municipality concluded not to renew the lease contract regarding the parks and pavilions in them. The club tried to overcome the financial difficulties by selling its properties one by one it owned from 1974 on.

International documents provided

The Touring and Automobile Club of Turkey is authorized to provide following documents, which are recognized internationally: *Temporary entrance card from customs * International driving license *International vehicle document * International traffic insurance (Green card) *Temporary entrance card for foreign vehicles (Blue card)

Notable people

Following persons played a major role in the history of the club. Figures enclosed in parentheses are service years: *Reşit Saffet Atabinen, founder and president (1923–1965) *Said N.Duhani, manager (1950s-1966) *

, clerk (1947–1957), assistant manager (1957–1961), legal consultant (1961–1965), general manager (1965–2003) *Dr. Uğur İbrahimhakkıoğlu, Vice President ( -2006), ex- president (2006–2010) *Dr. Bülent Katkak. Current President. Has been exerting all his efforts since he took power doing fabulous jobs for the community, organizing social benefit events.

References

External links

Home page
{{Authority control Automobile associations Sports organizations established in 1923

Auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

Touring and Automobile Club Non-profit organizations based in Turkey Tourism in Turkey