Osmanli'dan Günümüze Türkiye'de Bisiklet Sporu Cycling In Turkey From Ottomans To Our Day

The bicycle invented in Europe at the beginning of 19th century was a vehicle which was used by elites at first, then it was used for sporting purposes. After the bicycle started to become widespread, it was brought to Ottoman Empire by Levantines and at first it was used postal service, police organization and army. The news about the bicycle was firstly announced by Tarik News in Ottoman Empire in 1885. An American called Mosyo Tomas Istefanis came to Istanbul by his bicycle, then reached Ankara via Izmit in 5 days, and from there he reached to Sivas via Yozgat. A text about using bicycle in army in a Europe newspaper was presented to sultan in 1894. As time went by, bicycles increased in number in Istanbul. While one of the bicycles was offered to palace, municipality of Istanbul took precautions for regulation of using bicycle. The number of people who wandered by a bicycle at Beyoglu in Istanbul increased, so the municipality invoked Ministry of the Interior to be banned the wanderings at Beyoglu, except Taksim-Şisli Road. A bicycle contest from Vienna to Istanbul was planned to be done by an attempt of bicycle associations in Vienna but this contest couldn’t be implemented. At the end of 19th century, on Ottoman lands except capital Istanbul the cities where bicycles were commonly used were Izmir and Selanik. In the Ottoman period, the first bicycle contests were arranged at a wooden grandstand velodrome in Selanik in 1897. Levantine families in Izmir were initiators of bringing cycling to the city. They were also the initiators of bringing other changes in Western to the country. The first bicycle contest was done in Izmir on May 15th, 1895. Bicycle contests took place, too at games arranged by Rum (greek who hold Turkish citizenship) clubs in Izmir since 1900. It is seen that bicycle and athleticism competitions were arranged regularly by clubs established by Levantines. The first bicycle competition in Istanbul was arranged on August 18th, 1895. This competition in Tarabya was arranged in 5 different tracks but any Turks didn’t join the competition. Sellers who imported bicycles to the country started to introduce the bicycles.