Today in History – 12 February

Trotsky settles in İstanbul

Losing his power struggle against Stalin following Lenin’s death in 1924, Leon Trotsky was first isolated from the party and exiled to Kazakhstan and next arrived in Turkey on February 12, 1929, seeking political asylum. Settling off the coast of İstanbul, Trotsky lived in Büyükada (Prince’s Island) with his daughter and grandchildren until 1932. However, when he was denaturalized by the Soviet government on February 20, 1932, his status as a political asylum seeker was threatened.

Although the Turkish government continued to provide him security, the development of Turkish-Russian relations and Prime Minister İsmet İnönü’s visit to the Soviet Union on April 25, 1932 unsettled Trotsky. He next traveled to France in early 1933, followed by Norway, and finally Mexico in 1937. He was assassinated by Stalinist agent Ramón Mercader while he was still living in Mexico.

Trotsky’s was rather prolific during the years he spent in Büyükada; works including The Revolution Betrayed, The Stalin Group of Falsification, History of the Russian Revolution, Problems of the Chinese Revolution, and My Life were first shaped there. Trotsky had also bought a boat. He would spend most of his free time fishing with Greek fisherman Haralambos. When his residence Arap İzzet Pasha Yalı burned down, he temporarily sojourned in Moda, but his longing for Büyükada brought Trotsky back to the Yanaros Pavilion on the island.