Pembe Köşk (İsmet İnönü Evi)

About Pembe Köşk (İsmet İnönü Evi)

Pembe Köşk, the Pink Mansion, is the house in Çankaya where İsmet İnönü, Turkey's second president, lived for 48 years. It takes its name from its pastel pink facade and stands opposite Seğmenler Parkı. İsmet Paşa bought it as a small vineyard house on 10 September 1923, weeks before Ankara became the capital on 13 October and the Republic was proclaimed on 29 October 1923, and he lived here with his family from 1925. The İnönü Foundation, which looks after the house, describes how the vineyard house became the Pembe Köşk of a Republican family; after Ankara became the capital, the house was the setting for many new developments in Turkey's social and cultural life. The İnönü Foundation has arranged the house as a museum home. Inside are belongings of the İnönü family, including medals, and the foundation's exhibitions tell the family's story through its memories. It is a semi-museum rather than a museum open all year: it opens to visitors around the national holidays, usually for about a month at a time around 23 April and 29 October. In 2021, for example, it opened every day from 28 October to 30 November, 10:00-12:00 and 13:00-17:00, with visitors admitted in small groups. Check the İnönü Foundation's announcements before going.