Florya Beach and İnönü
Home to a seaside mansion built for Atatürk in 1935, Florya was a popular summer resort, where the İnönü family also frequented. According to different accounts, İsmet İnönü learned to swim because of Atatürk.
When Atatürk was swimming in Florya one day, Prime Minister İsmet İnönü showed up. Atatürk shouted, “İsmet, come! Come, so we can have a race.” İsmet İnönü opened his arms and said, “My dear Pasha, I don’t know how to swim!” Atatürk then replied, “You have one week to learn. We will race next week.”
Following this conversation, a helpless İsmet Pasha found Ulvi Tekta?, a teacher at the Naval Academy in Heybeliada and asked him to quickly teach him how to swim. The two men sailed out to see to a deep spot between Heybeliada and Ka??kadas?. Ulvi Teke? jumped in the water and called to İsmet İnönü, “It’s your turn to dive!”
“How will I dive?”
“Feet first!”
Thus made İsmet İnönü the first one of his famous feet-first dives. As he floundered to the surface, he found himself in the arms of the officer. İnönü learned to swim in a matter of a few days and headed to Florya the next week.
