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Never another city received more compliments from Ata­turk than Yalova. During one of his visits, he was quoted as saying " Yalova has become more beautiful than ever since my last visit" and in another "Yalova has the potential to become the water city of the future". And ultimately the statement "Yalova is my own city" also belongs to him.

Ataturk's interest in Yalova started during the period of National Resistance. Ataturk was the first to send a cong­ratulating telegram with the message "Pioneer for salvati­on" for the salvation of Yalova that changed hands several times at the time. A notice he saw in the August of 1929 initiated his first visit to Yalova. Soon after his visit, Yalova was made a town town and connected to Istanbul. Having witnessed and discovered the promising potential and its natural beauties, Ataturk made every effort for the deve­lopment of Yalova.

When Ataturk visited here, though it was famous for its thermal springs, Yalova was also inundated with swamps. Soon after his arrival, he had some actions taken in order to reform those swamps and prevent the malaria and typ­hus caused by them. Alt those efforts met with instant suc­cess. For a second time, the territorial route from coast of Yalova all the way to the thermal springs were ordered by Ataturk to be built by Governorship of Istanbul in a very short span of time.

After Ataturk saw and was filled with admiration for Yalo­va, he had some villas built here. The organisation of sett­lement started with getting the ruined buildings rebuilt; the inappropriately situated villages were moved to more appropriate places and the whole city was lit up. Ataturk had a telegraph house built and ordered new schools to be built. Some more powerful ships were purchased for the maritime lines for regular marine transportation. 

Ataturk tried his best to make Termal a worldwide known spa. He had plane trees planted on the both sides of the way on route to Termal. The same process of tree planting was carried out on the side of many new streets in the city. Many of the farms that still exist today were then ordered to be set up by Ataturk and then-existing ones were tech­nologically renovated and improved.

Ataturk also took some of the most critical decision that played a significant role in the history of the new Republic here in Yalova. He announced his plans of transition for multi party democracy to Ali Fethi Bey, who was in Turkey for his summer holiday, for the first time here in Yalova. Af­ter Ali Fethi Bey completed his preparations for the foun­dation of the first political party Serbest Cumhuriyet Firka (Free Republican Party], he founded the party on the 12th of August 1930. Similarly, after their initial preparations in Yalova, Turkish History Association (1931) and Research of Turkish Language Association were founded. In addition, before taking some important decisions and participating crucial meeting, Ataturk took a rest and made his prepa­rations here in Yalova.

The Veteran Ataturk's visits to Yalova were always a big event for the city and celebrated like a festival. The local people would gather at the port long before Ataturk arri­ved by Ertugrul yatch. And at the time of depature, peop­le again would give a heart-rending farewell to Ataturk. When he had the time, Ataturk would want to see every part of Yalova, visit the local people at their homes, con­verse with them and help those with hardship to solve the­ir housing problems. Ataturk also helped for the education of children of impoverished families that he met during his village visits.

Ataturk, who spent most of his valuable time in Yatova af­ter Istanbul and Ankara, also prefered to welcome some of his important national and international guests here in Yalova. During the time period that Ataturk spent here, Yalova became one of the administrative centers of the young Republic.

The last time Ataturk visited Yalova again conincided with a developmental event. He was the very first quest of Ter-mal Hotel, which he got renovated in order to turn it into a health spa complex. The date of the last visit was 22m of January 1938. He stayed at the Termal Hotel until 1st of February 1938. This is also the date when Ataturk left Yalova for the last time.

After Ataturk's death, Yalova continued to prosper and de­velop in the direction that he pointed out. All the public im­provements continued where he left off. As the city beca­me more attractive, its population also increased. The city became active again both economically and commercially. Industrial investments of various sizes were made in the city. The beauty of its nature, beaches and coastal line has attracted hundareds of thousands of visitors into the city. As a natural result of this developmental tendency, Yalova was legally upgraded from the status of a town to a city. The city has been negatively affected by the earthquake on the 17th of August, 1999. Today, Yalova has managed to re­cover from the negative impact of the 1999 erthquake and started to return to its former days of grandeur.