World War I

World War I enters the account as the setting for the Merhamet Apartments’ founder’s profitable control of the black market in sugar, a past later set against his philanthropic intentions and the building’s name, meaning mercy.

Wartime Background

The wealthy old man who built the Merhamet Apartments had controlled the black market in sugar during World War I. The account gives no further detail about his wartime business, but makes that activity the starting point for the building’s family history.

From Profit to Philanthropy

After the war, the builder felt compelled to engage in philanthropy. He planned to give the apartment building to a charity, which would distribute its income to the poor. His sons responded by having him declared incompetent and placed in a home for the indigent; they then took possession of the building themselves.

The War’s Narrative Significance

The episode links wartime profiteering to a later, thwarted act of giving. The building kept the name Merhamet, or mercy, even after the sons seized it, preserving an ironic contrast between its charitable name and the conduct of those who controlled it. The story also explains why the name struck Kemal as peculiar in childhood: its history joined public virtue, private wealth, and family conflict.