Leon Trotsky’s Exile on Büyükada

Arrival in Turkey: Banishment from the Soviet Union

In January 1929, the long factional struggle within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union culminated in Joseph Stalin ordering the definitive expulsion of his fiercest rival. Co-founder of the Bolshevik state, former People's Commissar for Military Affairs, and organizer of the Red Army, Leon Trotsky was forced onto the Soviet steamer Ilyich in Odessa and exiled to Turkey.

The young Turkish Republic, governed by President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, granted Trotsky political asylum on the condition that he refrain from public political demonstrations on Turkish soil. Arriving in Istanbul on February 12, 1929, Trotsky initially checked into the Soviet Consulate and later the Tokatlıyan Hotel in Beyoğlu. However, seeking security from Soviet GPU assassins and privacy from aggressive international journalists, Turkish security officials recommended relocating him to Büyükada.

Trotsky and his loyal wife, Natalia Sedova, initially took suites at the Splendid Palace Hotel in March 1929 before leasing a private, walled compound at Hamlacı Sokak No. 4, known as the Yanaros Mansion (*Yanaros Köşkü*).

Life Inside the Yanaros Fortress

The Yanaros estate was a handsome multi-story residence constructed of red brick and timber, set within three tiers of walled gardens that cascaded directly down to a private stone boat jetty on the Marmara Sea. Because no motor cars existed on the island, the compound was remarkably secure.

Turkish plainclothes police (*Emniyet*) guarded the upper gates on Hamlacı Sokak around the clock, while armed young European volunteers—adherents of Trotsky’s political movement from France, Germany, and the United States—served as bodyguards, translators, and typists.

Trotsky adhered to an iron daily discipline:

• Dawn Writing Sessions: Rising at 06:00 AM, Trotsky spent 6 to 8 hours pacing his sea-view study, dictating essays, articles, and historical chapters to relays of stenographers in Russian, French, and German.
• The Marmara Fisherman: In the afternoons, Trotsky escaped political tension by boarding an open wooden rowboat with a local Greek island fisherman named Charalambos. Together, they spent hours laying submerged nets, catching mackerel, sea bass, and bonito across the coastal waters of Heybeliada and Sedef Island. Trotsky famously wrote in his diary that fishing in the clear waters of Prinkipo restored his mental equilibrium.

A Monumental Literary Output

Despite personal tragedy—including the suicide of his daughter Zinaida in Berlin and intense political isolation—Trotsky’s four years on Büyükada were among the most prolific intellectual periods of his life.

Within the quiet study of Hamlacı Sokak, Trotsky completed:

1. My Life (Moya Zhizn, 1930): His sweeping autobiography detailing his revolutionary youth, Tsarist exiles to Siberia, the 1917 Petrograd Soviet, and his final falling out with Stalin.
2. The History of the Russian Revolution (1932): A monumental three-volume historical masterwork, widely acclaimed across international historiography for its literary power, detailed archival documentation, and Marxist socioeconomic analysis.
3. The Bulletin of the Opposition: Regular political treatises analyzing the rise of Adolf Hitler in Weimar Germany, presciently warning that Stalin’s refusal to form a united front with German social democrats would pave the way for Nazi dictatorship.

The 1931 Fire & Final Departure

On the night of March 1, 1931, a mysterious fire broke out in the upper floors of the Yanaros Mansion. While Trotsky, Natalia, and his staff escaped unhurt, significant portions of his extensive personal archives, correspondence, and rare books were incinerated. Following the fire, the family temporarily resided at the nearby Izzet Paşa Mansion on Çankaya Caddesi while repairs were attempted.

In July 1933, having finally secured a temporary visa to France from the Daladier government, Trotsky boarded the Italian steamer SS Bulgaria in Istanbul harbor, bidding farewell to Turkey. He famously inscribed in his travel notebook:

Trotsky would eventually journey from France to Norway, and finally to Coyoacán, Mexico, where he was assassinated by Stalinist agent Ramón Mercader in August 1940.

Visiting the Trotsky Mansion (2026 Advice)

Today, the Yanaros Mansion remains in private hands and has never been converted into a public museum, despite periodic proposals by Istanbul cultural heritage foundations. The central brick masonry core and surrounding stone perimeter walls remain intact, though roof timbers and interior wooden floors have collapsed due to decades of exposure.

How to Find the Estate:

• Walk south from the Clock Tower along Çankaya Caddesi for approximately 1.2 kilometers (15 minutes).
• Turn right onto Hamlacı Sokak, a quiet, cobblestone residential lane leading gently toward the sea.
• At No. 4, the large wrought-iron entrance gates mark the historic estate. You can view the sprawling stone facade, arched windows, and overgrown gardens from the public street.
• Walk to the bottom of the lane where it meets the coastal path to view the private stone boat jetty from which Trotsky launched his fishing dinghy onto the Marmara.