Köpriyet: Republican Heritage Bridges of Turkey deals with bridges and the construction industry of Turkey during the foundation of the Republic between 1923 and 1940. This book provides a brief summary of the bridge history of the country, but the main focus is on the Early Republic Era. During this period, the bridge-building technique was reborn in a country undergoing a radical transformation. Turkey changed its ruling, secularized and changed its alphabet.
In addition to detailed descriptions of bridges built during this period and of leading innovative engineers, this book provides a first documented overview of heritage bridges in Turkey, focusing on applied techniques known worldwide. Many bridges are documented for the first time in this book, and most of them are heritage bridges and provide significant value in terms of bridge-building technology and application of worldwide techniques. In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, engineering projects in Turkey were often carried out through "privileges" by foreign companies. The technical personnel were also financed with foreign resources. With the new Republic, Turkey experienced a renaissance in many areas, including technology. This transition from technology import to development and use of local resources is described in detail.
Köpriyet: Republican Heritage Bridges of Turkey provides a wealth of information and documentation on bridges in Turkey from an important era, and aims at those interested in bridge structures and structural engineering history.
Biography
Hulya Sonmez Schaap was born in Turkey, completed her masters at the Middle East Technical University and then worked in that country for 15 years as an engineer. She then migrated to Australia to work there for eight years and then moved to Qatar for work. She has always worked as a bridge engineer, designing, reviewing and strengthening bridges. She is a fellow member of Engineering Australia for which she has been active as secretary of the Qatar Chapter of Engineers Australia through volunteering. Since 1998, she has taken an interest in heritage bridges in Turkey and has visited, photographed and investigated more than 150 of them in Turkey. Her interest has since extended globally, and she has visited more than 50 significant bridges worldwide. She publishes her work and findings about bridges in the following blogs: kantaratlas.blogspot.com and kopriyet.blogspot.com for bridges in Turkey and soon kuranyakuna.blogspot.com for Australia.
