Yapımına 1952 yılında başlanan ve Mayıs 1960’da hizmete giren Tortum Hidroelektrik Santrali, Erzurumluların çok uzun zamandan beri hayata geçmesini bekledikleri bir projeydi. Bu uzun bekleyişe rağmen projenin ihalesinin ardından yapım ve hizmete girme aşaması da planlanandan uzun sürmüş ve yoğun gayretler sonucu gerçekleşebilmişti. Bu makalede 1960 yılına kadar geçen sürede Erzurum’un elektrik sorunu ve bu sorunun giderilmesine yönelik çalışmalar ile Erzurum’un elektrik meselesine kesin çözüm olarak gösterilen Tortum Hidroelektrik Santrali’nin yapım ve hizmete giriş süreci ele alınmıştır. 1951 yılında Bakanlar Kurulu onayından sonra, inşaat ile makine ve teçhizat ihaleleri yapılan Santralin 1956 yılı itibariyle bitirilmesi planlanmış ise de yaşanan aksaklıklardan dolayı ancak 1960 yılında tamamlanabilmiştir. Santralden 1960 Mayıs ayı itibariyle de elektrik üretimine geçilerek şehre elektrik verilmeye başlanmıştır. 1972 yılına kadar Erzurum Belediyesinin işletmesinde kalan santral, aynı yıl içerisinde Enerji ve Tabi Kaynaklar Bakanlığına bağlı olan TEK’e devredilmiştir.

Ankara, which is one of the important cities of the Ottoman Empire, has succeeded to become an important actor in the angora goat breeding thanks to its geographical location and favorable climate. The development of a trade based on angora wool and mohairs produced in this way made the city an important commercial center, which attracted the attention of Europeans since the 16th century. Ankara, which was the center of an intense mohair yarn and angora wool trade from the 16th to the 18th centuries, was the meeting point of many foreign merchant groups as well as local merchants. Safety of these merchants and their goods, who were primarily from Venice, France, the Netherlands and England, who took the threads and mohairs they collected from the city and shipped to Izmir and then to Europe, were secured by ahdnamas and state facilities. However, despite this, they were subjected to lawlessness from time to time by some people from both the public and the military sector, especially to prevent their commercial activities and earnings. They seek for a solution in this situation by applying to Istanbul through their ambassadors. However, it has been observed that some of these merchant communities, which tried to eliminate the lawlessness against them with the rights specified in the ahdnamas and the Ottoman laws, sometimes turned to some lawlessness especially in the tax-related parts of their commercial activities. In this regard, the issues mentioned in this research were studied by exemplifying the documents of the archive resources of the period and were also supported by direct and indirect studies on the subject.