The first article in this first issue of the magazine is entitled "The Program of the Magazine" and is signed by the "Directorate of Collections and Statistics" (Considering that Osman Nuri Ergin was the director of Collections and Statistics in this period, it can be deemed that this article was written by him). It is stated here that even though great progress has been made in Istanbul Municipality since the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Monarchy on July 23, 1908, it has not been successful in publishing a municipal magazine. It is emphasized that there is no municipal administration in the West that does not have a magazine, and that many administrations and ministries made such publications even before the Second Constitutional Monarchy. The shortcomings of the Istanbul Municipality in this field could only be remedied in 1924.

As stated in the article, such a decree was issued during the reign of Şehremini Cemil Pasha in 1329/1913 and Ahmed İhsan Bey, who was in the Sixth (Beyoğlu) Department of the Municipality, was appointed for this purpose. However, this plan was not implemented. Although it is not mentioned here, it is known that a periodical called “İstanbul Beldesi İhsaiyat Mecmuası” (Istanbul City Statistics Magazine) was prepared by Şehremaneti (Municipal Police) in the specified period. This magazine, the first of which was published undated and containing the data of 1328/1912 and before, was prepared by the Şehremaneti Statistics Branch and published in the Arşak Garoyan Printing House. İhsaiyat (Statistics) Magazine, which contains statistical information about the city of Istanbul and whose transcript printing we prepared for publication as Atatürk Library, was also published in 1329/1913, 1330/1914, 1335/1919, but its publication was later discontinued. In the article, it is stated that Şehremini Emin Erkul embarked on the establishment of a directorate called the "Directorate of Collections and Statistics" in order to organize the Municipality İhsaiyat Magazine, establish the library, and to manage the treasury of documents and printing house. As a result of this initiative, the directorate was established and a printing house was opened in early 1924. On July 16, 1924, an order was issued for the publication of such a magazine. As the source of the articles to be published in Mecmuada, Şehremaneti's staff with higher education, language skills and specialization in their fields were shown. However, the articles to be written by these people were not awaited and the content of the first issue was prepared by the Administration of Collections and Statistics since the magazine was intended to be published on September 1st.

At the start of the work, the content frame of the magazine was intended to be determined/specified. Accordingly, everything that “concerns the municipalities and the city of Istanbul in particular” was the subject of this magazine. Processing of “scientific, sanitary and administrative information and information on public works” related to municipal affairs was a priority. In addition, since the developments in Western municipalities were intended to be conveyed to local governments in Turkey, translations were to be made from their magazines. The history of the city of Istanbul and the administrative history of municipal organizations was also the subject of the magazine. The biographies and pictures/photos of the people, who have served as a Şehremini (the Head of the Municipal Police) since 1271 [1855], which is given as the establishment date of the Şehremaneti (Municipal Police), will be published in the magazine. And the good and harmful deeds of these people will be mentioned. Laws, regulations, directives, orders and decisions related directly or indirectly to municipal affairs will be announced to civil servants through the magazine. Again, information about economic and social affairs will be included in the magazine. In addition to the statistical tables, among the reports prepared by the delegations sent to European countries for research and examination, those containing information about the municipality will also be published in the magazine.

The first article after the introductory article, in which the program is explained, is entitled "Istanbul's Subsistence-1" and it deals with the issue of Istanbul's subsistence. Apparently, in September 1924, when the magazine was published, relevant public institutions were working on the problem of the high cost of bread in Istanbul. In order to facilitate the work of the employees involved in this work, the statistics of wheat and flour received from Anatolia, Thrace, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Australia and America are provided week by week throughout a year between August 1, 1923 and July 31, 1924. In the article, the scarcity of grain from Anatolia to Istanbul is attributed to the fact that the years 1915 and 1916 were war years. The grain potential of Anatolia, the number of wagons of the trains on the Anatolian-Baghdad Railways line used for transportation to Istanbul, the expenses and taxes imposed during the delivery of grain are mentioned. It is stated that the pier and train fees and the transportation fee from the docks and train stations to the mills are excessive, and added that: “It can be said that the wheat from America and Australia is much cheaper than the wheat brought from Adapazarı.” The solutions developed by the Anatolian Railroad Administration for this situation are evaluated. In connection with this, the mills in Istanbul and the capacities of these mills, the bakeries and the statistics of the production made by the bakeries are provided. In this period, it is stated that the population decreased due to migration to rural areas and abroad and the exchange with Greece and that accordingly, the amount of flour used decreased. This article, which is the only copyrighted article in this issue, has been published without signature, except for the "Program of the Magazine". However, since the article entitled "Istanbul's Subsistence-2", which is the continuation of this article and is in the 4th issue of the magazine, was signed by "Osman Nuri [Ergin]", it can be thought that it was also written by Osman Nuri.

In accordance with the statement that the laws, regulations, instructions, orders and decisions regarding municipal affairs specified in the program of the magazine will be published and notified to the civil servants, municipal appointments and promotions, “City Dispensary Regulations” and “Regulation on the Supervisory Board of Science” were published under the title of “Transactions of Civil Servants”.

As stated above, since the publication of statistics on Istanbul for different years, published by Şehremaneti between 1912 and 1919, failed in the following years, Şehremaneti Magazine also aimed to partially fill this gap. As a matter of fact, income statistics for the end of June 1924 are provided in this issue.

On the inside cover of this issue, Şehremini Emin Erkul’s photograph, as "The Founder of the Magazine", was placed. On the back cover, information about the list and content of the works published by Şehremaneti, which also continues in the next issues, is provided. The place of distribution of the magazine is shown as "a special flat in the Şehremaneti treasury of documents building".

It is also stated on the cover that the copy of this issue is 5 kurus and the annual subscription is 50 kurus.

Serhat Bozkurt