Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:38:30.260Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Free Republican Party in the political cartoons of the 1930s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 December 2015

Gökçen Başaran İnce
Gökçen Başaran İnce*
Affiliation:
Department of Journalism, Ege University, Ege Üniversitesi Kampüsü, 35100 Bornova, İzmir, Turkey, gokcen.basaran.ince@ege.edu.tr.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Free Republican Party (FRP; Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası), founded and dissolved in 1930, represented the second attempt to transition to a multi-party system in Turkey, following the formation of the Progressive Republican Party (Terakkiperver Cumhuriyet Fırkası) in 1924. In contrast to the oppositional establishment of the latter, the FRP seemed to be a state-originated project whose establishment was decided upon by the elites of the day, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Its representation in contemporary cartoons is deemed important today given the political cartoon’s ability to simplify complex political messages into understandable symbols and metaphors and to address or reach those who may not be literate. Taking into account the social structure of society during this period, this aspect of the reach of cartoons becomes particularly important. Political cartoons’ ability to both support the text in a newspaper and penetrate historical memory through stereotypes is also significant in terms of the representation of personalities and events. This article will attempt to analyze the formation of the FRP and the depiction of its elites through newspaper cartoons. Three prominent and pro-Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi) newspapers of this period—namely Cumhuriyet, Milliyet, and Vakit—will provide the material for the content and thematic analysis of the study.

Keywords

Free Republican PartyRepublican People’s Partypolitical cartoonrepublican Turkey.
Type
Articles
Information
New Perspectives on Turkey , Volume 53 , November 2015 , pp. 93 - 136
Copyright
© New Perspectives on Turkey and Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Author’s Note: I would like to thank Prof. Gülgün Erdoğan Tosun, who has always given support and inspiration to my academic work, and who shared her valuable comments on an early version of this paper. I also would like to thank Zeynep İşgör and Andrea L. Manning, who contributed their time and energy to revising the article.

References

References

Ağaoğlu, Ahmet. Serbest Fırka Hatıraları. İstanbul: İletişim, 2011.Google Scholar
Akın, Yiğit. “Reconsidering State, Party and Society in Early Republican Turkey: Politics of Petitioning.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 39 (2007): 435–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Akman, Ayhan. “From Cultural Schizophrenia to Modernist Binarism: Cartoons and Identities in Turkey (1930–1975).” In Political Cartoons in the Middle East, edited by Fatma Müge Göcek, 83–133. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Altınay, Ayşegül. The Myth of the Military-Nation: Militarism, Gender and Education in Turkey. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arıkan, Mustafa and Deniz, Ahmet. “Türk Ocakları’nın Kapatılışı, Borçları ve Emlakinin Tasfiyesi.” Accessed July 5, 2015. http://sutad.selcuk.edu.tr/sutad/article/view/277/267.Google Scholar
Avşar, Abdülhamit. Bir Partinin Kapanmasında Basının Rolü: Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası. İstanbul: Kitabevi Yayınları, 1998.Google Scholar
Bal Sunuti, Anjali, et al. “Caricatures, Cartoons, Spoofs and Satires: Political Brands as Butts.” Journal of Public Affairs 9 (2009): 229–237.Google Scholar
Balcıoğlu, Semih. 50 Yılın Türk Karikatürü. İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Yayınları, 1973.Google Scholar
Bezirgân Arar, Yurdagül. “Haber Söyleminin Görsel Bir Formu Olarak Politik Karikatürün Ötekileştirme Pratiklerindeki İşlevi.” Yeni Düşünceler 5 (2010): 161–184.Google Scholar
Boratav, Korkut. 100 Soruda Türkiye’de Devletçilik. İstanbul: Gerçek Yayınları, 1974.Google Scholar
Brockett, Gavin D. How Happy to Call Oneself a Turk: Provincial Newspapers and the Negotiation of a Muslim National Identity. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011.Google Scholar
Brummett, Palmira. Image and Imperialism in the Ottoman Revolutionary Press: 1908–1911. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Çakır, Serpil. “Kadın Tarihinde İki İsim: Ulviye Mevlan-Nezihe Muhittin.” In Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e: Problemler, Araştırmalar, Tartışmalar, I. Uluslararası Tarih Kongresi, edited by Hamdi Can Tuncer, 281. İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınlaırı, 1998.Google Scholar
Çeviker, Turgut. “Tanzimat’tan Cumhuriyet’e Türk Karikatürü.” In Tanzimat’tan Cumhuriyet’e Türkiye Ansiklopedisi Vol. 4. İstanbul: İletişim, 1985. 1101–1108.Google Scholar
Durakbaşa, Ayşe. “Cumhuriyet Döneminde Kemalist Kadın Kimliğinin Oluşumu.” Tarih ve Toplum 51 (1998): 167–171.Google Scholar
El Rafaie, Elisabeth. “Multiliteracies: How Readers Interpret Political Cartoons.” Visual Communication 8, no. 2 (2009): 181–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emrence, Cem. “Imagining the Free Republican Party of Turkey: Keeping the Political Elites in Power.” Turkish Studies 2 (2002): 149–160.Google Scholar
Emrence, Cem. 99 Günlük Muhalefet. İstanbul: İletişim, 2006.Google Scholar
Gencer, Yasemin. “We are Family: The Child and Modern Nationhood in Early Turkish Republican Cartoons (1923–28).” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 32, no. 2 (2012): 294–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gencer, Yasemin. “Pushing out Islam: Cartoons of the Reform Period in Turkey (1923–28).” In Visual Cultures in the Modern Middle East, edited by Christiane Gruber and Sune Haugbolle, 189–215. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013.Google Scholar
Geipel, John. The Cartoon: A Short History of Graphic Comedy. London: David and Charles Publishers Limited, 1972.Google Scholar
Greenberg, Josh. “Framing and Temporality in Political Cartoons: A Critical Analysis of Visual News Discourse.” Canadian Review of Sociology 39 (2002): 181–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, Randall. The Cartoon: Communication to the Quick. London: Sage, 1981.Google Scholar
İlmen, Süreyya. Dört Ay Yaşamış Olan Zavallı Serbest Fırka: İstibdat, Meşrutiyet, Cumhuriyet Devirlerinden. İstanbul: Muallim Fuad Gücüyener Yayınevi, 1951.Google Scholar
Karacagil, Ö. Kürşad. “Süreyya (Paşa) İlmen ve Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası.” Tarih Dergisi 57 (2013): 127–145.Google Scholar
Kleeman, Grant. “Using Cartoons to Investigate Social and Environmental Issues.” Ethos 14 (2006): 9–19.Google Scholar
Koçak, Cemil. Belgelerle İktidar ve Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası. İstanbul: İletişim, 2006.Google Scholar
Lambourne, Lionel. Caricature. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1983.Google Scholar
Novin, Guity. A History of Graphic Design. Accessed August 20, 2014. http://guity-novin.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/chapter-40-history-of-caricatures.html.Google Scholar
Okyar, Oktay and Seyitdanlıoğlu, Mehmet. M. Fethi Okyar’ın Anıları. İstanbul: İş Bankası Yayınları, 1997.Google Scholar
Öz, Esat. Türkiye’de Tek Parti Yönetimi ve Siyasal Katılım (1923–1945). İstanbul: Gündoğan Yayınları, 1992.Google Scholar
Streicher, H. Lawrence. “On a Theory of Political Caricature.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 9 (1967): 427–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Timur, Taner. Türk Devrimi ve Sonrası. Ankara: Doğan Yayınları, 1971.Google Scholar
Tunçay, Mete. Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nde Tek-Parti Yönetiminin Kurulması. İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları, 2012.Google Scholar
Üstel, Füsun. Türk Ocakları. İstanbul: İletişim, 1997.Google Scholar
Yetkin, Çetin. Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası Olayı. Ankara: Karacan Yayınları, 1982.Google Scholar
Zihnioğlu, Yaprak. Kadınsız İnkılap. İstanbul: İletişim, 2003.Google Scholar

Newspapers

Cumhuriyet

Hâkimiyet-i Milliye

Milliyet

Vakit

Yarın