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CHapter 3 provinCial newspapers and the eMergenCe of a national print Culture To our minds, the newspaper is a means for true news, creative ideas, and constructive criticism . . . in democracies, journalism is a highly responsible and weighty career . . . Democracy is a moral and legal order that takes strength from an individual’s freedom of thought and feeling of responsibility. GIresun, august 20, 1952 Not accepting that humankind’s existence is naturally corrupt and unredeemable, we are intent upon remedying with hope, determination, and faith the suffering shared by the nation, by society, and by all of humanity . . . We are convinced that the greatest strength lies in FAITH . . . What others hold as their goals—money, women, public office, and fame—we view merely as a means; while our goals are what others merely consider their means—religion, honor, morality, virtue, and humanity. It is to realize these goals that this newspaper is published. yeşIL nur (green radianCe) (eskişehir), May 1, 1951 mustafa kemal Certainly was instrumental in the formation of the Turkish nation, but his contribution was neither as unique nor as complete as the nationalist historical narrative suggests. The process did not begin with him; nor did he achieve the desired results. During the period of single-party rule (1925–1945) the Kemalist elite articulated a vision of the nation that was at odds with popular conceptions of identity related to both the Ottoman past and Islam. The very mixed experiences of the people in the face of laiklik along with the continued importance of religion to the people suggest that the Turkish Revolution by no means resulted in the total transformation of Turkish society and culture. In this period nationalist ideology became increasingly clearly defined, but a national identity failed to materialize 84 how happy to Call oneself a turk precisely because of its elitist character and its approach to the people as objects to be “civilized” rather than as legitimate participants in a nationwide discourse. As I argue in the remaining chapters of this book, it was only after 1945 that the process of nation formation began to reach fruition with the recognition of shared legal rights and duties on the part of the people and with the emergence of a mass public culture for the first time. Following World War II, Turkey underwent the transition from single-party authoritarian rule to multiparty democratic politics: at precisely this moment it began to be possible to negotiate a popular national identity in the context of new public freedoms that allowed debate on the nature of the nation. The year 1945 therefore witnessed the beginning of a new era in Turkish history in which print media played the critical role of opening up new “breathing space” and allowing people to participate in the theatre of the nation. In this chapter it is necessary to examine the expansion of print media after 1945 as the means by which this public debate occurred following the introduction of multiparty politics. Crucial to the process was an institution that had lost the short-lived vitality it had enjoyed during the War of Independence: the provincial newspaper press. Giresun and Yeşil Nur are but two examples of the hundreds of newspapers published in the provinces in a unique window of time between 1945 and 1954. As their editorials made clear, the entrepreneurs behind them believed that it was their duty to uphold and serve their nation. Indeed they did so, but in ways they were perhaps unaware of. The proliferation of print media in these years and the unprecedented integration of the country as a result of infrastructural modernization combined to bring about a truly national print culture for the first time. This in turn facilitated the emergence of a discourse of difference within which negotiation of the nation could take place. The transition to multiparty politics in Turkey has already been well documented: typically, emphasis is placed upon the defeat of the Republican People’s Party and the formation of a new Democratic Party government in May 1950.1 What must be emphasized here, however, is the nature of the transformation of Turkish politics that began in 1945. This marked the “working out” of democratic politics, and print media were integral to the process. Of course the two major political parties participated in national general elections in 1946, 1950, and 1954 as well as in regular municipal elections. In the Grand National Assembly their rivalry led to intense and acrimonious debates...

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