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Are We Free Yet? : Limits of Freedom of Press in the First Year of the Young Turk Revolution
Abstract
In this paper, I examine how the Ottoman satirical journal Kalem covered the first year of the Young Turk Revolution. My reason for choosing to focus on political satire is to be able to understand the hidden social and political anxieties that appeared after the constitutional revolution. While contributors of the post-revolutionary non-satirical press were praising the new constitutional regime and attacking the ancient regime of Abdulhamid II, the contributors of the satirical journals targeted the Young Turks as well. Therefore, I argue that satire plays an important role in showing the neglected bitter facts at a time of very strict state censorship and post-revolutionary excitement and disillusionment in the Ottoman Empire. The reign of Abdulhamid II was notorious of strict government control and censorship of the press. After the proclamation of the constitution in 1908, Ottoman press started to flourish with great pace. Within the first two months following the revolution, hundreds of newspaper licenses were issued. The abolition of press censorship was a de facto phenomenon. When the news of the revolution reached Istanbul, newspaper editors refused to send copies of their publications to the censorship office. However, after a countercoup attempt that is known as the “31 March Incident” in 1909, the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) found the pretext to have firmer control of the press. During its first year of publication, Kalem heavily criticized the indolence of the state bureaucracy, inadequacy and laziness of the new ministers, widespread corruption at all levels of the state apparatus, passivity of the state at the face of increasing European encroachment, and unrealistic expectations of people from the revolution. They also complained about attempts of the CUP to control and manipulate the post-revolutionary press, especially satirical press, for the purpose of spreading its own propaganda. Therefore, a detailed analysis of this journal will display the social and political anxieties that were often times overlooked or neglected by the non-satirical Ottoman press.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Ottoman Empire
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries