The Use of Humour as a Political Propaganda Tool in the II. Constitutional Period: Yeniçeri Newspaper Example

The Yeniçeri newspaper is a political humour newspaper published in 14 issues between December 2, 1911 and March 28, 1912. Cemil Hakkı, a student of the Civil Service and also a reporter and writer in many newspapers, especially Tanin, is the managing director and concessionaire of the Yeniçeri. The Yeniçeri humour newspaper, under the administration of Cemil Hakkı, who was a supporter of the Union and Progress, has begun its publishing life as an indomitable supporter of the ruling party in a period when the Freedom and Entente Party was established, the country called  the 1912 elections, and at the same time, Turco-Italian War was experienced, domestic and foreign politics were extremely changeable and troubled. Although the Yeniçeri newspaper has the morphological characteristics of humour newspapers of the II. Constitutional period, it is distinguished from its peers with its completely allocating its columns to developments in domestic and foreign politics, and skilfully drawn caricatures that support the arguments it defends. During its short publication life, the Yeniçeri newspaper took aim to Freedom and Entente and made use of the power and influence of humour while making propaganda for Union and Progress. The aim of our study is not only to introduce the Yeniçeri newspaper with its morphological properties, but also to reveal the political propaganda elements in a humour newspaper that was a unique witness of its period during the II. Constitutional period when the press was an extremely effective weapon. The main source of our study is the Yeniçeri newspaper. We benefited from the works and memories regarding the period and the press life of the period as well as Tanin newspaper in order to be able to follow the current politics issues covered in the newspaper.

Keywords

History, Yeniçeri, Humor, The Party of Freedom and Entente, The Committee of Union and Progress, Turco- İtalian War.