The Activities Of The People’s Houses In The Eastern Provinces (1932-1951)

The fact that a large number of the Turkish population was illiterate and the education level of the people was low in the early years of the Republic was considered to be the biggest threat against Turkey’s taking its place in “the modern world” by the founder cadre of the Republic. Moreover, Turkish Hearts which played a special role in infusing the Kemalist ideology into public in the early period of Republic were closed and this reveals the need for a new ideological apparatus of the Kemalist Republic. Therefore, the establishment of a new ideological organization due to such reasons was discussed in the beginning of 1930s. Founded on the remainder of Empire, the Kemalist Republic undertook building a new identity through a radical modernization policy in order to “create a nation out of a religious community”. The identity construction in question, conceptualized by Althusser, was performed through the ideological and repressive apparatus of the state. Undoubtedly, one of the most important ideological apparatus of the early Republic (1932-1951) People’s Houses had an important place in adopting the Kemalist ideology and in the construction of a new identity. Numerous People’s Houses were opened in the East and Southeast Anatolia known as Eastern Provinces [Vilayat-ı Şarkiyye] in order to reach the aims listed above, in other words, to infuse the Kemalist ideology into public and to convert the public into the “acceptable citizen” of the Kemalist ideology. In particular, the main task of People’s Houses in Eastern Provinces where Kurdish and Arabic were heavily spoken was to popularize Turkish and to knock people around Turkishness. This study discusses the process of integrating the local community into the Kemalist system through People’s Houses by focusing on especially the activities of People’s Houses in Eastern Provinces.

Keywords

Kemalist Republic, Single-Party Period, People’s House, People’s Rooms, Eastern Provinces and Turkif