The Eastern Report Through The Perspective Of Mehmet Cemal Göktan, Director General Of The Security (1958)

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the report on the Eastern provinces prepared in 1958 by Mehmet Cemal Göktan, the then Director General of Security, within the framework of socio-cultural determinations and security strategies. This seven-page document, which belonged to Göktan and was delivered to us through his family, consists of complementary observations, evaluations and recommendations. The report is an important historical document that serves as a primary source in terms of revealing the state mindset of the period towards the Eastern region and its intervention methods. Göktan’s statements are not merely the notes of a routine visit by a security official, but also reveal a comprehensive analysis of the mentality of the modern Turkish state, including its security priorities regarding the Eastern provinces, the methods of intervention it envisaged on the social structure and the measures to be taken against possible external threats.

The study analyses this report on three main axes. The first section focuses on Mehmet Cemal Göktan’s biography and bureaucratic career, the second section analyses the local observations in the report in the context of language, religion, education and social structure. These observations are analysed in relation to the modernisation policies of the period. In the third part, the security paradigm of the state is analysed through the problems experienced by the Turkish National Police in the region, public order problems, security measures, border security and foreign threat perceptions. The chronological boundary of the research is the year 1958.

As a methodology, an original document analysis based on the analysis of the text written by Göktan was preferred; in addition, the study made use of the Presidential State Archives, Celal Bayar Archive, the minutes of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, the Official Gazette and various secondary sources. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the security and modernisation approach towards the Eastern provinces in the last years of the Democrat Party period and to reveal the historical roots of the problems in the region.