The Liberal Republican Party In İnkılap Newspaper Through The Writings Of Ali Naci Karacan And Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu

Abstract

In consequence of Turkey’s aspiration to transition to a multi-party political system, the Liberal Republican Party (Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası, SCF) emerged as a significant development, both within the political structure and in the Turkish press and public opinion. The SCF was established by Ali Fethi Okyar with the encouragement of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha. Despite its brief existence of only four months, the SCF played a noteworthy role in the evolution of government–opposition relations and political culture. The focal point of this study is the Inkilap newspaper, which commenced publication on 30 August 1930, coinciding with the establishment of the SCF and the period of intense political discourse in the political press. The present study aims to examine the trajectory of the SCF from its foundation to its self-dissolution through the lens of İnkılap newspaper, while analysing the political and intellectual representations of the SCF through the columns of Ali Naci Karacan and Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu. Methodologically, the research adopts a qualitative approach based on document analysis, supported by the use of MAXQDA software to ensure a systematic evaluation of the data. The columns of the aforementioned authors were categorised thematically through document analysis, and qualitative data analysis was conducted using MAXQDA. Within the MAXQDA software, the data were coded under themes such as “discourses of the SCF”, “political responsibility”, and “the party”s institutionalization process”. The thematic analysis employed in this study elucidates the converging and diverging perspectives of Karacan and Karaosmanoğlu with regard to the SCF. The findings indicate that Karacan adopted a stance that could be characterised as more critical and cautious, whereas Karaosmanoğlu pursued a conception of opposition that was more responsive to the conditions of the period. The analysis not only highlights the intellectual differences and commonalities between the two authors, but also situates İnkılap newspaper’s engagement with politics - and more broadly, the relationship of the Turkish press with political opposition – within its historical context. The present study therefore seeks to shed light on the relationship between the press and politics in early Republican Turkey by focusing on the Inkilap newspaper and its leading columnists.