[CENSORSHIP / BANNED PERIODICALS / FIRST FEMALE JOURNALIST IN TURKEY / FEMINISM] Projektor: Ayda bir çikar fikir mecmuasidir [i.e., Projector]. No: 1. Mart 1936. (All published)

[SERTEL], SABİHA ZEKERİYA (1895-1968). 

Yeni Kitabçi - Bozkurt Matbaasi, Istanbul, 1936.

Original wrappers. Roy. 8vo. (24 x 17 cm). In Turkish. [4], 96 p., ills. Minor wear on spine and slight age toning on covers. Otherwise, a very good copy.

The extremely rare first and only issue of this periodical, published by Sabiha Sertel, a pioneering figure in the early Turkish suffragette movement and a staunch advocate for women's rights. The publication gained immediate attention with Sertel's bold article, Saylav [Deputy] Ladies, Why Aren't You Shouting? They Want Road Tax from the Workers and Working Women, which led to its swift closure and ban on the grounds of allegedly promoting Bolshevism. Notably, the magazine was also the first to serialize Sabahattin Ali’s renowned novel Kuyucakli Yusuf in 1937, before its publication in book form.

Contents in English translation: "Why is the projector being broadcast?", The cardinal who brought civilization to Abyssinia with a tank., Intellectuals are suffering.; Islamic International.; two advertisements: Ahmet Agha's donkey, Mehmed's child.; The collapse of small industry.; Facing cases.; China issue.; A state of medicine that has become a business.; Imperialism, colonialism, and civilization.; Dead people used for imperial propaganda; The inner face of the Egyptian revolution.; Municipality, porters' society, and its leader.; Dusky spider.; Classical economic national (Answer to a professor about economics); The populist front and its program in France; Letters from Abyssinia to Iyalyan soldiers.; Those whose names were mentioned in the month: Novel: Kuyucakli Yusuf. "Saylav ladies, why are you silent? Sabiha Zekeriya [Sertel] (1895-1968).; There is no National Literature, there is class literature., B. C. Zâde.

Sabiha Sertel's writings and the periodical were deemed "obscene" by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the publications were confiscated. However, the government considered this action insufficient. The Ministry of Internal Affairs proposed the temporary closure of Projektör, which was approved by the Council of Ministers, chaired by President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk himself, on 16 March 1936. Following this decision, Projektör was never allowed to be published again after its first and only issue.

SERTEL'S LIFE FULL OF FIRSTS AS A FEMALE PIONEER: Sabiha Sertel was the first professional female journalist and publisher in modern Turkey. Her writings advocated for the reform of women’s and workers’ rights, while also criticizing state oppression, imperialism, fascism, and social inequalities in Turkey. Her high-profile activism for democracy, civil liberties, and a free press led to intense social and political pressure, censorship, imprisonment, and ultimately, exile. Sertel is also considered the first woman in Turkey to publicly marry outside the Dönme community, a group of Jews who converted to Islam in the 17th century but privately retained their beliefs and were viewed with suspicion by Muslims. She was the first Turkish woman to be tried and imprisoned for her writings and one of the first to die in political exile.

Her marriage in 1915 to Zekeriya Sertel (1890-1980), a leading figure in Turkish journalism, marked the beginning of a lifelong publishing partnership. Together, they launched influential publications such as Büyük Mecmua (The Big Review), Resimli Ay (Illustrated Monthly), and Tan (Dawn), which served as powerful platforms for opposition voices.

Sertel was banned from writing on four separate occasions: first in 1941 for criticizing Turkey’s collaboration with Germany during WWII, again in 1942 for criticizing the nationalist movement in Turkey, and once more in the same year for writing about colonialism in relation to the world wars.

Overall, this is a very rare censored and “banned” Middle Eastern periodical that is not obtainable online.

Not in TÜSTAV., Not in IISG., As of January 2024, we couldn’t trace any copies in the OCLC and KVK.