[THE COLD WAR / THE PERIODICALS FINANCED BY AMERICA / SOVIETS] Dergi: Sovyetler Birligini Ögrenme Enstitüsü. No: 1-66. 1955-1971. Edited by Edige Mustafa Kirimal, (1911-1980)

INSTITUT ZUR ERFORSCHUNG DER UDSSR, MÜNCHEN, Institut zur Erforschung der UdSSR, Munich, 1955-1971.

Original wrappers. Large roy. 8vo. (24 x 18 cm). In Turkish. 66 issues set.

Rare set of this Turkish journal published in Munich by the leading figure of the Crimean Tatars Kirimal, financed by the American intelligence against the Soviet Union during the Cold War, containing important articles and studies on Islamic ethnic groups and Turkic minorities living in Russia.

During the First and Second World Wars, Germany contacted the ethnic and religious elements of the allied and hostile states and benefited from these powers, especially in the field of intelligence. During the Cold War, activities such as public opinion and intelligence gained more importance, and the United States and the Soviet Union entered an ideological struggle, especially with their press and broadcasting activities. For this purpose, Munich was designated as the propaganda centre by the American intelligence units, and a committee was established here under the name of "American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia" which consisted of anti-Soviet groups and was financed by the United States. A periodical called "Dergi" [i.e., Journal] was published by the Institute for the Learning of the Soviet Union.

The "Dergi", which was published together with the anti-Soviet publications such as "Vestnik" in Russian and "Al-Majalla" in Arabic, of the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) established in Munich with the directive of the Foreign Ministry Counsellor George Frost Kennan (1904-2005) in the summer of 1950, draws attention with its academic content and styles was more than just a propaganda tool.

The “Dergi” was first published in Turkish in 1955 quarterly. The journal’s complete run was 66 issues until 1971 and it includes 650 articles in total. Each issue has an average of 120-130 pages, involved also different columns of news by various names in each issue. In the preface, stated, "Anyone can work with the Institute, regardless of their nationality and political opinion, provided that they are not a member of the Communist Party and do not lean towards this party". As the representative of the Crimean National Centre, the leader of the Crimean Turks - Tatars Dr. Edige Mustafa Kirimal was the responsible director of the "Journal" until it was closed. The editor-in-chief of the journal was Mirza Bala Mehmetzâde (1898-1959), an important name and author of the Azerbaijani national movement.

Kirimal is best known for his meticulous research and publications on the history of Crimean Tatars in the first half of the 20th century. He served as the editor of "Dergi", one of the publications of the Institute for the Study of the USSR in Munich, and was among the first scholars to explore the fate of ethnic minorities living in the Soviet Union.

OCLC 12775151, 942730613. According to the OCLC records institutional holdings of this journal are: Harvard University, HLS Library, Columbia University in the City of New York, NYPLC, Cornell University Library, Princeton University Library, LoC, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, Indiana University, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, University of Washington Libraries, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Texas Libraries, Stanford University, UCLA Hoover Institution Library, Southern Regional Library Facility.

(Sources: TWO ORIGINAL EXAMPLES OF ANTISOVIET PUBLICATIONS IN MUNICH MAGAZINES AND CAUCASUS JOURNALS, Sibel Demirci - Brill bookseller catalogs).

Provenance: From the collection of Turkish philologist and publisher Sâmân Helvacioglu (1930-2014).