[THE REPUBLICAN STURDY CHILDREN OF TURKEY] Gürbüz Türk çocugu: Her ayin on besinde çikar aylik mecmuadir. Edited by Dr. [Mehmed] Fuad [Umay]. [23 ISSUES]

[GÜRBÜZ] TÜRK ÇOCUGU, Himâye-i Etfâl Cemiyeti [i.e. The Society for the Protection of Children], 1926.

Contemporary quarter black leather bdg. Four raised bands to spine, lettered gilt half-title in Latin after the Alphabet Revolution. 4to. (30 x 22 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 23 issues with no 4th volume of the set must be included 24 issues with Arabic letters.

Fourth issue was missing, cutting a big part on the first page, two ex-library stamps on the first issue's cover, and missing the original back covers. Overall a good copy.

An uncommon togetherness of the first 24 issues except for the 4th issue, a complete run with Arabic letters, of this Turkish magazine, richly illustrated with attractive illustrations and photographic images, was published in Istanbul monthly, from October 1926 up to the Letter Revolution 1928.

The collection provides an invaluable resource, reflecting the changes in society as a propaganda organ of the New Turkey, contributing to the development of children's education of the new Turkish society, as well as "creating the basis for the rapid social evolution in the young Turkish Revolution" soon after the proclamation of the Republic in 1923.

"It serves as one of the last examples of the use of Arabic script in the Turkish press. The editor was the president of "Himâye-i Etfâl Cemiyeti" [i.e. The Society for the Protection of Children] Dr. Fuad. The magazine was primarily intended to promote the health of children and young people. Other subjects covered included orphans (the time of almost continuous war dating from 1910 was only four years behind them), children's rights, and issues of upbringing and education. These first 24 issues were published in only Arabic script. As the mouthpiece of the Children's Society, which was naturally headed by Atatürk, "The Turkish Child" continued to be published after the introduction of Latin script. It was not until the period of the use of the Latin script that a magazine for children developed from a magazine about the children" (Kreiser).

This collection includes the special issue for Children's Day, 23rd April 1927, which was issued on the National Holiday, celebrated in memory of the establishment of TBMM [i.e. the Great Turkish National Assembly] in Ankara in 1920. The title page, which was probably reproduced with cliché with the help of a Western publication shows two children with a blackboard where they have written (the text does not sound entirely as though a child wrote it): "Her milletin medenî seviyesi çocuklarina verdigi ehemmiyet ve itînâ ile alâkadârdir" [i.e. The level of civilization of a nation depends on the importance it gives to its children and the care it devotes to them]. For this special edition in the head title on the cover, the crescent moon in the star replaces the face of a "sturdy" child, mostly used on covers of other issues.

Duman 672.

-- Propaganda Children periodicals Turkish Republic Middle East