{"product_id":"one-of-the-earliest-anarchist-periodicals-in-turkey-counterculture-ecology-kara-sanat-seckisi-i-e-black-art-a-selection-nos-1-2-complete-run-cover-design-by-kemal-aratan","title":"[ONE OF THE EARLIEST ANARCHIST PERIODICALS IN TURKEY \/ COUNTERCULTURE \/ ECOLOGY] Kara sanat… seçkisi [i.e., Black art… A selection]. Nos. 1-2 [COMPLETE RUN]. Cover design by Kemal Aratan","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eAKALIN, NUR; UFUK AHISKALI, HALDUN AY (Prep. by).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eKara Yayincilik \/ Sistem Ofset, Istanbul, 1987. \u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eA complete run of one of the earliest anarchist periodical publications in Turkey, issued in only two numbers by members of the circle around \u003ci\u003eKara\u003c\/i\u003e, the pioneering libertarian and anarchist journal which appeared in Istanbul between October 1986 and November 1987. Published at the formative moment of modern anarchist publishing in Turkey, \u003ci\u003eKara Sanat\u003c\/i\u003e extended the concerns of the \u003ci\u003eKara\u003c\/i\u003e circle beyond explicitly political questions into ecology, environmental activism, education, literature, art, and the organisation of everyday life. The first issue, published in July 1987, was centred on ecology; the second, issued in November, on education.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eKara, which ran for twelve issues, is generally regarded as the starting point of the modern anarchist movement and anarchist periodical publishing in Turkey. Emerging in the aftermath of the military coup of 12 September 1980, its circle brought together writers seeking alternatives not only to state authority but also to the authoritarian and hierarchical traditions of the established Turkish left. Contemporary and later accounts of the journal emphasise the breadth of subjects it introduced into anarchist discussion, among them anti-militarism, conscientious objection, ecology and sexuality. Kara Sanat, appearing less than a year after the first number of Kara, belongs to this very first phase of the movement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe publication was deliberately conceived as something less fixed than a conventional periodical. In her introductory statement Nur Akalın calls it “a draft for a journal” (Bu bir dergi taslağıdır), asking what a journal requires before it assumes a definite form. The answer proposed by Kara Sanat was characteristically anti-hierarchical: the group gathered under the name “Doğa Korumacıları” [Nature Conservationists] contained a diversity of thought and action, each individual was responsible only for representing himself or herself, and the publication was to remain open to individual proposals for action, design, thought and imagination. Rather than imposing a unified editorial voice, the journal attempted to provide a common space in which this diversity could coexist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe first number consequently moves freely between anarchist and libertarian thought, literature and environmental politics. Its contents include “Gerçekçi Olun, İmkânsızı İsteyin” [Be Realistic, Demand the Impossible], “Günümüze Liberter Bir Yaklaşım”, a piece on Rilke's The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, “Ekolojik Devrim mi, Çevrecilik mi” [Ecological Revolution or Environmentalism?], and a substantial “Dalyan Dosyası” [Dalyan Dossier], including the complete press statement issued by environmental activists before the Dalyan action. Thus, ecology was treated not merely as an abstract intellectual concern but in direct relation to contemporary environmental activism in Turkey.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe second and final number turned to education and the student movement. Its critique was directed not only at the state and YÖK [the Council of Higher Education], but also at conventional forms of political organisation. In discussing student associations, the contributors questioned representative structures, imposed identities and the reduction of student opposition to established organisational models, arguing instead for forms of action capable of moving beyond the fixed identity and status of the “student”. In this respect, Kara Sanat is particularly representative of the early Kara circle's attempt to distinguish libertarian politics from both state authority and the organisational orthodoxies of the traditional left.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe unconventional visual language and cover of the publication was designed by Kemal Aratan, with a stark b\/w montage combining caricature, comic-book imagery and graphic fragmentation, while the interior mixes essays, illustrations and experimental typography. The result has something of the immediacy of an underground or fanzine publication, despite being formally issued by Kara Yayıncılık.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eSources\u003c\/b\u003e: As of October 2026, we couldn't trace any copies online in WorldCat and the Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog. Veysel Başusta, \"Türkiye’de Anarşist Yayıncılık: Kara ve Efendisiz Dergileri Üzerine Bir İnceleme\", Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, Vol. 25, No. 3 (2023), pp. 1161-1183; Tayfun Gönül, Ahmet Kurt \u0026amp; Ufuk Ahıska, \"Anarşizmin Sıfır Yılı: 1986\", in Barış Soydan, Türkiye’de Anarşizm: Yüz Yıllık Gecikme; Öküz, no. 85 [retrospective account of the Kara circle and the two issues of Kara Sanat]; Limon, 30 July 1987, p. 14 [contemporary notice of the first issue]; Tanzimat’tan Bugüne Edebiyatçılar Ansiklopedisi, s.v. \"Nur Akalın\" [records Kara Sanat as a two-issue selection published in 1987].\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Khalkedon Rare Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67940866130051,"sku":null,"price":1000.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0390\/3294\/6819\/files\/9_69da31aa-cf0d-4430-bd91-dcb69d692c65.jpg?v=1792316646","url":"https:\/\/khalkedonrarebooks.com\/products\/one-of-the-earliest-anarchist-periodicals-in-turkey-counterculture-ecology-kara-sanat-seckisi-i-e-black-art-a-selection-nos-1-2-complete-run-cover-design-by-kemal-aratan","provider":"Khalkedon Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}