The Perception of the Republic of Turkey in the Croatian Press (1923-1945)

Year 2018, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 151 - 176, 26.12.2018

Anđelko Vlašić

Abstract

The article analyzes the perception of the Republic of Turkey from 1923
to 1945 in Croatian newspapers of the period, for instance, daily newspapers Jutarnji list, Narodne novine, Obzor and
Novosti, as well as other weekly,
biweekly and monthly press. The articles in the newspapers mainly addressed
political issues relating to Turkey, but there were also numerous articles about
Turkey’s history, economy, finances, culture, etc. The emergence of the Republic of Turkey after the dissolution of the
Ottoman Empire in 1923 came as an incentive for the Croatian press to set aside
negative connotations concerning the Ottoman Empire and the critique of its
socio-political order, and to praise the results of the Turkish War of
Independence (1919-1923) and the institutional changes introduced by the new
Turkish Republican regime in the 1920s and 1930s. Turkish President Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) is the person mentioned the most in Turkey-related
articles in the Croatian press of the period: his emergence as the Turkish national
leader, his reform efforts and subsequently his death in 1938 were widely
explored in the Croatian press. The creation of the Independent State of Croatia
in 1941 was characterized by the new regime’s interest in the chance to acquire
Turkey's international recognition of the Independent State of
Croatia. Therefore the Ustasha press
propaganda used every opportunity to commend Turkey's neutral diplomatic stance
between the warring coalitions of World War II, and introduced Turkey as the
most mentioned of the non-Axis countries in the Croatian press of the period.

Keywords

Turkey, Croatia, newspapers, Croatian-Turkish relations

References

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• Periodicals (in brackets: publication years examined)Doğu ve Batı (1943-1944)
• Dom (Zagreb) (1925-1930)
• Ekonomska politika (1935-1941)
• Hrvatska sviest (1941-1943)
• Hrvatski dnevnik (Zagreb) (1936-1941)
• Hrvatski list (Osijek), (1921-1945)
• Hrvatski narod. Glasilo Hrvatskog ustaškog pokreta (1939-1945)
• Hrvatski radnik. Glasilo Hrvatskog Radničkog Saveza (1922-1945)
• Jutarnji list (1923-1941)
• Katolička riječ (1935-1941)
• Muslimanska svijest (1941)
• Narodne novine (Zagreb) (1923-1945)
• Narodni val čovječnosti, pravice i slobode (1927-1940)
• Novo doba (Split) (1923-1941)
• Novosti (Zagreb) (1923-1941)
• Osvit (Sarajevo) (1942-1944)
• Riječ. Nezavisna novinska revija (1920-1931)
• Slobodni dom. Glavne novine hrvatske republikanske seljačke stranke (1920-1925)
• Spremnost. Misao i volja ustaške Hrvatske (1942-1945)
• Vrhbosna (1923-1945)