''Büyük Doğu'' (

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

: ''The Great East'') was one of the early Islamist political publications in Turkey. It was started as a daily newspaper and later relaunched as a weekly magazine. The publication was a platform for its founder,

Necip Fazıl Kısakürek Ahmet Necip Fazıl Kısakürek (May 26, 1904 – May 25, 1983) was a Turkish poet, novelist, playwright, and Islamist ideologue. He is also known simply by his initials NFK. He was noticed by the French philosopher Henri Bergson, who later ...

, to disseminate his arguments and views. It was in circulation between 1943 and 1978 with some intervals and produced a total of 512 issues.

History and profile

Newspaper edition

''Büyük Doğu'' was first published as a daily newspaper on 17 September 1943 with the aim of being a newspaper for Muslim Turkish people who were committed to the God and a new worldview. Therefore, it aimed at teaching people about their faith. Its founder was a significant right-wing and conservative figure, Necip Fazıl Kısakürek. The contributors of ''Büyük Doğu'' included many leading journalists and writers: Ziya Şakir, Mahmut Yesari, Reşat Ekrem Koçu, Nurullah Berk, Hilmi Ziya Ülken, Mehmet Faruk Gürtunca,

Suphi Nuri İleri Suphi Nuri İleri (1887, Gallipoli – 1945, Istanbul) was a Turkish politician and writer. He was the brother of Celâl Nuri İleri. Their mother was Nefise Hanım, the eldest daughter of the Ottoman Albanian statesman Prevezeli Abidin Pasha, wh ...

Hüseyin Cahit Yalçın Hüseyin Cahit Yalçın (7 December 1874 – 18 October 1957) was a prominent Turkish theorist, writer and politician. He is famous for being a dissident journalist, who has been put on trial and punished due to his columns. His publications defe ...

, Nizamettin Nazif, Nejat Muhsinoğlu,

Peyami Safa Peyami Safa (April 2, 1899 – June 15, 1961) was a Turkish journalist, columnist and novelist. He came to the fore in the Turkish literature of the Republican era with his psychological works such as ''Dokuzuncu Hariciye Koğuşu'' (Ninth Ext ...

, Şükrü Baban,

Burhan Belge Burhan Belge (February 1, 1899 – January 12, 1967) was a Turkish politician and diplomat, who was a prominent figure among the young intellectuals during the early periods of Republic of Turkey and served as the representative of Muğla pro ...

, Kazım Nami, Salih Zeki,

Tevfik Fikret Tevfik Fikret ( ota, توفیق فكرت) was the pseudonym of Mehmed Tevfik (December 24, 1867 – August 19, 1915), an Ottoman-Turkish educator and poet, who is considered the founder of the modern school of Turkish poetry. Biography Fam ...

Özdemir Asaf Özdemir Asaf (11 June 1923, Ankara - 28 January 1981, Istanbul) was one of the prominent Turkish poets during the early Republican period. Biography Life He was born on 11 June 1923 in Ankara. His real name is Halit Özdemir Arun. His fa ...

, İskender Fikret, Kenan Harun, Salah Birsel, Mehmet Turhan and

Sait Faik Sait as a given name or surname is the Turkish written form of the Arabic male given name Sa‘id. The name Sait or the abbreviation SAIT may refer to: People (given name or surname) * Sait Faik Abasıyanık, Turkish writer * Talât Sait Halman, ...

. Islamist journalist

Cevat Rıfat Atilhan Cevat Rıfat Atilhan (1892, Istanbul, Constantinople – 4 February 1967, Istanbul) was a Turkish people, Turkish career officer and Antisemitism, antisemitic writer, who was one of the initiators of the 1934 Thrace pogroms. Biography He was bo ...

also wrote for the magazine in addition to ''

Sebilürreşad ''Sebîlürreşâd'' (Turkish: Straight Path) was a Turkish print magazine created by Mehmet Akif Ersoy and Eşref Edip Fergan along with Ebül'ula Mardin as its lead writer in August 1908, to spread the idea of Islamism under the name of ''Sıra ...

'', another conservative magazine. Although such a wide variety of writers published articles in ''Büyük Doğu'', most of the articles were written by Necip Fazıl Kısakürek who employed numerous

pseudonyms A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

. The paper was one of the fierce critics of

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

in Turkey. On 2 November 1943 ''Büyük Doğu'' newspaper was banned due to the articles which were written by Necip Fazıl Kısakürek under different pseudonyms.

Magazine edition

In 1945 ''Büyük Doğu'' was restarted as a weekly magazine. It continued its opposition against the ruling party,

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party ...

, and was critical of the employment of women. One year after its start Necip Fazıl published his commentary about ''

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...

'' which contained a clear anti-Semitic tone. A Turkish translation of ''

The International Jew ''The International Jew'' is a four-volume set of antisemitic booklets or pamphlets originally published and distributed in the early 1920s by the Dearborn Publishing Company, an outlet owned by Henry Ford, the American industrialist and aut ...

'' was published in ''Büyük Doğu'' in 1949. When the Democrat Party won the elections and formed the government in 1950, the magazine did not support the party due to its moderate approach. However, ''Büyük Doğu'' became one of the pro-DP publications over time. In the 1950s the main target of Necip Fazıl's articles in ''Büyük Doğu'' was

Ahmet Emin Yalman Ahmet Emin Yalman (1888–19 December 1972) was a Turkish people, Turkish journalist, author and professor. He was a liberal and opposed the spread of the Nazism, Nazi ideology in his home country. Early life and education Ahmet Emin Yalman was ...

, a journalist. He accused Yalman of being a

Dönmeh The Dönme ( he, דוֹנְמֶה, Dōnme, ota, دونمه, tr, Dönme) were a group of Sabbatean crypto-Jews in the Ottoman Empire who converted outwardly to Islam, but retained their Jewish faith and Kabbalistic beliefs in secret. The move ...

and traitor. In March 1951 leftist university students organized demonstrations protesting both ''Büyük Doğu'' and ''

'' due to their religious approach and were arrested by the Turkish forces. In addition to political content the magazine featured several examples of the

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

poems which were formalized in a former literary magazine ''

Dergâh ''Dergâh'' (Ottoman Turkish: ''Dervish lodge'') was a literary magazine which was published during the final days of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul from 1921 and 1922. This period witnessed the occupation of Istanbul by the Western forces and al ...

''. ''Büyük Doğu'' was banned and ceased publication on 5 June 1978 after publishing 512 issues. During its lifetime it was shut down at least thirteen times.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buyuk Dogu 1943 establishments in Turkey 1978 disestablishments in Turkey Banned newspapers Censorship in Turkey Islamism in Turkey Islamic magazines Defunct newspapers published in Turkey Defunct literary magazines published in Turkey Defunct political magazines published in Turkey Magazines established in 1945 Magazines disestablished in 1978 Magazines published in Istanbul Newspapers established in 1943 Publications disestablished in 1943 Turkish-language magazines Weekly magazines published in Turkey Poetry literary magazines Banned magazines Antisemitism in Turkey Conservative magazines