''Genç Kalemler'' (

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...

: ''Young Pens'') was an Ottoman literary and cultural magazine which was one of the earliest nationalist publications in the Ottoman Empire.

Murat Belge Murat Belge (born March 16, 1943) is a Turkish academic, translator, literary critic, columnist, civil rights activist, and occasional tour guide. Career Belge was a member of the organizing committee for a two-day academic conference that st ...

describes it as a

pan-Turkist Pan-Turkism is a political movement that emerged during the 1880s among Turkic intellectuals who lived in the Russian region of Kazan (Tatarstan), Caucasus (modern-day Azerbaijan) and the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey), with its aim bei ...

publication. It was published between April 1911 and October 1912 in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, and was the first Ottoman publication which called for having a national language.

History and profile

''Genç Kalemler'' was first published on 11 April 1911 as a successor of ''Hüsn ve Şiir'', a literary and sociology magazine which was published in Thessaloniki in 1910. Its editor-in-chief was Nesimi Sarım who was the secretary of the Central Council of the

Committee of Union and Progress The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, translit=İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, script=Arab), later the Union and Progress Party ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى فرقه‌سی, translit=İttihad ve Tera ...

(CUP). The founders of ''Genç Kalemler'' were the members of a national literary movement:

Ziya Gökalp Mehmet Ziya Gökalp (23 March 1876 – 25 October 1924) was a Turkish sociologist, writer, poet, and politician. After the 1908 Young Turk Revolution that reinstated constitutionalism in the Ottoman Empire, he adopted the pen name Gökalp ("cel ...

Ömer Seyfettin Ömer Seyfettin (11 March 1884, Gönen – 6 March 1920, Istanbul), was a Turkish writer from the late-19th to early-20th-century, considered to be one of the greatest modern Turkish authors. His work is much praised for simplifying the Turkish ...

and

Ali Canip Yöntem Ali Canip Yöntem (born 1887 Istanbul - October 26, 1967, Istanbul), was a Turkish poet, writer, literary history researcher, and politician. Biography He was born in 1887 in Istanbul. His father is Halil Saip, a member of the Ministry of Evka ...

. The magazine was financially and politically backed by the CUP. The major tenet of the magazine was to implement the language reform to simplify the

Ottoman language Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...

to improve the literacy rates and to avoid the

dissolution of the Ottoman Empire The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922) began with the Young Turk Revolution which restored the constitution of 1876 and brought in multi-party politics with a two-stage electoral system for the Ottoman parliament. At the same tim ...

. It supported the use of pure Turkish. Another major view of the magazine contributors was that the Ottoman Turkish could not be a national language due to its artificial nature and that

Istanbul Turkish Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant smal ...

should be adopted as the official language of the Empire. To this end the editors of ''Genç Kalemler'' reviewed the literary works written in Ottoman Turkish arguing that these works could not reflect the eminence of the Turkish nation. Ziya Gökalp's poem entitled ''Turan'' was first published in the magazine. Gökalp's another significant contribution in the magazine was his article about the philosophical approach of

Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson

which was the first writing on Bergson in an Ottoman publication. Mehmet Ali Tevfik and Hakkı Süha published poems in the magazine developing analogies between the forces of

Genghis ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr /> Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , ...

and

Attila Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European traditio ...

and the Ottoman soldiers fighting against the

Italian Empire The Italian colonial empire ( it, Impero coloniale italiano), known as the Italian Empire (''Impero Italiano'') between 1936 and 1943, began in Africa in the 19th century and comprised the colonies, protectorates, concessions and dependencie ...

in the

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...

in Libya. ''Genç Kalemler'' published a total of thirty-three issues before ceasing publication in October 1912.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Genc Kalemler 1911 establishments in the Ottoman Empire 1912 disestablishments in the Ottoman Empire Cultural magazines published in Turkey Defunct political magazines published in Turkey Magazines established in 1911 Magazines disestablished in 1912 Mass media in Thessaloniki Turkish-language magazines Turkish nationalism