''Büyük Doğu'' () was one of the early Islamist political publications in Turkey. It was started as a daily newspaper and later relaunched as a weekly magazine. ''Büyük Doğu'' was "one of two outlets of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

Islamic thought in Turkey." 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, Islamist ideologue, and conspiracy theorist. He is also known simply by his initials NFK. He was noticed by the French philosopher H ...

, to disseminate his arguments and views. It was in circulation between 1943 and 1978 with some intervals and produced a total of 512 issues. ''Büyük Doğu'' was closed down by the authorities thirteen times during its thirty-five-year run.

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 Hilmi Ziya Ülken (1901–1974) was a Turkish scholar and writer who had an influential role in the development of sociological and philosophical views in Turkey. In addition to his scientific work, he produced literary work, including poems. Ea ...

, Mehmet Faruk Gürtunca,

Suphi Nuri İleri Suphi Nuri İleri (1887–1945) was a Turkish politician and writer. Biography Suphi was born in Gallipoli, Ottoman Empire, in 1887. He was the brother of Celal Nuri İleri. Their mother was Nefise Hanım, the eldest daughter of the Ottoman Al ...

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

, 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 E ...

, Şükrü Baban, Burhan Belge, Kazım Nami, Salih Zeki,

Tevfik Fikret Tevfik Fikret () was the pseudonym of Mehmed Tevfik (December 24, 1867 – August 19, 1915), an Ottoman educator and poet, who is considered the founder of the modern school of Turkish poetry. Biography Family Mehmed Tevfik was born in Is ...

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 ...

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

Sait Faik Sait or SAIT may refer to: People * Sait Faik Abasıyanık (1906–1954), Turkish writer * Talât Sait Halman (1931–2014), Turkish poet * Sait Idrizi (born 1990), Slovenian footballer * Mehmed Said Pasha (1838–1914), Ottoman statesman * Musta ...

. Islamist journalist

Cevat Rıfat Atilhan Mehmet Cevat Rıfat Atilhan (1892 – 4 February 1967) was a Turkish people, Turkish career officer and Antisemitism, antisemitic writer. Known as one of the most prominent Nazi sympathizers in Turkey, he was an initiator of the 1934 Thrace pogrom ...

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 assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's ow ...

. The paper was one of the fierce critics of

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

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 was very popular among the conservative readers. The magazine continued its opposition against the ruling party,

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

, 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'' is a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in Imperial Russia in 1903, translated into multip ...

'' 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 autom ...

'' was published in ''Büyük Doğu'' in 1949. One of its contributors was

Süleyman Yalçın Süleyman Yalçın (1926–2016) was a Turkish physician, academic, conservative political figure and journalist who headed a conservative nationalist think-tank called the Aydınlar Ocağı () in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a faculty member at I ...

, a conservative thinker and physician, who published articles in the magazine from 1956 to 1959 and in 1972. 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 (14 May 1888 – 19 December 1972) was a Turkish Sabbatean (crypto-jew) journalist, publisher, professor and influential policy-advisor in the Republic of Turkey. He was a liberal and opposed the spread of the Nazi ideology in h ...

, a journalist. He accused Yalman of being a

Dönmeh The Dönmeh (, , ) were a group of Sabbatean crypto-Jews in the Ottoman Empire who were forced to convert to Islam, but retained their Jewish faith and Kabbalistic beliefs in secret. The Sabbatean movement was centered mainly in Thessalonik ...

and traitor. In March 1951 leftist university students organized demonstrations protesting both ''Büyük Doğu'' and ''Sebilürreşad'' due to their religious approach and were arrested by the Turkish forces. The criticisms of ''Büyük Doğu'' against reforms carried out by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in March 1959 also led to violent protests by university professors, students and journalists. In addition to political content ''Büyük Doğu'' featured several examples of the

symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

poems which were formalized in a former literary magazine ''

Dergâh ''Dergâh'' () was a conservative literary magazine which was published during the final days of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul from 1921 to 1922. This period witnessed the occupation of Istanbul by the Western forces and also, the Turkish Indep ...

''. ''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 Antisemitism in Turkey Banned magazines Banned newspapers Censorship in Turkey Defunct conservative magazines Defunct Turkish-language newspapers Defunct Turkish-language magazines Defunct Islamic magazines Defunct newspapers published in Turkey Defunct magazines published in Istanbul Defunct literary magazines published in Turkey Defunct political magazines published in Turkey Islamism in Turkey Magazines established in 1945 Magazines disestablished in 1978 Newspapers established in 1943 Poetry literary magazines Publications disestablished in 1943 Weekly magazines published in Turkey