''Genç Kalemler'' (

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

: ''Young Pens'') was an Ottoman literary and cultural magazine which was one of the earliest nationalist publications in the Ottoman Empire. Murat Belge describes it as a pan-Turkist publication. It was published between April 1911 and October 1912 in

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

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, 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 Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP, also translated as the Society of Union and Progress; , French language, French: ''Union et Progrès'') was a revolutionary group, secret society, and political party, active between 1889 and 1926 ...

(CUP). The founders of ''Genç Kalemler'' were the members of a national literary movement: Ziya Gökalp, Ömer Seyfettin and Ali Canip Yöntem. 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 to improve the literacy rates and to avoid the

dissolution of the Ottoman Empire The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922) was a period of history of the Ottoman Empire beginning with the Young Turk Revolution and ultimately ending with the empire's dissolution and the founding of the modern state of Turkey. The ...

. It supported the use of pure Turkish and employed vernacular Turkish instead of the Ottoman 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 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 philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the S ...

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 and

Attila Attila ( or ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central Europe, C ...

and the Ottoman soldiers fighting against the

Italian Empire The Italian colonial empire (), also known as the Italian Empire (''Impero italiano'') between 1936 and 1941, was founded in Africa in the 19th century. It comprised the colonies, protectorates, concession (territory), concessions and depende ...

in the

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish (, "Tripolitanian War", , "War of Libya"), also known as the Turco-Italian War, was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911 to 18 October 1912. As a result of this conflict, Italy captur ...

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

References

{{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