''Marko Paşa'' (literally ''Marco Pasha'') was a weekly political satire magazine which was in circulation between 1946 and 1950. The magazine was based in

Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over , it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in th ...

, and subtitled, ''Political Satire Periodical for the People''. It is one of the earliest publications in the country which employed cartoons for

class struggle In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

History and profile

''Marko Paşa'' was established in 1946 by leading Turkish journalists and authors, namely

Aziz Nesin Aziz Nesin (; born Mehmet Nusret, 20 December 1915, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire – 6 July 1995, Izmir , Turkey) was a Turkish writer, humorist and the author of more than 100 books. Born in a time when Turks did not have official surnames, ...

Sabahattin Ali Sabahattin Ali (25 February 1907 – 2 April 1948) was a Turkish people, Turkish novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. Early life He was born in 1907 in Ardino, Eğridere township (now Ardino in southern Bulgaria) of the San ...

and Rıfat Ilgaz. Of them Sabahattin Ali was also the owner of ''Marko Paşa'' which was financed by the members of the Socialist Party. The founding editor-in-chief of the weekly was Sabahattin Ali who held the post until 1948. The first issue appeared on 25 November 1946, and the magazine was consisted of four pages with 26x41cm size. The magazine was published on a weekly basis and had a socialist political stance featuring political satire. It was one of the opposition media outlets to 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 ...

. The magazine was also one of the critics of the United States. Several issues of the magazine was banned, and the editors were often sued because of their drawings and writings. In order to reflect this pressure the cover of the magazine occasionally contained statements like "published when not censored" and "published when writers not in custody". All such tensions between the editors of the magazine and single party government are one of the reasons for the mysterious murder of Sabahattin Ali in 1948. ''Marko Paşas first issue sold just 6,000 copies. The circulation raised to 70,000 copies by the sixth issue. ''Marko Paşa'' could survive until 1950 when it was closed down by the court orders, and Aziz Nesin was imprisoned due to his writings in the magazine which criticized the American aid to Turkey.

Legacy

The issues of ''Marko Paşa'' were archived under the Chicago Ottoman Microfilms Project initiated by the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1985.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marko Pasa 1946 establishments in Turkey 1950 disestablishments in Turkey Banned magazines Censorship in Turkey Defunct political magazines published in Turkey Magazines established in 1946 Magazines disestablished in 1950 Magazines published in Istanbul Satirical magazines published in Turkey Socialist magazines Turkish-language magazines Turkish political satire Weekly magazines published in Turkey