Halkın Sesi Gazetesi Örneğinde Kimlik ve Ulusal Kimlik Oluşumunda Basının Rolü

Abstract

The study examines the place and the role of the oldest newspaper Halkın Sesi – Voice of the People in forming Turkish Cypriots’ identity within the concept of identity and national identity. The newspaper which was founded by Dr. Fazıl Küçük on March 14, 1942 is the only newspaper of Turkish press history which is published without interruption for 77 years. The newspaper has witnessed the various stages of the history of Cyprus, and has made significant contributions to the establishment of Turkish identity. The founder and the managing editor of the newspaper Dr. Fazıl Küçük was the most important political identity of the Turkish Cypriots’ existence struggle. Besides being the ownership of Halkın Sesi newspaper, he was elected as Lefkoşa Municipal Council Member on March 1943, became one of the founders of Association of the Turkish Minority of the Island of Cyprus – known as KATAK) on April 1943, established Turkish Cypriot National Union Party (Kıbrıs Türk Milli Birlik Partisi) on April 1944, and in December 1959 became Vice President of the Republic of Cyprus, and gained the title of Turkish Cypriot community leader. In this study, the newspaper Halkın Sesi which made significant contributions to the establishment of Turkish Cypriot identity is studied within the frame of qualitative research method. The study compiles the memories of Dr. Fazıl Küçük - the founder and the editor of Halkın Sesi newspaper and the information that take place in limited number of books on Halkın Sesi newspaper and Turkish Cypriots’ press history, and analysis the news texts published especially during the foundation years of the newspaper.

Keywords

• identity
• national identity
• turkish cypriots
• halkın sesi newspaper
• communication