91. Today in 1920s Turkey: 2 June 1928 (Istanbul’s Warm Welcome to Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha)

(Illustration, Köroğlu, 2 June 1928, no. 11, page 1.)

English
The apple of our eye, our Gazi Father honors Istanbul who longingly awaited him.
Köroğlu: The great Gazi, from orphaned babies to aged and saged seventy-year-olds, Istanbul greets you with a heart full of joy.

Türkçe
Göz Bebeğimiz Gazi Babamız Kendilerini Hasretle Bekleyen İstanbul’u Teşrif Ediyorlar.
Köroğlu: Büyük Gazi, İstanbul, saçı bitmedik yetiminden, yetmişlik gün görmüşlerine kadar seni gönül dolusu sevinçlerle karşılar.

Comments:
This front-page illustration offers a preemptive welcome to national hero, founding father, and first President of the Republic, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha (1881-1938), referred to here only by his military titles, “Gazi Paşa.” Today he is better known as Atatürk (or “Father Turk,”), which is the official last name he adopted in 1934 in accordance with a newly legislated Surname Law (or Soyadı Kanunu). However, as this example demonstrates, it is possible to see him referred to with variants such as “our father” or babamız as early as 1928.

Gazi Pasha arrived in Istanbul on 5 June 1928, several days after this publication hit the news stands. He would end up spending the entire Summer in Istanbul working on, among other things, alphabet reform. The Pasha had been living in the Republic’s new capital city of Ankara since the start of the War of Independence in 1919. Although Gazi Pasha had visited every corner of the Republic after the war, he did not return to the country’s most populous city, Istanbul, until 1927 at which time he was received by the city with great enthusiasm. Eight months later he is expected to make his return, for which various ceremonies and public gatherings were arranged ahead of time. This image presented in anticipation of the beloved President’s arrival includes all of the trappings of modern, state-led secular celebrations including flower-bearing school children, military officials, and a crowd of hat- and flag-waving citizens. Front and center, Gazi Pasha wears a black jacket and stylish gloves and tips his at at the crowd with one hand while carrying his cane with the other.

Incidentally, the magazine’s namesake and mascot, Köroğlu is located on the left, behind the schoolgirls. He is usually included in this journal’s cartoons and can be identified with his bald head and exquisite mustache. Köroğlu, is a traditional Turkish folk character, specifically an epic hero which makes him a perfect spokes person for a journal that describes itself as a “people’s newspaper.”

(Entire page, Köroğlu, 2 June 1928, no. 11, page 1.)