Köroğlu Gazetesi 1928: The Alphabet Reform Illustrated
Erol Köroğlu

19 February 2020 – 19:00
SALT Galata

Köroğlu Gazetesi was a popular illustrated newspaper in print during the Alphabet Reform in 1928, when the Arabic script was replaced by Latin letters. Its pages show how this change took place in the time stretch of just a few months. In his talk, Erol Köroğlu will focus on how this transition was executed and how the newspaper was instrumentalized as a didactic tool to promote the use of the new alphabet. He will elaborate on the relation between the Alphabet Reform and the creation of Turkish national identity, a process that included certain groups of the population while excluding others. His analysis of the pages of Köroğlu Gazetesi will offer a close insight into a time that is crucial for the shaping of the Turkish nation state.

About Erol Köroğlu:

Erol Köroğlu is an assistant professor of modern Turkish literature at Boğaziçi University. He defines his field of work as “literary cultural history of the 19th and 20th centuries in Turkish literature.” After graduating from Boğaziçi University where he also obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, Köroğlu taught Turkish literature at Koç University and Sabancı University. His book titled Türk Edebiyatı ve Birinci Dünya Savaşı (also published in English with the title of Ottoman Propaganda and Turkish Identity: Turkish Literature during World War I in 2007) won the Afet İnan History Award in 2004. Köroğlu’s articles and book chapters have appeared in several publications. He is currently working on Turkish nationalist movements and the emergence of the novel in Turkish.