Social, economic and cultural structure of Izmir's centre at ahenk and Köylü newspapers in 1913-1914

In urban history studies, cadastral record books, religious court registries, temettuat (real estate registry) books, state and provincial yearbooks have been used generally. The newspapers were started to be used for urban history studies after the second half of 19th century. The first official newspaper of Ottoman State was published in 1831. After publication of that newspaper, the newspapers Ceride-i Havadis was published in 1840 and Tercüman-ı Ahval was published in 1860. After publication of such newspapers, the newspapers were started to be published both in İstanbul and provincial centers. İzmir is among such provinces where a plenty of newspapers were published. Having provided service locally, those newspapers included a lot of news besides general situation of the Empire. Information which cannot be found in Ottoman Archive documents can be found by means of the newspapers. The newspapers undertook a significant role in introduction of the laws and regulations, issued by the central administration, to the public. In addition, requests and complaints of the people were conveyed to the authorities by means of the newspapers, and solutions could be found in this regard. In this context, Ahenk and Köylü newspapers, published in İzmir, provided service in line with above mentioned purposes. As such newspapers include invaluable information, they have been used as a source in our study and the information included in them have been confirmed by means of comparison with other sources. As the subjects of the study, post-Balkan war period and beginning of the First World War have been chosen. Issues of Ahenk and Köylü newspapers published in 1913-1914 have been examined and social, economic and cultural state of İzmir's centre has been tried to be put forward. Newspaper copies used in the study have been provided from newspaper collection of İzmir Ahmet Priştina City Archive Museum. The main source of the study consists of news related to İzmir in such newspapers. Articles, included in 1913 and 1914 issues of both newspapers with respect to İzmir, have been read and filed. Information obtained from both newspapers has been classified according to the subject matter and main topic and subheadings of the study have been established. In the study, not only such newspapers but also publications related to İzmir have been used. Those newspapers include news about sanjaks and districts of Aydın province besides İzmir. Moreover, political state of Ottoman Empire during related period and relations with other states were handled too and news aiming to inform people about general condition of the state were included in the newspapers. Keywords: İzmir, Newspaper, Aydın, Social, Cultural and Economic Structure.