Political life of the city in Adana (Seyhan) press (1934-1960)

The subject of this thesis is the political life of the city in the Adana press and the relationship between the press and politics. The study, which aims to read together the history of politics, the city and the press in the city of Adana, discusses the relationship between national history and local history. The thesis focuses on Adana as a field of study and examines the political life of the city based on the local press. The study covers the period from the Law on Compiling Printed Letters and Pictures, which was enacted in 1934, to the military coup of May 27, 1960. Therefore, the chronological and political boundaries of the study consist of the single-party period and the first important phase of the multi-party period. In the study, the political life of the city of Adana is mainly examined with reference to the newspapers Yeni Adana, Türk Sözü, Bugün and Demokrat, and it is also examined from the newspaper "Vatandaş", although it is not as effective as them. These newspapers, which had an important place in the press life of the period in terms of both stable publication and socio-political impact, formed the main line of the historical material on which the thesis is based, but also newspapers that were short-lived and not included in the mainstream were also included in the research. When the political life of the city is examined in the Adana press, the dynamic link of the city with the national agenda is remarkable. Adana, which has an important place in Turkey and in the surrounding regions historically, geographically and socio-economically, has been a politically important power center due to these characteristics and the population potential it contains. We see that the CHP and Democrat Party, which constituted the center of Turkish politics in this period, attached special importance to the city and tried to organize strongly in the city.The press life of the city, which spent the general and local election periods and the congress processes of the parties very lively and intensely, was also under the influence of this political vitality.Political developments and changes in the country have also affected the press life of the city, and political distinctions have also been found here. Leaders of both central and smaller-scale political parties, important politicians and statesmen visited the city frequently, held rallies here and followed the developments in the city closely. The city has been in a position that not only politicians in Turkey but also international political actors care about and visit. When the local press of the period is examined, we see that many international political actors visited the city and made contacts.