Education of citizenship in the period of 2. Meşrutiyet context of an Ottoman citizenship textbook Rehber-i İttihad

With the declaration of the second constitanial period (II. Meşrutiyet 1908), a new period has begun, to create a new kind of human profile was the goal of this period. In order to maket his goal real, soon after the declaration of the Meşrutiyet 2nd, a new course called ?Malumat-ı Medeniye? was added to the curriculum. This course was the first base of the other courses like ?Yurt Bilgisi?, ?Vatandaşlık Bilgileri?, ?Vatandaşlık ve İnsan Hakları Eğitimi? that were taught during the Republican Period.In this period which a child not only belonged to his/her family but also was seen as the future of the tomorrow, schools have gainde much more importance as a socializing agent. So as to create a new generation filled with the values of the Meşrutiyet, all the courses mentioned above took their place in the curriculum. However, hastily preparing the books of the courses taught with the great expectiations is somewhat interesting. It is observed that course book writers were affected by the West especially France. In our research, we examined ?Rehber-i İttihad? which was one of the first books related with the course ?Malumat-ı Medeniye.?To get information between the lines of this book written for primary school children is possible. The first use of teh expression ?Nation Assembley (Millet Meclisi)? is solely a good reason to examine this work. The other specialities of the book are dealing with ?Ottomanism,? the official ideology of that period, to creat a new viewpoint regarding to the values of the government and Meşrutiyet, to criticize Abdülhamit 2nd period and lastly to include extensive and true information about agriculture. Also, its effective language, almost no mentioning of ?other world? topics and for political events the writer?s common idea reflecting the atmosphere of the period its written in, can all be added to the specialities of the book mentione above.To sum up, ?Rehber-i İttihad? is the first book written for ?Malumat-ı Medeniye? course which was begun to be taught as an separate course a century ago. This book was written with the effects of the ideology of ?Ottomanism,? traces of the 31 March Incident and the write?s common view of especially political topics. This book is an answer to government?s transmitting the values of the Meşrutiyet to school children through school.Key Words: Rehber-i İttihad, education of citizenship, Müstecabizade İsmet