Educational policies from the rule of Democratic Party to the military coup of 1980 and their reflections in history textbooks

The current study attempts to evaluate the secondary school history textbooks between the years 1950-1980 in the Republican era from a critical perspective. It starts with a general introduction on history, power and education, as well as the findings of previous researches. Drawing upon the literature available, the introduction provides divergent or common perspectives regarding the relations between history, power and education. Since the time of its foundation, the Turkish Republic has always emphasized Westernization and strived to participate in the new world order that emerged after 1945s. From the 1950s onwards, the developments in Turkish domestic politics gained a new momentum, which brought an emphasis on educational policies for the ruling parties to legitimize and make it easier to establish their attempts in social, political and economic sphere. During the process in question, what the ruling parties used as a means to implement their educational policies has been the school in the institutional field, and history courses and textbooks in curricular field. Therefore, history courses often provided the basis for the ruling parties to implement and make it easier to establish their policies; or every political party in power used these courses in an effective way. The present study attempts to show how the policies of the ruling parties between 1950-1980 were reflected in the history textbooks, particularly those used in secondary schools. Through a literature review, the study provides information on the educational policies between 1950-1980, the decisions made regarding the secondary education, the history textbooks that were approved for use, the subjects on history textbooks that were added to or removed from the curricula, and the conditions stipulated for the contests in producing history textbooks. The main purpose of the review is to provide a basis for discussion on ?how the policies of the governments between 1950-1980 were reflected in history textbooks?. Examining the policies of the parties in power between these years, reviewing the issues of Tebliğler Dergisi published by the Ministry of National Education during the mentioned period, and using the directives and decrees regarding history textbooks for secondary education as well as the researches made on the subject, the study demonstrates how the policies adopted during the period were reflected in history courses for secondary education. Keywords: History Course, Government Policies, Textbooks