A political and social analysis of Turkey through the cartoons in Turkish newspaper during the World War II

The aim of this study is to examine the cartoons published in national newspapers in Turkey between 1939-1945 in terms of semiotics and discourse analysis. In the study, the panorama of Turkey was examined through the published cartoons of the Second World War Turkey. The social and economic reflections of the Second World War on the Republic of Turkey were discussed through cartoons. The cartoons between 1939-1945 were examined in a certain chronological order. They were dealt with separately over the years, including political issues, socio-economic issues, military issues and other topics. Semiotic analysis, discourse analysis, agenda setting and framing techniques and theories were used in the analysis of political cartoons published in the Turkish press between 1939-1945. Discourse analysis was used in cartoons with subtitles, and semiotic analysis was used in cartoons consisting only of lines. Semiotic and discourse analysis techniques were used in the cartoons in which both were used. As a model, the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (b.1857-d.1913)'s signifier, signified and sign model and the denotation and connotation model of the French philosopher and semiotician Roland Barthes (b.1915-d.1980) were used. The study is based on, as a discourse analysis approach, Punch's understanding of discourse analysis, in which all kinds of truths are reproduced. This study consists of six chapters, including introduction and conclusion. In the introduction part, the subject, purpose, importance, theoretical framework, method and data collection techniques of the thesis are discussed. In the second part, a panorama of Turkish political history is presented, especially based on the idea that Turkey's modernization and westernization processes began to emerge as of the end of the 1830s, when modern political institutions and contemporary international understanding emerged. In the third chapter, the historical development of the art of caricature in Turkey is briefly explained. In the fourth chapter, the scope and limitations of the study are presented within a theoretical framework. In the fifth chapter, the findings are presented. In this section, a sketch of the period's elite, the press, the general economic situation of the country and its foreign policy has been drawn.