Communication in Antalya During the National Struggle and Anadolu Agency's Activities in the Region

Communication has been at the heart of life since the first human beings and has provided information exchange among societies and people from the first civilizations to these days. Communication was of vital importance during the struggle of independence and the establishment of the last Turkish State in Anatolia. Despite the fact that being an occupying state, the Italians, passed over Anatolia to communicate with the outside world through Antalya while a large part of Anatolian territories was occupied and isolated from the other world countries. At the time when the War of Independence started, Antalya became an important communication and propaganda center, Anadolu Agency set up its first office in Antalya following Mustafa Kemal's order himself, and declarations and messages from Anatolia were announced to the whole world by the agency. In this study, the communication in and around Antalya, which was the communication and information center from the beginning to the end of the Turkish War of Independence, were gone into, especially the works of Anadolu Agency and its contributions to the War of Independence were discussed in the view of new documents. In this context, scanning and analysis of archival documents were done. Besides, Postal and Dispatch Clerk Zülfikar Kılınçarslan, who conducted information studies directly for Mustafa Kemal Pasha and informed him about many important events, especially the invasion of İzmir, was come to know and his 4th generation granddaughter Asuman Öztürk could be interviewed during this study. It has been understood that, in terms of developments in İzmir and Antalya, the works by Ali Zülfikar Bey are as important as the works done during the invasion of İstanbul by the Telegrapher Hamdi Bey, who is from Manastır. In addition, the fact that the cigarette papers' use by minorities and occupation forces as a matter of propaganda was studied from the perspective of mass media and come up for discussion. Also, conceptual uses misknown by society and the studies about Antalya Post Office, which conducted an important task during the War of Independence, were pointed out and reopened for discussion. The transportation activities, done the planes used by the Turkish Air Force in the War of Independence, from Antalya to the front were examined on the basis of Vecihi Hürkuş's memories and the grave of Pilot Lieutenant Halil Bey, who died at the same time, was also detected during the thesis work. The thesis author's own archive was mostly benefited in this study.