Turkish Republic's participation in the international world fairs (1930-2000)

International world fairs are means and mediums of rich communicational designs which are organized mostly with architectural elements. It is possible to state that fair pavilions, where countries, firms and international institutions are represented, are incentives of communicational design. This study examines how Turkey wants to see and show herself and how Turkey and/or Turkish identity is visualized through the Turkish pavilions in the international world fairs in which she participated. In this context, the reflections created in the Turkish architectural circles and in Turkish society via the message given by architecture are examined. It is observed that Turkish pavilion in Pest (1930),Turkey's first international participation, reflected "the desired"; however, it is also observed that this image fiction was not repeated in following participations. The next pavilion design in New York World Fair (1939), although included contradictions in itself, tried to find a balance to reconcile the identity of the country and the modernity. It is noted that in the design of the Turkish Pavilions examined in this study, present and usual images are repeated, considering the images in the minds of "the others" (foreigners) apart from "the desired". Such a situation points out the difficulty in creating an image design for Turkey. Thus, it seems necessary that an actual fiction relating the country's image should be done and an architectural attitude, which will be a direct a piece of this fiction, should be developed. It appears to be necessary that Turkey's image should be handled realistically and the thought that images are comprehended individually should be abandoned. Key Words: World's fair, international exposition, expo, image design, communicational design, identity visualization. vm