Kalem (magazine)

Kalem (Ottoman Turkish: Pen) was a bilingual weekly political satire magazine which was in circulation in the period 1908–1911 in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire.[1] The magazine was one of the satirical publications which were started immediately after the end of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid's strict rule.[2] It was published in Turkish and French languages and was one of the most notable satirical magazines in the Empire in terms of the quality cartoons.[3] In addition, it is the first Ottoman publication which employed the word cartoon and attempted to develop a definition for it.[4]

Kalem
Cover page of Kalem, issue 23 dated 4 February 1909
EditorLucien Sciuto
Categories
  • Satirical magazine
  • Political magazine
FrequencyWeekly
Founder
Founded1908
First issueSeptember 1908
Final issueJune 1911
CountryOttoman Empire
Based inIstanbul
Language
  • Ottoman Turkish
  • French

History and profile

Kalem was established in Istanbul in 1908 as a bilingual satirical magazine covering both Turkish and French materials,[5] and its first issue appeared in September that year.[6] The founders were Salah Cimcoz and Celal Esat Arseven.[7] Lucien Sciuto, a Salonican Jewish journalist, was the editor[8] of the magazine which employed large number of cartoonists who produced rich cartoon styles.[2][5] The magazine introduced the concept of modern cartoons in terms of lines and captions used.[4] Because before Kalem cartoon was considered to be just painting by the journalists in the Ottoman Empire.[4]

One of the major contributors was Cemil Cem who started his journalistic career in Kalem[6][9] which targeted educated Ottomans.[2] Another contributor was Refik Halit Karay.[6] There were also international contributors of Kalem one of whom was Henri Yan, a French journalist.[10] In October 1908 the magazine reported its circulation as 13,000 copies.[5] In the same date Kalem published a caricature of German Emperor Wilhelm II who was featured as a two-faced man deceiving the Ottoman Empire.[11] Due to this caricature the issue of the magazine was confiscated and the owner, Salah Cimcoz, was arrested for a short time upon the request of the German embassy in Istanbul.[11] Kalem folded in June 1911.[5][6]

In 2019 the University of Texas at Austin organized an exhibition on Kalem magazine and the political cartoons published in the magazine.[12] The print editions of the magazine are archived at the University.[12]

References
  1. "Catalogue record". Qalem. Hathi Trust: 130 v. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  2. Aslı Tunç (2002). "Pushing the Limits of Tolerance: Functions of Political Cartoonists in the Democratization Process: The Case of Turkey". International Communication Gazette. 64 (1): 53. doi:10.1177/17480485020640010301. S2CID 145098046.
  3. Efrat E. Aviv (2013). "Cartoons in Turkey – From Abdülhamid to Erdoğan". Middle Eastern Studies. 49 (2): 224. doi:10.1080/00263206.2012.759101. S2CID 146388882.
  4. Gamze Bora Yılmaz (2011). To reintroduce the missing sound: Nationalism in Turkish political cartoons (MA thesis). Istanbul Bilgi University. p. 47. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.1001.9537.
  5. Palmira Brummett (November 1995). "Dogs, Women, Cholera, and Other Menaces in the Streets: Cartoon Satire in the Ottoman Revolutionary Press, 1908–11". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 27 (4): 437. doi:10.1017/S0020743800062498. S2CID 161221142.
  6. Syed Tanvir Wasti (2019). "Refik Halid Karay and his memoirs of exile". Middle Eastern Studies. 55 (3): 451, 460. doi:10.1080/00263206.2018.1520102. S2CID 149756420.
  7. Figen Taşkın (2004). "Book review". Yakın Dönem Türkiye Araştırmaları (6): 162.
  8. Juliette Rosenthal (2019). From Constantinople to Cairo: A Zionist Newspaper Across National Boundaries (Undergraduate thesis). Skidmore College. p. 28.
  9. "Drawing Ire: Illustrated Ottoman Satirical Magazines". British Library. 3 May 2020. Archived from the original on 25 April 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  10. Gary Leiser (Summer 2005). "The Dawn of Aviation in the Middle East: The First Flying Machines over Istanbul". Air Power History. 52 (2): 39. JSTOR 26274636.
  11. Erol Baykal (2013). The Ottoman Press, 1908-1923 (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. p. 50. doi:10.17863/CAM.15925.
  12. Dale Correa (2019). "Satire After the Young Turk Revolution: Cartoons from Kalem Magazine, 1908". University of Texas at Austin Libraries. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
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