8. Today in 1920s Turkey: 12 August 1925 (Iranophobia)

(Karagöz, 12 August 1925, no. 1816, page 4.)

Comments:
Published eighty-nine years ago today in Turkey, this cartoon presents a fictional view of what the nascent Republic could look like if the religious orders or tarikats had their way. Painting a bleak vignette of a slum consisting of dilapidated houses, beggars, lethargic people, street dogs, and heavily concealed women, the cartoon functions as a warning of how quickly progress (if not protected or supported) can be reversed.

Every state has a rival neighboring country that is regularly lampooned or criticized in popular lore and the media (e.g. America and Mexico, Denmark and Sweden, India and Pakistan). Post-war Turkey had a few of these proverbial piñatas: Greece and Iran. The latter is an interesting case as Iran was regularly employed as a warning beacon for Turkey. It exemplified geographically close, culturally similar but ultimately miserable state that Turkey could resemble if religion dictated public policy and societal norms. Indeed, for historians of the Ottoman state, this centuries-old line of rhetoric should be fairly familiar. Furthermore, to this day the threat of “becoming like Iran” is still one that is expressed every time the current Turkish government passes a regressive law or a conservative politicians make anti-secularist or ignorant statement. That since the 70s Iran has officially been an “Islamic Republic” has only solidified the perception of Iran as Turkey’s backwards, less fortunate, ugly cousin to this day.

English:
How Authorities within Religious Orders Imagine the Country [Should Be]
Karagöz: Oh my, Hacivat, am I dreaming or what? What is up with this, I thought I was in the city of Nishapur in Iran. What happened to our country?
Hacivat: The supporters of religious orders wanted to turn our beautiful country, which was marching on the path to civilization, into this. Here, look and understand their differences.

Türkçe:
Tarikat Salahiyecilerin Düşündükleri Memleket
Karagöz: Aman Hacivat rüya mı görüyorum nedir. Bu ne hal, kendimi İran’ın Nişapur şehrinde zannettim. Ayol bizim memlekete ne oldu?
Hacivat: Medeniyete doğru yürüyen gül gibi memleketi tarikat salahiyeciler bu hale çevireceklerdi. İşte bak da aradaki farkı anla!

(Entire back page, Karagöz, 12 August 1925, no. 1816, page 4.)