Abstract:

The nationalist movement that started with the French Revolution constituted one of the intellectual foundations of the Republic of Turkey. Thus, the newly established Turkish state was shaped by an organized form of nation state structure. In the first years of the Republic, it  was aimed to establish the identity of the Turkish nation and to adopt the principles and revolutions of Ataturk to society which are realized with the basic philosophy and values of the republic. The adoption of a common culture, especially the national language in the process of the formation of the Turkish nation identity has given importance to the permanence and future of the nation state identity, in particular with the inoculation of national consciousness to children from their early ages. The media has also existed as one of the nationalization tools in this period in terms of having functions such as being able to mold public opinion, informing and being effective in social change processes. Especially after the alphabet revolution, there has been an increase in the number of printed publications and children’s magazines also played an active role in the construction of national identity. In this context, three examples of the “Children’s Voice” magazine which began its publication life in the first period of the Republic and which lasted for many years were selected as an example in this study. The study’s research questions were shaped as follows: What kind of contents and messages are involved for nation building in the contents of Çocuk Sesi magazine? Which national, cultural and personal values were used to have for children’s design? What kind of communication strategies were benefited for these values to transmit? According to the findings, it was determined that children’s magazines such as the media in the first period of the Republic, also existed as one of the nationalization tools, and a Turkish child’s design was carried out in the magazine of Children’s Voice with the elements of Turkish nation identity.

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