Abstract:

Republican People’s Party (CHP) held a competition named “CHP Art Awards” in between 194 and 1947. The intellectuals of the period showed great interest in this contest, which was held at the national level and was awarded the prize money. The contest was staged in a term of both World War 2 and transition to the multi-party system in Turkey after the war. Therefore, it coincided with the year that economic, social, and political hardships were experienced. However, this competition was organized uninterruptedly in the years mentioned before, except in 1944. The reason why CHP held such a contest was coming from its desire to have an impact on the advance in fine arts and to help the public benefit from not only the educational but also the entertaining aspects of the arts. On the other hand, CHP also used these contests as a way of propaganda to place the revolutionary ideology through artistic works.

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