Abstract:

To create a collective consciousness in the early Republic period, especially late Ottoman history was covered in textbooks in a restricted and marginalized way. It was the same in the narration of fronts during the during the World War I in which the founders of the Republic joined as well. While the Gallipoli Front and Caucasian Front, where Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) took part, had a wide coverage, other fronts were given no or very little coverage. In this way, a historiography centering upon Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) came out in the early Republic period and in its aftermath. In the present study, document review and descriptive analysis were carried out on the texts in the secondary education history textbooks that were ratified by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of National Education and announced through Tebliğler Dergisi (Journal of Communiques) and were taught uninterruptedly and much longer than other textbooks from 1931 to 2016. Based on the data obtained, coverage of the Mesopotamian Campaign in general and Siege of Kut in particular in secondary education history textbooks was evaluated. Siege of Kut, which was the second victory of the Turkish army in the World War I following the Gallipoli victory, was seen to be covered with a couple of short sentences under the title of the Mesopotamian Campaign in some history textbooks. There were also some textbooks giving no coverage to Siege of Kut. Only short information was given about the Mesopotamian Campaign in a couple of sentences in some history textbooks. Accordingly, in the present study, a proposal was suggested on how to present Siege of Kut, which is one of the rare occasions in which the English were defeated and their army were held captive, in history textbooks as a victory and make next generations aware of its importance.

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