205. Today in 1920s Turkey: 9 September 1925 (Flipping Fezzes)
Türkçe:
Yine Bazarganlara Gün Doğdu!
Bazargan: Eskiler alıyorum, fes alıyorum, şalvar alıyorum, cübbe, sarık alıyorum.
English:
A New Dawn for the Bazaar Merchants!
Merchant: I’m taking old/used items, I’m taking fezzes, I’m taking shalwars, I’m taking cloaks and turbans.
Comments:
The smell of hat reform was in the air when this particular issue of Karagöz hit the newsstands. Over the course of 1925, and especially after the infamous Takrir-i Sükun Kanunu (or the Law on the Maintenance of Order) that subjected publishers to censorship scrutiny, Karagöz observed a hardline pro-administration, nationalist tone in its reporting and content. The paper’s support for the republican regime became especially pronounced during political or martial conflicts such as their coverage of the Sheykh Said Revolt, as well as in the days leading up to a major, and potentially controversial or divisive reform act, as in the case with the present illustration.
The official reform act banning the use of fezzes by male citizens and restricting the wearing of turbans/sarıks to religious figures would pass on 25 November 1925. However, much like the alphabet reform that would follow in 1928, hat reform unfolded gradually and over the course of several months beginning in the summer of 1925 and picking up speed in late August with President Mustafa Kemal’s trip to Kastamonu, where he first introduced western hats or headgear to local crowds. Surrounding this event popular dailies and other supportive periodicals began reporting on and promoting the impending legislation.
The present cartoon reads more like an illustration as it does not make use of any symbolic representation or visual shorthands. In the present case, this means that without the text below the image, it is difficult to discern exactly what the picture is about. From this text we find out that the image shows a merchant traveling around neighborhoods to collect old articles of clothing — especially those with very near expiration dates, such as the fez. While it is not clear if this image represents something that is happening or something that would happen, it highlights how some people may benefit financially from the new reform while conceptually (and preemptively) devaluing the soon-to-be abolished items. Some merchants who specialize in secondhand materials by “flipping” used things (including deconstructing and stripping old things), will have a sudden abundance of discarded materials to work with and to produce new, presumably profitable items to sell. The text indicates that such merchants are or would be “calling” for used/old items in the streets, as was a common practice among smaller enterprising individuals and/or straight-to-your-door services, especially throughout large cities. The verb almak was used in this case and it can mean “to take” or “to buy.” Is it safe to assume this man is compensating people, however small the amount? Or is he merely proposing to collect the used articles of clothing for free? Since it is conceivable that both could be the case, I used the vaguer “to take” for all the almaks, repeating the same ambiguity of the original wording.
Today in 1920s Turkey has covered a range of responses to this legislated change. For instance, this satirical dialogue appeared early in the lifecycle of the reform: on 5 August 1925. It is notable for its subversion of the fez similar display of plans for its “recycling” once banned. The pro-administration newspaper Cumhuriyet ran content supportive of the reform and therefore, of the new western-style hats replacing the fez. Accordingly, snippets such as this used local personages (and a hint of humor) to promote the new attire. The reason for the proliferation of such promotional material at this time is because the reform had its detractors: naturally, not everyone wanted to change the way they dressed and the articles of clothing they wore. Several months later, in December 1925 Karagöz reveals one way in which average citizens protested the law: by not leaving their homes. This passive protest was mocked in the pages of this paper, which continued to cover the matter in the days following the reform. As late as January 1926 the subject still occasionally appeared in serials like Karagöz. The following example (post #138) reads like an epilogue, as it features a cartoon about the late-stage obsolescence of the fez — imagined as a mere trinket sought after by foreign tourists.
