47. Today in 1920s Turkey: 3 January 1929 (A New Alphabet for the New Year)

Cartoon, Cem, 3 January 1929, no. 37, page 3.

English:
“The incoming year, the outgoing year.”

Comments:
Unlike most of the cartoons and articles posted in Today in 1920s Turkey, this example has little Ottoman text to speak of, indeed, it was not even necessary to include the usual Türkçe/Turkish transcription to accompany the English translation. The reason for this is that the present cartoon was published after alphabet reform which was passed on 1 November 1928 and enforced in the print media at the end of the year, as of 1 December 1928. As such, the advent of alphabet reform and the arrival of the New Year happened almost simultaneously. The present cartoon effectively conflates these two near-concurrent events to illustrate the overarching theme of renewal.

A modern viewer unfamiliar with the history of Turkey (or alphabet reform in particular) can deduce the basic details of “alphabet reform” merely by deciphering the cartoon’s rather straightforward imagery:

1. There is an energetic child representing novelty and renewal. He bounces into the frame as an old man slowly exits to the left. This old man represents age, antiquity, and obsolescence.
2. The child’s bag underscores the fact that he symbolizes the New Year with the number “1929” conspicuously displayed upon it. The old man’s bag, on the other hand, is labeled with 1928, the recently retired year. These transitioning dates are even more relevant in the context of the publication’s release date just three days into 1929. (Publishing it on Tuesday, Jan 1 would not have been possible since the journal Cem only published once per week, on Thursdays, hence the “delay”).
3. As a symbol of the New Year, the young lad tosses about booklets for learning the new Turkish alphabet. The word Alfabe or “Alphabet” appears on the books in the new Latinized Turkish letters. By contrast, unlike the young boy disseminating knowledge, the old man of 1928 is quietly removing his hoard of defunct Arabic letters which represents the script of the old Ottoman order — the very script rejected by the new Republican government.
4. Furthermore, the facial expressions of the two characters contribute to the contrast between new and obsolete; young and old; incoming and outgoing as the young boy sports a shining smile while the old man appears tired, troubled, and unhappy.
5. And finally, even the weather is envisioned by the cartoonist as responding positively to the young boy (aka 1929) who somehow avoids getting drenched. The same cannot be said of the old man (i.e., 1928) who, in addition to carrying his heavy load on his aging back, must hold an umbrella over himself to protect from the heavy rain falling from above.

Originally published at https://steemit.com on January 4, 2017.