A View from Local to a National Issue: The Events of September 6-7 in Kocaeli Press

Abstract

The events of 6-7 September are the events that started with the news that a bomb was dropped on the house where Atatürk was born in Thessaloniki. In the events that started in Istanbul on the evening of 7 September 1955, marches were held with slogans containing harsh words against the Greeks, and especially the houses and workplaces of the Greeks were destroyed. Although the incident was evaluated as an “emotional reaction” at first glance, different claims have been made so far. It should not be forgotten that the increasing tension in Cyprus and some newspapers and non-governmental organizations had an impact on these events, which should not be considered independently of the conjuncture of the period. In this study, news, comments, visual materials and evaluations about the 6-7 September Events in the Kocaeli press of the period were discussed comparatively. In the study, which was carried out as a discourse analysis, the daily newspapers published in Kocaeli such as Demokrat Kocaeli, Yavuz, Izmit, Hursoz, Bizim Şehir, Azim and Istiklal were evaluated, including before and after the events. It can be said that the journalists working in Kocaeli, at a time when the public had to be content with news from a single center and one-sided, were relatively accurate and on-site reporting due to their closeness to the events. At this point, it has been tried to evaluate the way the newspapers deal with the subject and their similarities and differences with each other. At a time when the government, opposition and media united in a common attitude and stance on a national issue like Cyprus, the Kocaeli press took a similar stance on the perpetrators of the 6-7 September Events. However, it should be kept in mind that it is difficult to freely express different views and contrary opinions in an environment where the martial law declared after the events unfolded.