YÜZELLİLİK OSMAN NURİ (BALKANLI) BEY’İN GAZETECİ KİMLİĞİ İLE TÜRKİYE CUMHURİYETİ’NE BAKIŞI

As is known, some civilian-military intellectuals came out against the Countrywide Resistance Organization in Anatolia, and the governance of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey during the War of Independence. While some of these intellectuals left the country before the end of the War of Independence, others left the country following the Battle of Dumlupinar, and they were then listed among the Yuzellilik (150 Personae non Gratae) group. Osman Nuri (Balkanli) was one of these intellectuals. Osman Nuri, who was born in Tirnova [Kilifarevo] village of Bulgaria, worked as a self-employed lawyer after completing his law degree, and he also began to work as a journalist in the same period. He also worked as the governor of Ayvalik before the Greek Invasion, and then he was appointed as the governor of Balikesir by the Government of Istanbul. He came back to Istanbul when he found out about the civil resistance in Balikesir, and then he was appointed as the governor of Dersim. After the Representative Committee protested this appointment, he was then appointed as the governor of Bolu. He continued to come out against the War of Independence. He came back to Istanbul after the Representative Committee took over the governance of Bolu, and then he left for Bulgaria in September 1920. He settled in Şumnu and worked as a teacher/hodja in Nuvvab Madrasah and continued to work as a journalist. He wrote in Yarin (Tomorrow) Newspaper published by Mustafa Sabri in Iskeçe (Xanthi); in Intibah (Renaissance) newspaper published in Şumnu; and Acik Soz (Honest Words) and Dostluk (Friendship) newspapers in Sofia. Osman Nuri (Balkanli), who lived in Bulgaria until 1938 and returned to Turkey in the same year, was one of the most important persons with his columns in newspapers popular among the Turks in the Balkans. Both these newspapers and Osman Nuri’s other works and opinions have not yet been revealed. Whereas these articles both reveal the reasons of the opposition for the War of Independence, and they have the potential to explain the Balkan Turks’ outlook on the Turkish Republic after 1923. Besides Osman Nuri’s outlook on the Turkish Republic, in this study, the authors will try to present the conservative Balkan Turks’ outlook on the political regime in Turkey, and their perceptions, thoughts and arguments regarding the reforms.