Discretionary Fund Expenditures Performed for the Press and Literature During the World War I by the Committee of Union and Progress

After The Mondros Armistice – which was signed at the end of the World War I, and which ended in defeat – the Unionist leaders, Enver, Talat and Cemal Pashas, left Turkey between 1and 2November 1918. There is a “past period” debate around the Committee of Union and Progress, which had made the decision to enter the country into war, in which it retained control of the country during the war, but then fell from power. In the discussions centered on enquiring information and calculations about this failure, mostly financial topics have been dominant, and therefore, the expenditures made by the Committee of Union and Progress during the war have long occupied the country’s agenda. In this regard, the expenditure item in the foreground is the so-called “discretionary fund”. This “discretionary fund” – which became a hugely controversial topic in the country – is of particular importance when it comes to the world of print and literature. The preferred authors for propaganda during the war, success of works, the financial dimension of the issue, the approach of authors to the subject etc. many issues lay the groundwork for debates around the government-author relationship. The same is true for expenditures made during the World War I and during the Union and Progress period. This article will focus on the payments made to the world of print in the light of the information and news reflected in the newspapers due to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the Armistice Period. It also considers the “discretionary fund” account by the power of the Union and Progress in the course of the war. These articles, published in Istanbul between November 1918 and September 1920, are employed as the primary source of this article. In addition, while evaluating the emerging figures and characters, this article examines memorabilia from other studies regarding the same period and research topic. Moreover, it focuses on magazines and titles that had a significant place in our literary history