Magazines and Halkevi Publications in Çorum

According to Abdulkadir Ozulu’s book Çorum Basın Tarihi Notları (Çorum Press History Notes, 2012), a total of 80 magazines were published in Çorum from Hale, identified as the city’s first magazine, up to 2011, when the book was written (p. 39). This page summarises the early magazines the book covers in detail, along with the publications of the Halkevi (People’s House, a Republican-era cultural and educational institution). For newspaper history, see The Press History of Çorum.

Hale: Çorum’s First Magazine (1922)

According to the book, the first magazine published in Çorum was Hale Mecmuası. Issued every fortnight, this literary and social-affairs magazine was owned by Madenzade İhsan Said, with Ömer as the responsible editor of its editorial board; it was printed at the Çorum Liva Matbaası. Only 3 issues have been located, and its later fate is unknown (p. 127). The magazine’s name resurfaced from 2004-2006: the Çorum Hakimiyet newspaper revived it as the title of its monthly Culture-Literature-Art supplement, Hale Dergisi (pp. 94, 127-128).

Okulağ: A Record of Language Reform (1935)

Okulağ was a 40-page publication produced by the teachers and students of Çorum Ortaokulu (middle school) on 1 January 1935. Its creators called their own work “cıymak” (a purist-Turkish coinage for “gazete,” newspaper) in the simplified Turkish of the era, though the book classifies it as a magazine by content and length. Known to have appeared in only one issue, it is treated as a document of Çorum’s part in the 1930s movement to purify and simplify the Turkish language (pp. 128-129).

Halkevi Publications: Halk Sözü and Çorumlu Dergisi

The Library and Publishing Section of the Çorum Halkevi issued Halk Sözü as a monthly magazine on 1 January 1937, but financial constraints prevented a second issue and the magazine ended there (pp. 129-130).

The Halkevi’s most substantial and longest-running publication was Çorumlu Dergisi. Issued by the Halkevi’s Language, Literature and History Committee, it was owned and edited by Halkevi chairman Bedri Bilginer, and its first issue appeared on 15 April 1938; it ran for a total of 61 issues between 1938 and 1946. Across all issues it reached 2,410 pages, of which 506 pages were devoted to transcribing Çorum’s Ottoman-Turkish archival documents into both the original script and the modern Turkish alphabet. According to the book, Çorumlu was a serious research and compilation magazine on language, literature and folklore, and was judged worthy of an award in an assessment of Halkevi publications nationwide. The person credited with the greatest effort in keeping the magazine running with such care was Eşref Ertekin (1892-1979), director of the Çorum Hasan Paşa Library. Çorumlu Dergisi was republished in facsimile in 2009 as part of the Çorum Municipality’s Cultural Publications series, edited by İrfan Yiğit (pp. 130-131).

Barış and Çorumluya Çağrım

According to a record based on the 1967 Çorum Provincial Yearbook, Barış Dergisi was published weekly between 1 January and 1 March 1948, but no copy of it has been found (p. 131).

Çorumluya Çağrım (“My Call to Çorumlus”) was launched on 1 February 1962 by the Press and Publishing Committee of the Ankara branch of the Çorum Higher Education Students’ Association, and described itself as a continuation of the now-defunct Çorumlu magazine. Edited by trainee physician Dr. Tuncay Alaybeyoğlu, it managed only 3 issues due to financial difficulties; its pages combined articles on Çorum’s history, folklore and local cuisine with lists of the names of Çorumlu students attending universities and colleges in Ankara (pp. 131-136).

Hitit Beldesi Çorum and İğdeli Gelin

Hitit Beldesi Çorum was a special issue, dated 31 March 1968, again produced by the Çorum Higher Education Students’ Association; it covered the opening of the association’s student dormitory in Ankara, built with contributions from the Çorum Provincial Special Administration (pp. 136-138).

İğdeli Gelin was an arts and culture magazine issued bimonthly from 1969 by the Çorum Directorate of Public Education (Halk Eğitim Başkanlığı); its owner and responsible editor was Hayrettin Koyuncu (p. 138).

Other Publications Recorded in the Book

Beyond the titles above, the book catalogues, in separate sections, a large number of other culture and arts magazines published in and outside Çorum (such as Çorum Kültür Sanat Dergisi), school and institutional magazines, district school publications, and institutional documents and brochures (pp. 138-321). The full listing can be found in the book’s table of contents (pp. III-XIV).

Related Pages

• The Press History of Çorum: From the First Newspaper to Today
• Theatre and Cultural Life in Çorum
• Çorum Libraries

Sources

• Abdulkadir Ozulu, Çorum Basın Tarihi Notları (Çorum Press History Notes), Çorum Belediyesi Kent Arşivi, Çorum 2012, ISBN 978-975-00946-2-0, pp. 39, 127-138. https://www.corum.bel.tr/public/uploads/2023/05/ozulu-kitap-son.pdf