The Fiction of the Turkish Republic of the 1920s – 1930S and the Formation of Ideas about the Place of Women in a New Society

Transformation of the Turkish woman’s status and creation of her new image have been key issues since the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Women’s rights and their position in society were seen as indicators of Turkey’s modernization processes, and for this reason were placed at the forefront of the political agenda of the new Republican regime. The course of the Government was reflected in the literary works published after the proclamation of the republic. This article reconstructs the image of a new Turkish woman created in short stories and novels of the early Republican period. The historical analysis of these works allows us to explore the process of legitimizing the idea of a new person through literary images. The writers whose works were published in the 1920s and 1930s promoted new ideas, influenced by European Enlightenment and 19th-century realism. Their heroines confronted traditional problems: forced marriages, familial disrespect, and a lack of autonomy, education, or income. Unlike Ottoman-era realists who depicted passive women, Republican authors forged a new ideal: a thinking, active, and patriotic Turkish woman, fulfilled in both family and professional life. Female writers actively contributed to this emancipation. They not only followed the spirit of the new ideology but also personally embodied the role model through their demonstrable patriotism, education, and embrace of innovation.