Türk basın tarihi, ilk gazetenin yayımlandığı 1831'den günümüze çeşitli evrelerden geçmiştir. 1923'te Cumhuriyet'in ilanından sonraki dönem de bu evrelerden biridir. Cumhuriyet'in ilanı, yani yeni bir devletin kuruluş sürecinde basın hayatında da hareketlilik ve değişiklikler yaşanmıştır. Bu süreçte basın-yayın dünyasını doğrudan ve derinden etkileyen dönüm noktalarından biri, hiç şüphesiz ki 1 Kasım 1928 Harf İnkılâbı olmuştur. Bu nedenle Türk basın tarihi açısından bir milat sayılması lazım gelen yeni harflere geçişten hemen önce ülkede mevcut olan eski harfli gazete ve dergilerin dökümü, bunlar hakkında her tür veri, Türk basın tarihi yazımı açısından oldukça önemli bir bilgi demeti oluşturmaktadır. Bu dönüm noktasının önemine binaen bu çalışmada, Cumhuriyet'in ilk evresinde, illere göre yayın hayatında bulunan gazete ve dergiler, bunların sahipleri ve dolayısıyla mülkiyet ilişkileri, yazı kadroları, ortalama tirajlar, gazete ve dergi türleri, matbaalar, 1927 yılına gelindiğinde süreli yayın bulunmayan iller vb. bilgilere devlet salnâmesi gibi birincil bir kaynak vasıtasıyla ulaşılması amaçlanmıştır. Böylece yeni harflere geçişin arifesinde Türkiye'de basın hayatının nasıl bir manzara arz ettiği ortaya konulmaya çalışılmıştır.ulaşılan başlıca veriler şunlardır: Gazete-dergi ve matbaa sayısı azdır. Basının merkezi İstanbul'dur ve ülke düzleminde dağılımı fazlasıyla eşitsizdir. Tirajlar düşüktür. Basın siyasi iktidara çeşitli kanallar vasıtasıyla büyük oranda tabidir. Erkek egemenliği belirgindir. Yayınların büyük bölümü Cumhuriyet öncesinden kalmadır, yani Osmanlı mirası önemli ölçüde sürmektedir

History of Turkish press has been through several phases since the publishing of the first newspaper in 1831 to this day. The period after the proclamation of the Republic in 1923 is one of these phases. In the foundation phase of a new state, there were also actions and changes in the press. In this phase, one of the milestones directly and deeply affecting the world of press, without doubt, is the Alphabet Reform on November 1, 1928. For this reason, the documentation of newspapers and magazines which were published in the former alphabet right before the transformation to new letters and any kind of data related to these form a significant information cycle in terms of historiography of the Turkish press. In this study, in the first phase of the Republic (Turkey), information such as local newspapers and magazines, their owners and therefore property relations, editorial staff, average editions, types of newspapers and magazines, printing houses, and cities where there were no periodicals in 1927, was accessed via a primary source like governmental yearbook. By this way, the atmosphere of the media sector in Turkey in the eve of transformation to the new alphabet has been presented.The main data obtained as a result of the research are; the number of newspaper-magazines and printing houses is low. The center of the press is İstanbul with an unequal distribution throughout the country. Circulation is low. The media usually obeys the political power by means of several channels. Male dominance is obvious. Most of the publications come from pre-republican era, which means the Ottoman heritage largely remains.The media, which can be described in simplest terms as “the art of forming public opinion”, has always been in close contact with politics and its significance grew more for Ankara government, which was enrolled in establishing a new state after the victory of National Struggle. Within the period of the proclamation of the Republic, i.e. the period of establishment of a new state, there was mobility and change in the media as well. Since the end of the National Struggle, there have been inclinations that fully or partially support the operations of the present political power as well as those that oppose them in the Turkish media. In the early Republican period, the political power controlled the oppositions in the media, impeding the development of criticizing approaches in the media towards the methods of modernization. During this period, one of the milestones that directly and deeply affected the media world was unquestionably the Alphabet Revolution on November 1, 1928. Due to this reason, the documentation of newspapers and magazines published in the formerly used alphabet in the country and any data related to these publications constitute a highly significant set of information in terms of historiography of the Turkish media. PURPOSE: In this study, within the period until November 1, 1928, which was a milestone for the history of the Turkish media, it is aimed to access information such as active newspapers and magazines in 1927, their owners and therefore ownership relations (individuals and institutions), editorial staff, average circulation, types of newspapers and magazines, and provinces without periodical publications in 1927 by means of a primary source as the governmental yearbook. Thus, the panorama of the media in Turkey in the eve of transformation to the new alphabet has been put forward. Meanwhile, with the help of this information and due to secondary functions of the media, social, political, and psycho-social data about this important section of Turkish history have become available. METHOD: For the purpose of reaching all the aforementioned data, by documenting the active newspapers and magazines that belong to the period just before the Alphabet Revolution according to provinces, the general panorama of the Turkish media has been put forward in this study. By using the qualitative historical design method and via the 1927- 1928 TC Governmental Yearbook, an inductive conceptualization has been targeted in the study. The reason as to why the TC Governmental Yearbook was chosen as the fundamental source of data is that this publication is an official, primary (not yet translated to modern Turkish from Ottoman), exclusive and unique source. DATA AND DISCUSSION: As a consequence of the data analysis executed in the study, information such as active newspapers and magazines in 1927, their owners and therefore ownership relations (individuals and institutions), editorial staff, average circulation, types of newspapers and magazines, and provinces without periodical publications in 1927 was accessed by means of a primary source as the governmental yearbook. CONCLUSION: According to the Governmental Yearbook of the Turkish Republic published in 1928, there were 231 active newspapers and magazines in 49 of the 63 provinces in total in Turkey by the year 1927. There were 14 provinces with no newspapers-magazines, namely Artvin, Aydın, Erzincan, Elaziz, Urfa, Bayezit, Bitlis, Burdur, Cebeli Bereket, Hakkâri, Siirt, Şebinkarahisar, Gümüşhane and Van. Indeed, the number of provinces without periodicals is seen to increase in the eastern region of the country. 100 0f 231 publications belong to Istanbul. In other words, Istanbul continues to be the unquestionable center of the press in the first years of the Turkish Republic like it used to be in the Ottoman era. İzmir follows İstanbul with 14 and Ankara with 13 publications. No other city could reach double-digit numbers regarding their publications. The three provinces (İstanbul, İzmir and Ankara) host more than half of the Turkish media in the year 1927. İstanbul by itself represents almost half of the Turkish media. Thus, it should be stated that a lack of balance existed countrywide in terms of the media in those days. The total number of official provincial newspapers controlled by the Governorate and hence political power is 31. Apart from regions with no publications, in 13 provinces there was only the provincial newspaper: Aksaray, Bilecik, Çankırı, İçel, Tekirdağ, Tokat, Mardin, Malatya, Yozgat, Çanakkale, Isparta, Sinop, and Kayseri. This means that while 14 out of 63 provinces had a shortage of newspapers-magazines in 1927, 13 of them only had the official provincial newspaper. These two categories constitute almost half of the country in terms of the number of provinces. Apart from the publications of official and partially official institutions such as ministries, municipalities, chambers of commerce, faculties, state hospitals, trade associations and unions, another subject to mention in terms of political power-media relations is journalistparliamentarians. During the aforementioned years, there were many parliamentarians in the media. In the first three periods of the Turkish Parliament, i.e. between the years 1920-1931, 40 journalists can be detected to have worked in the parliament.1 In addition, there are names such as Şevket Süreyya Aydemir, who was the owner and director in charge of Şen Yayla published in Erzurum and who was in close contact with the political power although he was not an MP in that period. The center of non-Turkish media is İstanbul as it was in the Ottoman era. The leading languages in these publications are French and Armenian: French (7), Armenian (7), Greek (6), Jewish (3), German (1), and Russian (1). Among the publications with two or three languages, five of them are in Turkish-French and the other one is in Turkish-French and German. There are but a few number of non-Turkish publications in İzmir and Edirne. It can be mentioned that the polyglottic quality of the Ottoman press vanished to a great extent. Another salient detail is that among the non-Muslim communities whose mother tongue is not Turkish, only Jews had three publications in Turkish. Four of five female newspaper owners used to live in Istanbul and the remaining one is in İzmir. Two of them are Turkish (Cevriye İsmail and Nezihe Muhittin Hanım); two of them are Armenian (Arakis and Haykanuş Marko Hanım); and one of them is Jewish (Eugenie Hayim Hanım). Besides the low number of female newspaper owners, there is little attempt to publish for women. Based on genre, the number of publications for children, sports and art (music, theatre, and cinema) is as low as those published for women. On the other hand, the number of comic ones is rather high (10). This genre especially attracts notice with its geographical popularity. Publications about medicine/health, literature, and trade/economy were in a better state. However, the number of publications labeled as “religious” is two, one of which is Ortodoksia in Greek and the other is Hür Fikir Gazetesi published in İzmit. Political newspapers have dominance in terms of circulation. The number of daily newspapers is approximately 50.Approximately 100 newspapers and magazines started to be published after the proclamation of the Republic. In other words, more than half of the present periodical publications in 1927 remain from the pre-republican period. Therefore, it can be stated that sustainability from empire to nation state continues in the media as well. In fact, the new regime could not find its exact reflection on the press. The Governmental Yearbook does not include satisfactory information regarding the circulations of the year 1927. Based on the information, circulations can be said to float between 500 and 5 thousand. Furthermore, Sedat Simavi’s Resimli Gazete draws attention with its 15 thousand circulations besides the whimsical Karagöz, whose editions started in 1908, with its 30 thousand circulations. In conclusion, the main points of the Turkish media on the eve of the Alphabet Revolution can be listed as follows: The number of newspaper-magazines and printing houses is low. The center of the press is İstanbul with an unequal distribution throughout the country. Circulation is low. The media usually obeys the political power by means of several channels. Male dominance is obvious. Most of the publications come from pre-republican era, which means the Ottoman heritage largely remains.