The Salom newspaper in Turkey since its 1984 language transformation from Ladino to Turkish and the Turkish Jewish community


Uzer U.

JOURNALISM, 2022 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Publication Date: 2022
  • Doi Number: 10.1177/14648849221139677
  • Journal Name: JOURNALISM
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, ComAbstracts, Communication & Mass Media Index, Communication Abstracts, Index Islamicus, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, PAIS International
  • Keywords: Jewish media in Turkey, Jewish identity, nationalism, Ladino, Turkish nationalism, Middle East
  • Istanbul Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The linguistic Turkification of the dwindling Turkish Jewish community during the period of the Republic extended to its media outlets. The Salom newspaper, published in Turkey since 1947, changed its language from Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) to Turkish in 1984. This article takes that change as the starting point for an examination of the place of the publication within the political framework of a nationalizing secular state as well as its recent Islamification. The paper's content is reviewed through its archives and interviews with columnists. Thus, the recent history of a Jewish newspaper in a secular Muslim country has been meticulously researched and analyzed so as to unpack the relationship between language and identity.