The results obtained from archive data reveal military censorship to have been applied to the cinema during World War I. However, to say that this prohibition was entirely reciprocated in the social base is difficult, because even though the projection of unethical films was banned, the most significant proof against this was the continued showing of such films in several cinemas in Istanbul.

The Ottoman State applied censorship primarily to communications, the press, cinema, theatre, and other entertainment (lu’biyyat) fields during World War I. State power had increased due to war conditions and brought with it new supervision and control styles. The censorship applied to telegraphs and letters carried the right to privacy to a delicate point. All these control mechanisms were designed to prevent information from falling into enemy hands and to inhibit propaganda activities.

In this sense, World War I presented an important turning point in the history of censorship and state supervision because the war started being seen as not only the conflict of armies but also the conflict of societies. A failure in the interior could lead to a defeat in the front. Thus, sustaining public opinion became obligatory. This case ensured that all communication systems, the press, and modern arts such as cinema and theatre would be subjected to censorship. Using the restrictions imposed in this manner, numerous regulations controlling what could or could not be expressed in cinema were made.

Film censorship in the Ottoman State was primarily carried out by military censorship committees. However, serious problems were experienced in practice. The heavy workload of the military censorship committees led to the disruption of the duty of film censorship. In this respect, the censorship system halted as the films containing political content that were required to be censored could not be analyzed carefully. This case was changed by order of the Department of Supreme Military Command, and the duty of film censorship was left to the Police Directorate. Any film that was not approved by the government censorship could not be released. When examining the films that had been censored during World War I, military images in favor of the Allied Powers, war and propaganda films belonging to the Allied Powers, unethical films, films with separatist content, and films that could disrupt political relations between the Ottoman government and other states were seen to have been forbidden. The Ottoman General Staff realized the cinema censor by modeling judgments and the censor transactions that its allies Austria and Germany had applied to cinema and theatre. Cinemas were allowed to show Ottoman army parades that would evoke patriotic feelings, army wars, ethical films, and films consisting of pages belonging to the history. Additionally, army images in favor of the Allied Powers as well as unethical and separatist films were forbidden.

The most striking point regarding cinema censorship was that cinema censorship for children became an issue during the war. Scenes of murder cases occurred in many films during movie screenings in Istanbul. How these scenes negatively affected children’s mental health drove the Ottoman authorities to act. In order to prevent children from being harmed by staging these scenes, a regulation was planned to be made that children under 16 would not be allowed in public cinemas. In this sense, an article was added to the draft law titled Tiyatro, Sinema ve Buna Mümasil Lu’biyat Mahallerinin Sureti Küşad ve İdareleri Hakkında that was presented to the Council of State on August 19, 1916. Within this scope, the plan was to forbid children under 16, ages when they need upbringing and protection, from entering cinemas and theatres at any time, instead they would only be allowed to view cinema and theatre shows on Fridays and holidays based on their level of education and age.