İspanyol Basınında Çanakkale Savaşları
Mehmet GündüzDünya basını stratejik öneminden dolayı Çanakkale Cephesi’nde yaşanan gelişmeleri yakından takip etmiştir. İspanyol basını da bu cephede yaşanan gelişmeleri okuyucularına aktarmıştır. İspanya Krallığı tarafsız bir ülke olsa da hem İspanyol kamuoyu hem de basınında İtilaf ve İttifak ayrımı bulunmaktaydı. Gazete ve dergilerin politik duruşları Çanakkale Savaşları’yla ilgili haberlere de yansımıştır. İspanyol basını hem İtilaf hem de İttifak Devletleri’yle ilgili haberler aktarmış fakat daha çok İtilaf Devletleri’nin haber kaynaklarını kullanmıştır. İspanyol basınının dış basın kaynakları yerine bizzat kendi muhabirleri aracılığıyla izlemesi İtilaf Devletleri’nin bölgeden çekildiği bir döneme denk gelmiştir. Bu çalışmada Çanakkale Cephesi’nde yaşanan gelişmelerin İspanyol basınına nasıl yansıdığı, basının olaylara nasıl yaklaştığı irdelenmiştir. Çalışma kapsamında İspanyol basınının ilgili dönemi incelenmiştir. Doküman analizi yönteminin kullanıldığı bu çalışmada Çanakkale Savaşları’nın sebepleri, kara ve deniz savaşları ile tarafların başarıya ulaşmak için yaptıkları planlar incelenen temel konulardır.
The Dardanelles Campaign in the Spanish Press
Mehmet GündüzThe world press closely followed the developments on the Çanakkale Front due to its strategic importance. The Spanish press also conveyed the developments on this front to its readers. Although the Kingdom of Spain was a neutral country, a distinction existed between the Entente and the Alliance both in the Spanish public and the press. The political stances of newspapers and magazines were also reflected in the news about the Dardanelles Campaign. The Spanish press reported news about both the Entente and the Central Powers, but mostly used the news sources from the Entente states. The fact that the Spanish press watched the war through its own reporters rather than from foreign media sources coincided with a period when the Entente had withdrawn from the region. This study examines how the developments in the Çanakkale Front were reflected in the Spanish press and how the press approached these events. The article examines . This workwithin its scope the relevant period of the Spanish press. This study uses the document analysis method to examine the main issues regarding the reasons for the Dardanelles Campaign and its land and sea battles, as well as the plans the parties made to achieve success.
The Dardanelles have maintained their importance in world politics throughout history due to its strategic location along trade routes. In the 19th century when the Ottoman Empire had lost power, the Dardanelles frequently came to the fore. Aware that the rivalry between the European states which had started at the end of the 19th century was gradually heading toward war, the Ottoman Empire requested an alliance in this rivalry, first from England and then from France. However, once the empire received a negative response from both states, it had to approach Germany. The Ottoman Empire signed the Turkish-German Treaty on August 2, 1914 with the support of Austria in order to lift the isolation into which it had been pushed.
One of the most important fronts in World War I was the Dardanelles Front. Due to the events on the Gallipoli Peninsula having affected many countries in different ways, this place became one of the focal points of the war. Because of its strategic importance, many newspapers sent journalists to the region to inform their readers about the developments on the Dardanelles Front, with journalists from countries such as Germany, Austria-Hungary, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Bulgaria, and the USA coming to Türkiye.
During World War I, the approaches of the Spanish newspapers and magazines following the war on the Çanakkale Front changed according to their political stances. The Spanish press transmitted news directly from centers such as Istanbul, Athens, Berlin, Bordeaux, Bucharest, London, Moscow, Paris, and Rome, as well as from Ottoman, French, English, Greek, German, Italian, and Soviet newspapers. While the Entente forces were withdrawing from Çanakkale, the ABC newspaper reporter Jiariro Buceno from Spain came to Türkiye on January 3, 1916, and war reporter Enrique Dominguez Rodino came on January 10, 1916.
This study attempts to reveal how the Spanish press presented the events in the Dardanelles Front to their readers, which events they conveyed the most to their readers, and how they approached these events. This study adopts the qualitative research approach and uses the document analysis method to systematically analyze the content of written documents. The newspapers and magazines examined within the scope of the study were accessed from the archives of Hemeroteca Digital and the ABC newspaper, which are affiliated with the Spanish National Library (Biblioteca Nacional de España) in Madrid. This research attempts to examine the issues that were relevant in all the Spanish newspapers and magazines that were published and accessed during the years of the Dardanelles Campaign.
Although Spain being a neutral country had created a freer news environment for the press, the Spanish press cannot be said to have acted completely objectively. The distinction between the Entente and the Alliance that was seen in the Spanish public during the war was also seen in the Spanish press. The political stances of newspapers and magazines were also reflected in the news about the Dardanelles Campaign. Although the Spanish newspapers reported various news based on the press of the Central Powers, they can be said to have mostly benefited from the press of the Allied Powers. Again, some press organs were seen to share the viewpoints of the Entente or the Allied Powers within the framework of their publishing policies. In general, the Spanish press attributed the defeat of the Allied Powers at Gallipoli to the Germans’ support of the Turks and the mistakes the Entente Powers had made, including those who’d approached the Turks moderately. By concentrating on why the Allies lost rather than on why the Turks won, the Spanish press focused on the lack of coordination between the Entente forces, tactical errors, and the geographical difficulties of Çanakkale. Although the Spanish press often ignored the Ottoman Empire’s struggle to defend the region, one should note that some newspapers and writers gave the Turks proper credit.
