Research Information System
Thesis Type: Postgraduate
Institution Of The Thesis: Istanbul Commerce University, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Turkey
Approval Date: 2019
Thesis Language: Turkish
Student: DİLARA ŞENSİVAS
Supervisor: DAĞLAR MACAR OYA
Open Archive Collection: AVESIS Open Access Collection
Abstract:Propaganda is a unidirectional and systematic form of communication that targets the masses in accordance with predetermined goals and aims to develop behaviors of these masses in accordance with the determined goals. With the emergence of the modern nation-state in the historical process, propaganda has become one of the most effective means used by the state. States are using propaganda to create a sense of national identity and common goals, especially in times of crisis and war, and convince their citizens to make sacrifices for their country and nation. From the 19th century onwards, war began to transform into a total form of war involving all layers of society and using all the resources of the state, aiming at the total destruction and unconditional surrender of the enemy. War propaganda, which was the first total war, was used to prove the right of the war, to convince and support the people in the war, to influence their allied and neutral citizens, to demoralize the enemy, to build the national identity and to show the human approach to the soldiers during the war. The idea of humanitarian aid was often used to show that the soldiers in the war were approached from a humanitarian perspective. Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations, which became the institutionalized form of humanitarian aid, made propaganda to support the soldiers on the one hand, which became a symbol of humanitarian aid, using the organic ties they established with the states they are affiliated with. The National Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations frequently used the themes of nationalism in these propaganda activities and were effective in mobilizing the society during the war. In this thesis, how the health and humanitarian aid of the Ottoman Hilal-i Ahmer Society (Red Crescent) in World War I was used as a propaganda tool and its projections in the society were examined. The activities of Hilal-i Ahmer during the First World War, newspaper news about the society, postcards, post stamps and similar initiatives were examined and the propaganda activities of the society were determined.