Kalem (magazine)

Kalem was established in Istanbul in 1908 as a bilingual satirical magazine covering both Turkish and French materials,^[5][6] and its first issue appeared in September that year.^[7] Its founders were Salah Cimcoz and Celal Esat Arseven.^[8] Lucien Sciuto, a Salonican Jewish journalist, was the editor^[9] of the magazine which employed large number of cartoonists who produced rich cartoon styles.^[2][5] The magazine introduced the concept of modern cartoons in terms of lines and captions used.^[4] Because before Kalem cartoon was considered to be just painting by the journalists in the Ottoman Empire.^[4]

One of the major contributors was Cemil Cem who started his journalistic career in Kalem^[7][10] which targeted educated Ottomans.^[2] Another contributor was Refik Halit Karay.^[7] There were also international contributors of Kalem one of whom was Henri Yan, a French journalist.^[11] In October 1908 the magazine reported its circulation as 13,000 copies.^[5] In the same date Kalem published a caricature of German Emperor Wilhelm II who was featured as a two-faced man deceiving the Ottoman Empire.^[12] Due to this caricature the issue of the magazine was confiscated and the owner, Salah Cimcoz, was arrested for a short time upon the request of the German embassy in Istanbul.^[12] Kalem folded in June 1911.^[5][7]

In 2019 the University of Texas at Austin organized an exhibition on Kalem magazine and the political cartoons published in the magazine.^[13] The print editions of the magazine are archived at the University.^[13]

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