Symbolic Value of Money in The Early Republic Period and in The Process of Modernization and National Identity Building

Abstract

The first period when the Republic of Turkey was founded, the modernization move carried out by the state and the ideal of creating a national identity different from the Ottoman Empire created a social transformation that was effective in every stage of social life, so the money that constitutes the basic starting point of this study underwent a symbolic change. Based on this symbolic change, the main purpose of this research is to reveal the elements that formed the basis of social change and used in the construction of national identity on the first emission banknotes that were put into circulation during the period of M. Kemal Atatürk. In this context, the banknotes of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 lira in the first emission group, which entered into circulation in 1927, were analyzed using the semiotic analysis method based on Roland Barthes' semantic and connotation concepts. As a result of the research, the metaphor of Bozkurt, Atatürk portrait as a manifestation of the myth of the savior and hero Mustafa Kemal, the symbols associated with Ankara and Ankara as the new and modern capital of the republic, in order to establish a new understanding of history that includes pre-Islamic Turkish states used in the coins analyzed, images of cities such as Sivas, Afyon, Sakarya, which constitute the basis of the national liberation history of the new state because of their importance, the pictures of the First Assembly and the Prime Ministry building that emphasize the national sovereignty as the carrier institutions of the new regime, as an extension of the economic development move of the modern republic, it was concluded that the emission group banknotes were used as effective symbolic tools in the construction of national identity and gradual social transformation process.