The Main Debates Around Establishment of Television Broadcasting in Turkey: Development, Education and National Security

The first regular television broadcasting in Turkey started on January 31, 1968, with TRT Ankara Television. This study focuses on the debates regarding the television broadcasting’s social and political role, which began long before the establishment of the television station. In this context I will first examine the interests in television that germinated between the 1930s and 1950s. I will also delve into the political, social and economic debates, which concentrate on the attempts for the establishment of television between 1930 and 1968, and analyze the ruling class’ troubled relationship with technology in a less developed country like Turkey through concepts such as education, development and national security.