Building a “Modern” and “Western” image: Miss Turkey beauty contests from 1929 to 1933

This article focuses on the beauty contests organised by the Cumhuriyet (Republic) newspaper in late 1920 s and early 1930 s in Turkey with the aim of publicizing the young Turkish Republic. The research employs those issues of Cumhuriyet newspaper published between 1929 and 1933 in order to demonstrate the newspaper's motivation for the international publicity. This study argues that the beauty contests have served for representing Turkey as a modern Western country while distancing it from the Ottoman past and benefited from the woman body as a canvas upon which the prospect of the Turkish Republic is drawn.