THE CONTACTS OF THE GREEK AND BULGARIAN JOURNALİSTS WHO CAME TO TURKEY DURING THE SECOND BALKAN CONFERENCE (BETWEEN 20 th AND 26 th OCTOBER 1931)

The foreign policy strategy which Turkey followed in the Balkans after Lausanne Treaty was ‘not asserting a claim or demand about the previously owned land in the Balkans, which was out of the territories after the treaty, and preserving the status-quo determined by Lausanne Treaty. Therefore, having the aim of strengthening relationships with the Balkan states just after Lausanne, Turkey, signed treaties of friendship with Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia.

By 1929, the relationships had been strengthened among almost all the Balkans states, and the situation required for collaboration had been provided. Likewise, the First Balkan Conference held in Athens was the first step of the way to Balkan unity. In this conference it was decided to hold the second conference in Istanbul, hawing Turkey as the host state.

Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia and Greece took part in the Second Balkan Conference which was held in Istanbul in the period of October 20-26, 1931, alongside Turkey. This conference, which held its meetings in Istanbul and Ankara, fad an important role in the process of constructing a unity between the Balkans states in terms of political, social, cultural, trade and economic affairs.

Türkiye made a great effort to make this conference hosted a success. As a matter of fact, the Istanbul Journalists Association invited Greek and Bulgarian journalists to Istanbul, both to monitor the conference activities and as a gesture towards the hospitality shown to Turkish journalists in Greece and Bulgaria.

In this study, the contacts and studies of the Greek and Bulgarian journalists who came to Istanbul during their stay in Ankara and Istanbul were examined closely.

Keywords

The Second Balkan Conference, the Greek Journalists, the Bulgarian Journalists, the Association of the Journalists in Istanbul, the Contacts and Studies.