Opposition to Authoritarianism: The Society for the Dissemination of Free Ideas and the Road to Democracy in Turkey, 1947-1950

Abstract

The Society for the Dissemination of Free Ideas (SDFI) was the first liberal civil society organization in Turkey. To this date, little attention has been paid to its actions and ideology. Taking the history of the SDFI as its central focus, this article aims to give an account of liberal opposition to authoritarianism in Turkey in the late 1940s, analyzing the factors which led self-proclaimed liberals to unify and eventually disband their alliance, and the novelties and limits of liberal thought at the time.