International Journal of Turcologia, cilt.17, sa.34, ss.28-47, 2022 (Hakemli Dergi)
In 1932, the Republican People’s Party established the People's Houses as secular
education and culture centers. The reasons motivating their establishment and educational
and cultural roles have been investigated extensively. However, the social assistance
activities carried out by People’s Houses have not been studied adequately. Through their
social assistance departments, they conducted several social assistance activities. This
article shows that the People’s Houses went beyond being merely educational and cultural
centers by taking part in social welfare activities. It also argues that such activities were
primarily devised to generate consent and sympathy for the ruling party by alleviating the
impoverishment that might be leading into the political discontent. Moreover, in face of
the state’s financial constraints, which prevented allocating necessary sources to social
policies, the People’s Houses served that the government delegated social assistance to
such organizations. Along with this, the infrastructural shortcoming of the People’s
Houses caused their social assistance mission fell short of alleviating the impoverishment.