Sports and Physical Education in Turkey in the 1930's

As part of a series on US diplomatic documents on Turkey, Rifat Bali here presents and annotates a report by Eugene M. Hinkle, third secretary at the American embassy in Ankara during the 1930s. Hinkle’s report is a survey of one particular aspect of early Republican Turkey, namely the state of sports and physical education. Along with being the first study on physical education and sport in Turkey, the Hinkel report has stood as the most comprehensive such work to date. The report should be of interest to social scientists seeking to better understand Turkish society during the turbulent years of the 1920s and 1930s, but it also will be of interest to the general reader who wishes to see the development of organised sport in Turkey. Hinkel’s report on the state of Turkish cinema in the 1930s was also prepared for publication by Bali.