Carole Hillenbrand
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748625727
- eISBN:
- 9780748671359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748625727.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter shows the versatility of the Manzikert myth and how this eleventh-century battle serves as a key symbol in the formation of the Turkish Republic almost a millennium later. Atatürk's ...
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This chapter shows the versatility of the Manzikert myth and how this eleventh-century battle serves as a key symbol in the formation of the Turkish Republic almost a millennium later. Atatürk's views on history and those of early twentieth- century Turkish scholars, such as Kafesoglu, Kaymaz and Köymen, are examined. Manzikert is shown to fit into Schöpflin's taxonomy of myths. The way in which Manzikert evokes analogies between the Greek-Turkish conflicts of the early twentieth century is also discussed. The chapter ends with an account of the anniversary celebrations of Manzikert in 1971, including the erection of a statue of Alp Arslan near the battle site, the issue of commemorative stamps, coins and medals, and a poem written for the occasion. It is argued that the memory of Manzikert, given this degree of state support, will continue to resonate for a long time to come in the hearts and minds of the Turks.Less
This chapter shows the versatility of the Manzikert myth and how this eleventh-century battle serves as a key symbol in the formation of the Turkish Republic almost a millennium later. Atatürk's views on history and those of early twentieth- century Turkish scholars, such as Kafesoglu, Kaymaz and Köymen, are examined. Manzikert is shown to fit into Schöpflin's taxonomy of myths. The way in which Manzikert evokes analogies between the Greek-Turkish conflicts of the early twentieth century is also discussed. The chapter ends with an account of the anniversary celebrations of Manzikert in 1971, including the erection of a statue of Alp Arslan near the battle site, the issue of commemorative stamps, coins and medals, and a poem written for the occasion. It is argued that the memory of Manzikert, given this degree of state support, will continue to resonate for a long time to come in the hearts and minds of the Turks.
Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9789774163975
- eISBN:
- 9781617971051
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774163975.003.0011
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
Between 1828 and 1947, a total of sixty-four Turkish newspapers and magazines were published in Egypt. They fall into five historical stages: periodicals intended for Egypt’s Turkish speakers; ...
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Between 1828 and 1947, a total of sixty-four Turkish newspapers and magazines were published in Egypt. They fall into five historical stages: periodicals intended for Egypt’s Turkish speakers; periodicals published by members of the CUP and Young Turks in opposition to Ottoman rule; newspapers published in prisoner-of-war camps during the First World War; periodicals associated with the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923 and the abolition of the caliphate in 1924; and one magazine that appeared during the Second World War.Less
Between 1828 and 1947, a total of sixty-four Turkish newspapers and magazines were published in Egypt. They fall into five historical stages: periodicals intended for Egypt’s Turkish speakers; periodicals published by members of the CUP and Young Turks in opposition to Ottoman rule; newspapers published in prisoner-of-war camps during the First World War; periodicals associated with the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923 and the abolition of the caliphate in 1924; and one magazine that appeared during the Second World War.
Taner Akçam
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153339
- eISBN:
- 9781400841844
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153339.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
Introducing new evidence from more than 600 secret Ottoman documents, this book demonstrates in detail that the Armenian Genocide and the expulsion of Greeks from the late Ottoman Empire resulted ...
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Introducing new evidence from more than 600 secret Ottoman documents, this book demonstrates in detail that the Armenian Genocide and the expulsion of Greeks from the late Ottoman Empire resulted from an official effort to rid the empire of its Christian subjects. This book goes deep inside the bureaucratic machinery of Ottoman Turkey to show how a dying empire embraced genocide and ethnic cleansing. Although the deportation and killing of Armenians was internationally condemned in 1915 as a “crime against humanity and civilization,” the Ottoman government initiated a policy of denial that is still maintained by the Turkish Republic. The case for Turkey's “official history” rests on documents from the Ottoman imperial archives, to which access has been heavily restricted until recently. It is this very source that the book now uses to overturn the official narrative. The documents presented here attest to a late-Ottoman policy of Turkification, the goal of which was no less than the radical demographic transformation of Anatolia. To that end, about one-third of Anatolia's 15 million people were displaced, deported, expelled, or massacred, destroying the ethno-religious diversity of an ancient cultural crossroads of East and West, and paving the way for the Turkish Republic. By uncovering the central roles played by demographic engineering and assimilation in the Armenian Genocide, this book will fundamentally change how this crime is understood and show that physical destruction is not the only aspect of the genocidal process.Less
Introducing new evidence from more than 600 secret Ottoman documents, this book demonstrates in detail that the Armenian Genocide and the expulsion of Greeks from the late Ottoman Empire resulted from an official effort to rid the empire of its Christian subjects. This book goes deep inside the bureaucratic machinery of Ottoman Turkey to show how a dying empire embraced genocide and ethnic cleansing. Although the deportation and killing of Armenians was internationally condemned in 1915 as a “crime against humanity and civilization,” the Ottoman government initiated a policy of denial that is still maintained by the Turkish Republic. The case for Turkey's “official history” rests on documents from the Ottoman imperial archives, to which access has been heavily restricted until recently. It is this very source that the book now uses to overturn the official narrative. The documents presented here attest to a late-Ottoman policy of Turkification, the goal of which was no less than the radical demographic transformation of Anatolia. To that end, about one-third of Anatolia's 15 million people were displaced, deported, expelled, or massacred, destroying the ethno-religious diversity of an ancient cultural crossroads of East and West, and paving the way for the Turkish Republic. By uncovering the central roles played by demographic engineering and assimilation in the Armenian Genocide, this book will fundamentally change how this crime is understood and show that physical destruction is not the only aspect of the genocidal process.
Banu Turnaoğlu
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691172743
- eISBN:
- 9781400885220
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691172743.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter discusses how in the aftermath of the War of Independence, the abolition of the monarchy in 1922 was followed by the monarch's flight from the country, ushering in a smooth establishment ...
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This chapter discusses how in the aftermath of the War of Independence, the abolition of the monarchy in 1922 was followed by the monarch's flight from the country, ushering in a smooth establishment of the new regime. Modern Turkish historiography has assumed that abolishing the sultanate and proclaiming the Republic ensued with little debate or deliberation, and both were made possible by the outstanding character of Mustafa Kemal. However, the claim the Turkish republicanism was shaped merely by Mustafa Kemal's ideas deliberately ignores the competing conceptions of republicanism—radical, Islamic, and liberal—that fought one another in the revolutionary context for political dominance. It also understates the depth of republican thinking within opposition circles and groups.Less
This chapter discusses how in the aftermath of the War of Independence, the abolition of the monarchy in 1922 was followed by the monarch's flight from the country, ushering in a smooth establishment of the new regime. Modern Turkish historiography has assumed that abolishing the sultanate and proclaiming the Republic ensued with little debate or deliberation, and both were made possible by the outstanding character of Mustafa Kemal. However, the claim the Turkish republicanism was shaped merely by Mustafa Kemal's ideas deliberately ignores the competing conceptions of republicanism—radical, Islamic, and liberal—that fought one another in the revolutionary context for political dominance. It also understates the depth of republican thinking within opposition circles and groups.
Michael Meeker
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520225268
- eISBN:
- 9780520929128
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520225268.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Middle Eastern Cultural Anthropology
This study of modern Turkey is the result of many years of ethnographic fieldwork and archival research. The author combines anthropological and historical methods to examine the transition from the ...
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This study of modern Turkey is the result of many years of ethnographic fieldwork and archival research. The author combines anthropological and historical methods to examine the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic in a major region of the country, the eastern Black Sea coast. His most significant finding is that a state-oriented provincial oligarchy played a key role in successive programs of reform over the course of more than two hundred years of imperial and national history. As the author demonstrates, leading individuals backed by interpersonal networks determined the outcome of the modernizing process, first during the westernizing period of the Empire, then during the revolutionary period of the Republic. To understand how such a state-oriented provincial oligarchy was produced and reproduced along the eastern Black Sea coast, the author integrates a contemporary ethnographic study of public life in towns and villages with a historical study of official documents, consular reports, and travel narratives. The book provides a new understanding of the complexities and contradictions of modern Turkish experience.Less
This study of modern Turkey is the result of many years of ethnographic fieldwork and archival research. The author combines anthropological and historical methods to examine the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic in a major region of the country, the eastern Black Sea coast. His most significant finding is that a state-oriented provincial oligarchy played a key role in successive programs of reform over the course of more than two hundred years of imperial and national history. As the author demonstrates, leading individuals backed by interpersonal networks determined the outcome of the modernizing process, first during the westernizing period of the Empire, then during the revolutionary period of the Republic. To understand how such a state-oriented provincial oligarchy was produced and reproduced along the eastern Black Sea coast, the author integrates a contemporary ethnographic study of public life in towns and villages with a historical study of official documents, consular reports, and travel narratives. The book provides a new understanding of the complexities and contradictions of modern Turkish experience.
Banu Turnaoğlu
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691172743
- eISBN:
- 9781400885220
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691172743.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter talks about how Turkish historiography has long overlooked the Republic's origins in earlier successive revolutions, above all the Constitutional Revolution of 1876, and later the Young ...
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This chapter talks about how Turkish historiography has long overlooked the Republic's origins in earlier successive revolutions, above all the Constitutional Revolution of 1876, and later the Young Turk Revolution of 1908. Each reinforced the others and pressed toward the ultimate republican Revolution of 1923. There were two decisive moments in its concluding phase during the War of Independence, the establishment of the parliament in 1920, and the monarch's flight from the country in 1922, which smoothly ushered in the young Republic after years of preparation and collective effort by patriots and revolutionaries. This period of political crisis saw the rejuvenation of a radical republican language, incorporated with militarism and nationalism.Less
This chapter talks about how Turkish historiography has long overlooked the Republic's origins in earlier successive revolutions, above all the Constitutional Revolution of 1876, and later the Young Turk Revolution of 1908. Each reinforced the others and pressed toward the ultimate republican Revolution of 1923. There were two decisive moments in its concluding phase during the War of Independence, the establishment of the parliament in 1920, and the monarch's flight from the country in 1922, which smoothly ushered in the young Republic after years of preparation and collective effort by patriots and revolutionaries. This period of political crisis saw the rejuvenation of a radical republican language, incorporated with militarism and nationalism.
Ryan Gingeras
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199561520
- eISBN:
- 9780191721076
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199561520.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The birth of the Turkish Republic was an event borne out of immense bloodshed and carnage. During the decade leading up to the end of the Ottoman Empire and the ascendancy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, ...
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The birth of the Turkish Republic was an event borne out of immense bloodshed and carnage. During the decade leading up to the end of the Ottoman Empire and the ascendancy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, virtually every town and village throughout Anatolia was wracked by intercommunal violence. This book presents a history of these bloody years of political and social transformation. The book challenges the determinism associated with the nationalist interpretation of the events that transpire in contemporary Turkey between 1912 and 1923, and delves deeper into this period of transition between empire and nation-state. In looking closely at a small corner of territory immediately south of the old Ottoman capital of Istanbul, this book traces the evolution of various communities of native Christians and immigrant Muslims against the backdrop of the Balkan Wars, the First World War, the Armenian Genocide, the Turkish War of Independence, and the Greek occupation of the region. By taking up the roles of four discrete groups located along the southern rim of the Sea of Marmara, this book demonstrates the ways in which a series of provincial communities were both the objects and the engines of radical social and political change. The book specifically takes on the origins of the bitter communal and sectarian violence that occurs throughout this period. Rather than essentialize the conflict as a war between monolithic ethnic groups driven by fanaticism and ancient hatreds, this book instead lends greater attention to the culpability of several competing states in fanning successive waves of violence seen in this portion of northwestern Anatolia.Less
The birth of the Turkish Republic was an event borne out of immense bloodshed and carnage. During the decade leading up to the end of the Ottoman Empire and the ascendancy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, virtually every town and village throughout Anatolia was wracked by intercommunal violence. This book presents a history of these bloody years of political and social transformation. The book challenges the determinism associated with the nationalist interpretation of the events that transpire in contemporary Turkey between 1912 and 1923, and delves deeper into this period of transition between empire and nation-state. In looking closely at a small corner of territory immediately south of the old Ottoman capital of Istanbul, this book traces the evolution of various communities of native Christians and immigrant Muslims against the backdrop of the Balkan Wars, the First World War, the Armenian Genocide, the Turkish War of Independence, and the Greek occupation of the region. By taking up the roles of four discrete groups located along the southern rim of the Sea of Marmara, this book demonstrates the ways in which a series of provincial communities were both the objects and the engines of radical social and political change. The book specifically takes on the origins of the bitter communal and sectarian violence that occurs throughout this period. Rather than essentialize the conflict as a war between monolithic ethnic groups driven by fanaticism and ancient hatreds, this book instead lends greater attention to the culpability of several competing states in fanning successive waves of violence seen in this portion of northwestern Anatolia.
Mona Hassan
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691166780
- eISBN:
- 9781400883714
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691166780.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter explores the contentious debates among modernist and traditional Muslim scholars in the Turkish Republic and Egypt over the future of the caliphate. Scholars and intellectuals on both ...
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This chapter explores the contentious debates among modernist and traditional Muslim scholars in the Turkish Republic and Egypt over the future of the caliphate. Scholars and intellectuals on both sides of the divide faced serious consequences for their positions: İsmail Şükrü's publisher was brutally murdered by Mustafa Kemal's lead bodyguard, Seyyid Bey was sidelined from power after justifying the new Turkish regime, and Mustafa Sabri lived in double exile in Egypt. Although not directly instigated by his intriguing views on the caliphate, Said Nursi survived multiple poisonings, imprisonment, and exile within Republican Turkey for his charismatic potential and activism. The separation of the caliphate from the Ottoman Sultanate followed by the Ottoman Caliphate's abolition had opened up the possibilities for new and passionately contested configurations of power.Less
This chapter explores the contentious debates among modernist and traditional Muslim scholars in the Turkish Republic and Egypt over the future of the caliphate. Scholars and intellectuals on both sides of the divide faced serious consequences for their positions: İsmail Şükrü's publisher was brutally murdered by Mustafa Kemal's lead bodyguard, Seyyid Bey was sidelined from power after justifying the new Turkish regime, and Mustafa Sabri lived in double exile in Egypt. Although not directly instigated by his intriguing views on the caliphate, Said Nursi survived multiple poisonings, imprisonment, and exile within Republican Turkey for his charismatic potential and activism. The separation of the caliphate from the Ottoman Sultanate followed by the Ottoman Caliphate's abolition had opened up the possibilities for new and passionately contested configurations of power.
M. Sükrü Hanioglu
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691175829
- eISBN:
- 9781400885572
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691175829.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
When Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became the first president of Turkey in 1923, he set about transforming his country into a secular republic where nationalism sanctified by science would reign supreme as ...
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When Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became the first president of Turkey in 1923, he set about transforming his country into a secular republic where nationalism sanctified by science would reign supreme as the new religion. This book provides an in-depth look at the intellectual life of the Turkish Republic's founder. It frames him within the historical context of the turbulent age in which he lived, and explores the uneasy transition from the late Ottoman imperial order to the modern Turkish state through his life and ideas. The book takes readers from Atatürk's youth as a Muslim boy in the volatile ethnic cauldron of Macedonia, to his education in nonreligious and military schools, to his embrace of Turkish nationalism and the modernizing Young Turks movement. Who was this figure who sought glory as an ambitious young officer in World War I, defied the victorious Allies intent on partitioning the Turkish heartland, and defeated the last sultan? This book charts Atatürk's intellectual and ideological development at every stage of his life, demonstrating how he was profoundly influenced by the new ideas that were circulating in the sprawling Ottoman realm. It shows how Atatürk drew on a unique mix of scientism, materialism, social Darwinism, positivism, and other theories to fashion a grand utopian framework on which to build his new nation.Less
When Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became the first president of Turkey in 1923, he set about transforming his country into a secular republic where nationalism sanctified by science would reign supreme as the new religion. This book provides an in-depth look at the intellectual life of the Turkish Republic's founder. It frames him within the historical context of the turbulent age in which he lived, and explores the uneasy transition from the late Ottoman imperial order to the modern Turkish state through his life and ideas. The book takes readers from Atatürk's youth as a Muslim boy in the volatile ethnic cauldron of Macedonia, to his education in nonreligious and military schools, to his embrace of Turkish nationalism and the modernizing Young Turks movement. Who was this figure who sought glory as an ambitious young officer in World War I, defied the victorious Allies intent on partitioning the Turkish heartland, and defeated the last sultan? This book charts Atatürk's intellectual and ideological development at every stage of his life, demonstrating how he was profoundly influenced by the new ideas that were circulating in the sprawling Ottoman realm. It shows how Atatürk drew on a unique mix of scientism, materialism, social Darwinism, positivism, and other theories to fashion a grand utopian framework on which to build his new nation.
M. Şükrü Hanioğlu
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691175829
- eISBN:
- 9781400885572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691175829.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter discusses Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's childhood in the ancient Macedonian capital of Salonica. The future founder of the Turkish Republic was born one winter, either in 1880 or in 1881. His ...
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This chapter discusses Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's childhood in the ancient Macedonian capital of Salonica. The future founder of the Turkish Republic was born one winter, either in 1880 or in 1881. His upbringing was more liberal than that of most lower-class Muslims. No one in his family's circle of friends and relatives, for instance, practiced polygamy. Likewise, his father reportedly drank alcohol, which was abhorred by conservatives. The confusing dualism produced in Ottoman society by the reforms of the nineteenth century had its first imprint on Mustafa when his parents entered into a heated argument about his education. There is little doubt that Mustafa Kemal's deep-seated predilection for new institutions and practices owed much to his years as one of a handful of students in the empire who had their primary education at a private elementary school devoid of a strong religious focus.Less
This chapter discusses Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's childhood in the ancient Macedonian capital of Salonica. The future founder of the Turkish Republic was born one winter, either in 1880 or in 1881. His upbringing was more liberal than that of most lower-class Muslims. No one in his family's circle of friends and relatives, for instance, practiced polygamy. Likewise, his father reportedly drank alcohol, which was abhorred by conservatives. The confusing dualism produced in Ottoman society by the reforms of the nineteenth century had its first imprint on Mustafa when his parents entered into a heated argument about his education. There is little doubt that Mustafa Kemal's deep-seated predilection for new institutions and practices owed much to his years as one of a handful of students in the empire who had their primary education at a private elementary school devoid of a strong religious focus.
Cengiz Sisman
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780190244057
- eISBN:
- 9780190244071
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190244057.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam, Judaism
After summarizing the main arguments of the book, the conclusion discusses what happened to the Dönme community, and their struggle against assimilation in the Turkish Republic after the 1920s. It ...
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After summarizing the main arguments of the book, the conclusion discusses what happened to the Dönme community, and their struggle against assimilation in the Turkish Republic after the 1920s. It also briefly reviews the status of the Dönmes who remained in Greece. Lastly it discusses how this remarkable history of the Dönmes being remembered and used in later decades by both Dönmes and non-Dönmes. It reminds once again that Modern observers of the Dönmes usually conflate the Dönme subgroups by creating false dichotomies and treat them as if they were members of an undifferentiated community. The Dönmes were never a monolithic community in history except for the very first decades of the movement. Today in Turkey there are approximately 60,000–70,000 persons of Dönme descent and perhaps another 10,000 in other parts of the world, mostly in Europe and North America. Of those, only 3,000–4,000 are thought to remain actual believers.Less
After summarizing the main arguments of the book, the conclusion discusses what happened to the Dönme community, and their struggle against assimilation in the Turkish Republic after the 1920s. It also briefly reviews the status of the Dönmes who remained in Greece. Lastly it discusses how this remarkable history of the Dönmes being remembered and used in later decades by both Dönmes and non-Dönmes. It reminds once again that Modern observers of the Dönmes usually conflate the Dönme subgroups by creating false dichotomies and treat them as if they were members of an undifferentiated community. The Dönmes were never a monolithic community in history except for the very first decades of the movement. Today in Turkey there are approximately 60,000–70,000 persons of Dönme descent and perhaps another 10,000 in other parts of the world, mostly in Europe and North America. Of those, only 3,000–4,000 are thought to remain actual believers.
Mustafa Aksakal
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198702511
- eISBN:
- 9780191772207
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702511.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Military History, European Modern History
This chapter investigates the revolutions in the social and political organization of the Ottoman imperial domains – the Balkans and today’s “Middle East” – from the 1908 Young Turk Revolution to the ...
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This chapter investigates the revolutions in the social and political organization of the Ottoman imperial domains – the Balkans and today’s “Middle East” – from the 1908 Young Turk Revolution to the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, although this transformation cannot be considered to have ended then, or to have ever been completed. The instability that marked this period was replaced by equally unstable regimes, and its aftershocks have continued to define the region. The great number of casualties, displaced people, and forced migrations produced long-term socioeconomic consequences: urban populations did not return to pre-war levels until the early 1950s.Less
This chapter investigates the revolutions in the social and political organization of the Ottoman imperial domains – the Balkans and today’s “Middle East” – from the 1908 Young Turk Revolution to the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, although this transformation cannot be considered to have ended then, or to have ever been completed. The instability that marked this period was replaced by equally unstable regimes, and its aftershocks have continued to define the region. The great number of casualties, displaced people, and forced migrations produced long-term socioeconomic consequences: urban populations did not return to pre-war levels until the early 1950s.
