Ottomanism vs. Kemalism: Collective memory and cultural pluralism in 1990s Turkey

An Anatomy of Nationhood and the Question of Assimilation: Debates on Turkishness Revisited

“…During the 1990s, neo‐Ottomanist discourses have gained momentum, which have two characteristics: (1) the reinterpretation of Turkish nationalism that is more congruent with cultural tolerance for diversity; and (2) increasing economic and political relations with the ex‐Ottoman world (Çolak ; Yavuz ). Seeing the nation‐state under pressure from universalization and localization after the end of Cold War and periphery becoming the new sources of identity, Yilmaz Çolak () argues that certain Islamist groups, Alevi communities, and the pro‐Kurdish politics – especially the armed insurgency of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) – have challenged the unified history of the Kemalist nation‐state, thus monolithic Turkishness. Under the leadership of Turgut Özal, the combination of neo‐Ottomanist collective memory and liberal multiculturalism has gained more public visibility and has appealed to more masses as seen in the electoral victories of the Islamist Welfare Party and the increasing role of pro‐Kurdish political parties in the 1990s.…”

“…During the 1990s, neo-Ottomanist discourses have gained momentum, which have two characteristics: (1) the reinterpretation of Turkish nationalism that is more congruent with cultural tolerance for diversity; and (2) increasing economic and political relations with the ex-Ottoman world (Çolak 2006;Yavuz 1998). Seeing the nation-state under pressure from universalization and localization after the end of Cold War and periphery becoming the new sources of identity, Yilmaz Çolak (2006) argues that certain Islamist groups, Alevi communities, and the pro-Kurdish politics -especially the armed insurgency of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) 13 -have challenged the unified history of the Kemalist nation-state, thus monolithic Turkishness.…”

Heritagisation of the “Ottoman/Turkish House” in the 1970s: Istanbul-based Actors, Associations and their Networks

“…Over the past decades this has evolved from proposals for the fictional restoration of urban fragments to the wholesale freezing of the historic city. 47 The timing of the reconstruction corresponded with the adoption of "neo-Ottomanism" as state policy during the government of Turgut Özal (prime minister, 1983-89; president, 1989-93), a conservative, nationalist leader and a contemporary of Margaret Thatcher in the U.K. and Ronald Reagan in the U.S. (Çolak 2006;Potuoğlu-Cook 2006) Özal and other policy-makers in his government emphasised Turkey's Ottoman legacy and its Muslim character in order to both counter rising internal ethnic conflict, and shape Turkish foreign policy. Hence, the Greater Istanbul Municipality's concurrent urban renewal operations involved massive demolition and displacement, especially around the Golden Horn.…”

Pax Ottomanica No More! The “Peace” Discourse in Turkish Foreign Policy in the Post‐Davutoğlu Era and the Prolonged Syrian Crisis

“…Neo‐Ottomanism and its vision of peace are an illusion gaining prominence in the 2010s among the political generation as “a model for the identity and political unity questions of the present” (Çolak, :589). In a historical sense, it does not necessarily establish infallible links with the past, nor does it seek to do so.…”