Turkish nationalism and ethno‐symbolic analysis: the rules of exception

Abstract

This article examines the applicability of the ethno-symbolic approach to the study of patriotic Turkish nationalism. In this venue, first it addresses the issue of why many of the existing theoretical models are difficult to use for attending to the case of Turkish nationalism in a comparative framework. Capitalising on the ethnosymbolic understanding of ideological and ethno-cultural continuities in the formation of modern nationalisms, this study provides an analysis of points of contestation regarding the history of modern, patriotic Turkish nationalism. It then discusses the demographic and socio-cultural background of the bonding of exiled masses of Ottoman Muslims with the native Muslims of Anatolia under the banner of a revived, independent Turkish nation. The debate offered here is based on a critical evaluation of the myths and symbols of Turkish national identity within the larger context and time frame of Ottoman/Turkish history.

Autobiography and conservative-nationalist political opposition in Early Republican Turkey

“…Analyzing the PRP's nationalism requires a rather broad description of the term, which identifies the origins of nationalism within Young Ottoman and later Young Turk discourses that articulated 'motherland,' 'blood' and 'religion' as the three fundamental tenets of Turkish nationalism. 44 Although it was mainly the Early Republican leadership and the new modern nation-state that institutionalized and canonized 'Turk-ness' as a national identity, the history of Turkish nationalism goes back to the late Ottoman Empire. 45 Thus, many oppositional figures of the Early Republic including the figures discussed in this article were situated within this Young Turk discourse of nationalism.…”

‘For us, Migration is Ordinary’: Post-1989 Labour Migration from Bulgaria to Turkey

“…One explanation for the preferential treatment of Balkan Turks is that after the Balkan War of 1912, the migrants fleeing the lost lands of the Ottoman Empire helped to cement Turkish nationalism (Canefe 2002;Köroğlu 2004), especially through what Keyder (2005) calls their 'revanchist' attitude. The desirability of these migrants seems to have stemmed also from their being seen as the last, teetering claim on Europe and Europeanness.…”

Kurdish Nationalism and Identity in Turkey: A Conceptual Reinterpretation

“…The Turkish state's coercive and assimilationist practices such as compulsory Turkish-language education and military service together with experiences of discrimination as workers in Turkish cities have contributed to the formation of a radicalized Kurdish nationalist identity (Saatci 2002). Likewise, state policies that ignore the Kurds in official historiography and impose the symbols of Turkish nationalism over Kurdish landscape have stimulated a chauvinistic Kurdish nationalism (Canefe 2002;Öktem 2004). Analyzing the rise of the PKK in the 1980s, Kurdish intellectual Altan Tan claims that the brutal 1980 coup was the primary factor explaining popular support for the PKK (Tan 2009: 399).…”