Search

Throughout the last decade, the refugee issue has profoundly impacted global politics. Accordingly, this study seeks to provide insight into a new political phenomenon in Turkey, namely, the Victory Party (Zafer Partisi, ZP) by analyzing the characteristics of the party's political discourse. Using content analysis and the discourse-historical approach as an extension of critical discourse analysis, this study argues that the ZP's political discourse, which is based on the combination of nationalism and populism, is massively shaped by anti-refugee sentiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article challenges two established views in the literature on Turkish nationalism. First, that Turkish nationhood in the early republican era was civic and ethnic and, second, that, while Turkish nationhood was inclusive and egalitarian in constitutional texts, in the early years of the Turkish Republic and in the case of Turkish citizens of Muslim origin, it became exclusive or discriminatory in citizenship practices once the Republic was consolidated and in the case of non-Muslim Turkish citizens. Contra these two established views, I first argue that Turkish nationhood was not civic and ethnic, but it was actually civic and ancestral and cultural. Secondly, relying on an examination of legal texts produced and citizenship practices pursued in the years between 1918 and 1924, I argue that the Turkish nationhood was exclusive and discriminatory both theoretically and practically, on paper as well as in practice, both at the time of the foundation of the republic and once the regime had become consolidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at the role of competing nationalist visions in shaping the course and content of constitution-making processes. Using Turkey as its case study and focusing on a recent attempt at constitution writing (2011-2013), the examination demonstrates that engagements with and the framing of competing narratives of nationhood during constitutional negotiations go to the heart of societal reconstruction. Hence, such engagements should not be treated as an afterthought to institution building. The Turkish case also demonstrates how in deeply divided societies constitutional debates can acquire an ontological significance for the parties that in turn can work to deepen the existing ideological cleavages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnic civil wars tend to spread to adjacent countries, yet the processes whereby diffusion takes place remain obscure. Quantitative studies point to a wide range of factors and dynamics that drive ethnosectarian conflicts across international borders with no consensus regarding the causal potency of these variables or the ways in which they interact with one another. Surveying the most influential theories that have been advanced so far clarifies the logic of disparate arguments and offers hypotheses that can be tested against particular cases. The civil war in Syria represents one notable instance in which fighting along ethnosectarian lines provoked a revival of political violence in a neighboring state, the Turkish Republic. Applying existing theories to this empirical case clarifies promising directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyzes the ideological evolution of Turkish nationalism in politics from 1965 to 1980 providing an in-depth analysis of the ideological contours of the Cumhuriyetçi Köylü Millet Partisi (CKMP; Republican Peasant Nation Party) and its successor the Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (MHP; Nationalist Movement Party). It shows that there were different channels for indoctrination promoting their own view of nationalism within the movement. It also aims to demonstrate that a tangible shift in the nationalist discourse of the party took place during this period, concomitant to the change of the agents of political nationalism. This transfer of ideological power was reflected in the party's gradually transforming political discourse, swinging from secular nationalism to the margins of religious-conservative nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although nationalists and Islamists are different groups and have different organizational structures, Islamic groups used to take nationalist stances on major political issues. However, the Islamic actors' policies of the 2000s have all but put paid to the historical harmony with nationalism. The Islamic bloc, having abandoned nationalism, emerged as an advocate of antinationalist policies. Inspired by Stathis N. Kalyvas, it is argued that the Islamic elites' strategy to avert the seculars' attacks of the late 1990s initiated a path-dependent course that in the end separated them from nationalism. Their new strategy denationalized the Islamic groups, yet its direct intention was to protect themselves against the seculars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research note is to describe how Turkey's Armenians, who are the largest non-Muslim minority group in the country, define their identity, and to understand which factors contribute to the perpetuation of a dominant Armenian identity. This discussion is based on a field survey of Turkey's Armenian community, conducted in Istanbul between November 2004 and May 2005. Evaluation of these surveys based on both quantitative and qualitative methods brings us to the conclusion that it is possible to argue about the degree of dominance of Armenian identity over Turkish national identity amongst Turkey's Armenians, more than 95 per cent of whom live in Istanbul, and that the strong community ties play a significant role in maintaining Armenian culture and, therefore, strengthening Armenian identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes one of the attempts to broaden the use of the Turkish language during the first two decades of the Turkish Republic in order to create a homogeneous nation-state. The "Citizen, Speak Turkish!" campaign, which aimed to put pressure on non-Turkish speakers to speak Turkish in public, shows that a state-centered analysis is inadequate to explain the nation-building process in Turkey. This article demonstrates how the official Turkification policies were supported, recreated, and implemented by a social network composed of those who considered themselves the state's missionaries. It also discusses the debates and conflicts among the nationalists, both at the state and social level, about the boundaries of the Turkish nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In discussions on globalization, it has been generally proposed that globalization, by removing boundaries, constitutes a threat to the survival of nation-states, the backbone of nationalism. The aim of this study is to answer the question of how a nationalist party articulates the notion of globalization into its discourse to shed light on its place in the political arena in this global era by examining the ultranationalist Nationalist Action Party of Turkey as a case study. After analyzing the discourse of the MHP on globalization, it is proposed that its discourse has elements of pro-globalization rhetoric on the one hand and a critical perception of the process of globalization on the other hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Partia Karkare Kurdistan, or the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK) campaign of violence has cost Turkey about 30,000 lives and billions of dollars. In 20 years the organization made great efforts to create a Kurdish nation and to establish a separate state. However the lack of popular support forced the PKK to shift its policies. In fact the PKK movement is no exception. All Kurdist movements in Turkey's history have failed. This article looks at the reasons of this failure. According to the authors the ethnic origin, history, and demography did not provide a suitable environment for Kurdish nationalism, particularly in the Anatolian territories. The study focuses on the ethnic origin of the Kurds, their current perceptions, sociological and cultural descriptions of the Kurds, demography and their impact on Kurdish uprisings and separatism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I argue in this article that the 'Azeri' question, that is, the reemergence of ethno-nationalism in Azerbaijan-Iran and in the Republic of Azerbaijan, has become a major factor in the politics of the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus and in the Caspian Sea Basin countries during the past decade. This article situates the growth of Azeri nationalism and the Azeri question in its historical context and then focuses on those aspects that have most directly affected relations between Turkey and Iran during the past decade and particularly the first three years of the twenty-first century. The article then discusses the local, national, regional and international manifestations of the recrudescence of Azeri ethno-nationalism and the role that it has played in the ascendancy of Turkey vis-à-vis Iran in the two countries' bilateral relations and what this bodes in the future for the politics of the wider Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an analysis of Turkish nationalism during the 1930s. Importance of nationalism during the Kemalist era; Rise of the Kemalist regime in 1931; Kemalist immigration and resettlement policies.