Search

In the modern world, festivals and commemorative ceremonies, national pledges, songs are all used to help students connect to each other and their wider society, particularly to the nation state and its ideals. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how such rituals were used to different ends in terms of nation-building in the Republic of Turkey. The Western-oriented identity of the Turkish Republic began to take shape during the Ottoman era, and education played a very significant role in this. This paper first introduces the educational rituals of the Otoman state to set the scene for the main discussion, which centres on the development of new rituals in the Turkish Republic. Religious and sultanic rituals were replaced by new rituals which fostered Turkish identity and promoted secular nationhood. To this end, the most effective educational rituals -- national festivals, flag-raising ceremonies and Turkey's student pledge -- are examined in detail.

The current study aims to investigate social studies and science teachers' attitudes and classroom practices associated with controversial issues. The study is a qualitative research based on data collected through interviews and observation. Social studies and Science teachers participated in the current study which was conducted in Kirsehir, a city in the center of Turkey, during the 2012-2013 academic years. Data were collected through classroom observation and interviews with teachers. In this study, teachers' positioning during controversial issues are determined by Kelly's (1986) positioning classification: Exclusive Neutrality, Exclusive Partiality, Neutral Impartiality, and Committed Impartiality. According to results of the research, violence against women, education system, terrorism and nationalism are the leading issues among the controversial issues that both social studies and science teachers listed in Turkey. In relation to their area, social studies teachers stated that the issues such as Kemalism, democracy, military coups, and deep state, which are associated with recent history of Turkey, were among the important controversial issues. Science teachers on the other hand stated issues such as cancer and anti-toxic foods and global warming among the controversial issues in Turkey. Both social studies and science teachers stated that the most frequently encountered problem in discussions was lack of knowledge by students. Whereas social studies teachers stated that their priority goals were particularly to raise active citizens and to set up a democratic classroom environment, science teachers pointed to raising scientifically thinking students and increasing students' knowledge as their priority goals. During in-class discussions teachers take some positions. The positions stated by the teachers and in-class observations of them conflict. Whereas the teachers stated that they prefer the 4th and 3rd positions, the in-class observations showed that they mainly adopted the 2nd position. Results of observations in social studies classes show that teachers definitely stated their positions about the discussed issue as a priority; they tried to teach the students their positions about the issue; and occasionally about some issues, they told just their positions.

In response to the United Nation's (UN) Decade for Human Rights Education initiative, the Turkish Ministry of National Education changed the title of citizenship education courses from 'Citizenship Studies' to 'Citizenship and Human Rights Education' in 1995. However, this curriculum reform was overshadowed by the rise to power of a political Islamist party. The secularist military toppled the first Islamist party-led government in the name of preserving the principle of laicism. Announced after the 1997 coup, the main textbook for the citizenship and human rights education course showed a profound influence of the militaristic discourses as evidenced by the negative depiction of the Kurdish people and political Islamists and the hagiographic portrayal of Atatürk and the army. By drawing on interviews with key informants, archival/public policy documentation and textbooks, this paper argues that the curriculum reform began with the participation in the UN initiative ended with the military's instrumentalisation of the subject because it was launched with no recognition of Turkey's human rights and democracy problems.

This paper examines how the religious education of Turkish children in the "old letters" became an area of everyday contestation between the state and families and communities in the late 1920s and 1930s. Since children were seen as the nation's future, state authorities were adamant about teaching the new generation the new alphabet and were equally interested in preventing them from learning the old alphabet. While schools began using the new Turkish alphabet in the 1928-1929 academic year, the informal neighbourhood Qur'an courses held in mosques and private homes became a fiercely contested site between a state determined to socialise children into secular nationhood (partly) by preventing them from learning the Arabic letters, and families and imams who were committed to giving children religious education (necessitating the study of the Arabic alphabet so the Qur'an could be read in its original Arabic). Combining primary sources from previously untapped Ministry of the Interior documents concerning the monitoring in Anatolian towns of these informal courses with insights from the subaltern school on everyday forms of resistance, this article sheds light on a dimension of the 1928 alphabet reform that ties together questions of alphabet change, national and religious identities, education, and childhood.

It can be said that French Revolution, which broke out in 1789, affected Europe deeply in freedom, equality, and particularly with the ideas of nationalism. New values were introduced with the nationalism. With the new symbols, national states sought to give the community a new identity. Within this new formation, political powers in the adoption by the community and in its efforts to provide legitimacy, transfer tools to future generations are extremely important. In this context, the teaching of history is of great importance. In this study, a field survey was conducted on the lesson called Ataturk's Principles and History of Revolution which have aims such as being able to teach the stages of foundation of the Republic of Turkey and to transfer the information to future generations. In that study, it was also aimed to find out information about the methodology of the lesson which has great importance on the development of the consciousness of Nationalism and citizenship and about the founder of Turkish republic Ataturk. In this study a survey model was used. The students, who were studying in Kirsehir in the 2010-2011 academic years, set the population of the survey. To collect data in the survey, a questioner is used with the aim of discovering the opinions of the students about the course of Ataturk's Principles and History of Revolution. In the analysis, the t-test is used and the method of single factor variance analysis (ANOVA) and percentage frequency is used. (Contains 6 tables.)

Global discourses around English-medium instruction (EMI) have inspired controversy for many years now. A wide range of scholars has espoused multiple opinions exhorting the benefits and disadvantages of using English as a medium of instruction in higher education. Although EMI is certainly relevant to primary and secondary school education, this paper will focus on the impact of EMI on higher education due to its dominance in this sector and the implications for globalisation. In the Turkish context, this has developed into a mainly two-sided debate between those with nationalistic perspectives versus those with a more progressive and liberal approach. As well as considering these perspectives, this paper also evaluates the academic and sociological imperatives for using EMI. This study also examines the ethos surrounding the EMI discussion and considers some of the potentially detrimental effects on Turkish identity, traditions and cultural norms but concludes that the necessity and benefits of EMI are too great to be ignored, therefore the access and implementation should be reviewed to ensure the preservation of Turkish language and culture at the same time as reaping the benefits associated with EMI.

Nation-states needed various ideological apparatuses when they wanted to eliminate traditional loyalties to the pre-modern era and establish a new superordinate identity. As frequently emphasised in conceptual discussions, two elements among these ideological apparatuses come to the fore: historiography and education. While social values that create a national identity have been constructed by historiography continuously from the past to the present, it aims at spreading such values through education. History education at the intersection of these two concepts has occupied a privileged place in the nation-building process. The most concrete examples of this phenomenon are the developments experienced in the context of history teaching in Turkey from 1923 to 1938, also known as the early republican period. The present study, using history textbooks, analyses changes in history teaching and expectations of it between 1923 and 1938, which were the most active years of the nationalisation period in Turkey. The findings of this study indicate that the historiography of the early republican period adopted an anthropology-based understanding in line with the conjuncture between the two world wars and that, in accordance with this understanding, a national identity with ethnic, religious, and political dimensions was intended to be promulgated through history teaching.

This article addresses the role of the state and state formation in the establishment of national education during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Through a comparative case analysis of two countries at the European periphery (Finland and Turkey), this article shows how national educational systems, in both instances, were driven by periods of intense state building. In the nineteenth century, military defeats sparked educational reforms, and in the early nineteenth century school laws were enacted due to the establishment of the republics of Finland and Turkey. Nevertheless, these examples also show the limits of a state formation perspective. Despite changes in educational policy, neither state reached high enrolment levels in the nineteenth century, and only in Finland schooling for all was realised in the 1930s. Thus, this work encourages further comparative analyses of the social, economic and political circumstances in which these states acted.

This article analyses the construction of the gendered and nationalised citizen in education in Turkey and Sweden. We draw on a narrative approach identifying narratives linked to educational discourses. Our empirical data consist of textbooks (in the later years of mandatory schooling), steering documents and interviews. In both our cases, we encounter continuities in these narratives; the citizen is defined with ethno-cultural references along with civic ones, and differentiated according to gender. In the Turkish case, a meta-narrative is constructed around the narratives of enemy and defence related to masculinity, and the feminine as the object of protection. The gender regime is an important part of the processes of normalisation of nationalism. In Sweden, nationalism is formulated around the "Swedish miracle", a social-welfare state, among the best democracies, and with a story of "gender success". In both cases, we also found new narratives in line with Europeanisation processes.

This study aims to identify high school students' perception of war and peace. Therefore, the students were asked to draw pictures depicting war and peace. The study was conducted at a Fine Arts High School. This study is a qualitative research. According to the assessments made on the results of the study, the students drew pictures containing national and universal motifs. The pictures based on national motifs were identified with the War of Independence and Turkish Soldiers. On the other hand, symbols like pigeon and olive branch standing out in the pictures based on universal motifs. This proves how effective the preconceived perceptions of the students on war and peace are. An additional study on drawings based on the motifs of war and peace involving larger groups of students may be carried out.

In 1997 the Lebanese government published its newly developed curriculum and textbooks following a long and fierce civil war, which started in 1975. The new curriculum emphasized nation building, reconciliation and citizenship. This study aims to examine how the civics textbooks in Lebanon addressed human rights and peace education, both of which are crucial in any attempt to build cohesion in a post-conflict society. Findings revealed that human rights and peace education were endorsed in the aims and objectives of the 1997 curriculum. The textbooks directly addressed some of these themes, particularly human rights and to a lesser degree peace education. The pedagogy followed in the textbooks to teach the two concepts was primarily descriptive. Despite the fact that the constructivist approach has been adopted as part of the curriculum objectives, implementation of this approach is almost absent from the civics textbooks. The study compares these results to citizenship education in two other countries in the region, Turkey and Palestine.

Situated at the intersection of sociolinguistic and educational planes, English as a medium-of-instruction debate has always been at the crux of the intense debates, and offers a lens for a systematic investigation of the spread of English in Turkey. As Turkey is moving toward greater integration with the European Union and promoting its competitiveness at the global level, the medium-of-instruction debate is more relevant than ever. Departing from this conceptualization, this state-of-the-art article investigates the medium-of-instruction debate in Turkey by drawing from a wide range of sources including official documents, news articles, and empirical research reports. I contend that the medium-of-instruction pendulum in Turkey is oscillating between national ideas and bilingual ideals, and consequently creates a tremendous influence on social and educational strata of Turkish society. In order to document the swing of the pendulum, the current paper presents a blend of the historical and the sociolinguistic trajectories of the debate and overviews implications in the field of education. The paper concludes with a problematization of existing policies and implementations, and suggests educational policy recommendations that might inform the future of the medium-of-instruction debate and English-language teaching in the formation of twenty-first-century Turkey.

In 1924, John Dewey travelled to Turkey to make recommendations on the Turkish educational system. According to many existing accounts, Dewey brought a sorely needed progressive educational perspective to a nation emerging from centuries of despair. On the whole, these accounts dismiss the Ottoman legacy and overlook how Dewey's historical thinking coloured his view of Turkish democracy. This article draws on these considerations to offer a critical re-reading of Dewey's trip, arguing that the visit, rather than supporting the expansion of a bottom-up democratic perspective in the Turkish educational system, actually helped advance top-down Turkish nation-building. In so doing, it explores the connections between history and democracy in Dewey's thinking, reclaims the significance of the Ottoman legacy, examines the role of education in radically remaking the Turkish public, and points to the need for studying places and times where schooling is used to expunge history in the name of exporting democracy.

This article examines the cultural construction of the school in Turkey in relation to the construction of Turkish nation-ness. By looking at how the modern school was fit together with a network of interrelated discourses available in early twentieth-century Turkey, the article investigates the ways in which the school became an object of thought in support of narrating and imagining Turkish nation-ness. In the article, I argue that the school was pivotal in the imagination and institution of Turkey not only literally but also symbolically. Juxtaposed with a radically contrasting image of the traditional educational establishment of the Ottoman dynastic past called "mahalle mektebi," the school was appropriated by the Republican elite as a statement of modernity, national character and a total break from the Ottoman past. Giving a visual expression to the new regime's aspirations for the society, the school, with its very architecture, layout and disciplinary and hierarchical organisation, functioned as a clear symbol of enlightenment, civility, order and progress.

The purpose of this study is to examine Social Studies textbooks in terms of national and global citizenship. The research was carried out using qualitative research methodologies. Interpretive thematic analysis was used to examine the social studies textbooks from 4th grade through 8th grade. The analyses showed that the Social Studies textbooks put more emphasis on national citizenship but they inadequately deal with global information so as to create global sensitivity. The Social Studies textbooks do not adequately discuss economic, social, political systems, cultural differences and problems in both national and global scales. The Social Studies textbooks tend to be guided by nationalist and republican policies while they offer limited content and activities for students to improve their competences for political literacy, participation, critical thinking, respect for diversity and conflict resolution.

This paper scrutinises citizenship education in Turkey from the foundation of the Turkish Republic (1923) to the present and explores the extent to which it encourages inclusive or exclusive concepts of national identity and citizenship. In Turkey, where there are citizens belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, civic education plays a prominent role for promoting tolerance among citizens. Using framing questions from phase one of the International Association for the Educational Achievement's (IEA) research of Civic Education Across Countries, the civic education textbooks of Turkey are examined to determine the extent to which they promote democracy and human rights, make positive references to ethnic and religious minorities, and promote social cohesion. As Turkey was not included in phase one of the IEA study, the paper provides original information for comparative studies, reconsideration of citizenship education in multicultural societies and promoting an active national citizenry in Turkey. (Contains 8 notes and 3 figures.)

In this study, whether the multimedia in the history lesson affects the students' attitude towards this lesson or not has been studied. With this object, whether there is a difference among the point averages that students take from the preliminary test and whether there is a difference among the point averages that students take from the last test will be tried to be learnt. Besides, the students' opinion who took the lesson by using multimedia will be taken. 8th class students will constitute the centre of the survey. By reason of the capaciousness of the survey, a sample was constituted by choosing a pilot group. While the sample is being chosen, the academic success of the students is analyzed and the students who have 5 or nearly 5 point average are chosen. This study was conducted in Adiyaman Cumhuriyet Elementary School in 2008 to 2009 school year. In the study, quantitative data is collected with "Attitude Scale", and qualitative data is collected with "open-ended questionnaire". The data acquired in this study was analyzed in two phases. In the first phase, the quantitative data is collected and analyzed; and, in the second one "Descriptive Analysis Solving Technique" related to qualitative data is used. At the end of the study a significant difference between the experimental group which was exposed to the multimedia utilization and control group which was exposed to ordinary lesson process was found, and there occurred a significant increase in the attitude of the experimental group towards the history lesson. The result of practise of multimedia in the history lesson was acquired. (Contains 9 tables.)

This article discusses some perspectives on citizenship education in Turkey and Britain in the context of current contested discourses on the nature of European identity and of the European Union (EU). It is based on data collected during an EU-funded student teacher exchange programme between three universities in Turkey and Leicester University in the United Kingdom. The programme facilitated participants' investigations of their understandings of citizenship and citizenship education in Britain and Turkey. Data was collected by questionnaire from 581 Turkish student teachers and 85 British student teachers involved with citizenship education and, during the exchange visits, through focus group interviews with 14 British and 14 Turkish students. Both groups thought citizenship education was key to creating "good citizens" in their countries, but the nature of this citizenship was perceived to differ between countries. The Turkish students placed a strong emphasis on national identity and Turkish citizenship, whilst the British students focused more on democracy, social justice, global citizenship and human rights. Students from both countries questioned the efficacy of the pedagogical approaches that they observed during school visits in each other's countries.

Dance embraces the entire globe. Universities offer world dance classes to expose students to various styles and educators travel to different countries to experience how dance is viewed, performed, and taught in different cultures. In this article nine dance educators share their experiences of teaching and observing dance abroad. These accounts give us insights about how other religions and governments view dance, how folk dance reflects national pride and is preserved, how dance is an integral part of physical education, and how the study of other cultures can improve educators' teaching methods.

This article aims at scrutinizing an example of how education can help a whole nation survive the most fateful times in its history: a world war followed by a struggle for independence. Therefore, the latest times of the Ottoman Empire in general and Ottoman education in particular are outlined to illustrate what the young Turkish republic inherited. Then, the absolute needs of the young republic are discussed, followed by how they were met through the reform movement. The article offers vivid examples, with an emphasis on the young nation's need to reform and refresh the minds via the light of science and reason, as that against the antisecular, dark, and narrow minds of the former regime. A final analysis is devoted to a broad discussion about the importance of the components of this reform movement for the global readership by referring to similar actors and scenarios. (Contains 1 table.)

In the early 1920s, Kilis was a mid-size town situated in the north of the Ottoman province of Aleppo. The border introduced in October 1921 between Turkey and French Syria passed right to the south of Kilis, leaving the landowning elites who lived in the city detached from their lands located in Syria. This article reconstructs the complex episodes that unfolded both before and after the introduction of this border, as the territorial future of Kilis’ agricultural hinterland intimately shaped how the town’s landed notables interacted with the coming of colonial rule to the region and the ensuing resistance efforts. In tracing these post-war developments in Kilis, this study is an attempt to come to terms with the complex ways in which historical actors operated in a world that was increasingly defined by the uncertainties of the future, and hopes to show how historians could best approach such key moments while navigating the study of futures past. As we will see, the immediate post-war years in Kilis not only led old problems to flare up with greater intensity, but also quickly resulted in the consolidation of new discursive positions in line with the emerging post-Ottoman order across the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article puts Turkey's current state crisis into a historical perspective. During the transition to neo-liberalism after the hegemony crisis of the late 1970s, a critical objective for those in the high echelons of bureaucracy and ruling politicians was to ensure the security of state apparatuses. However, the policies implemented to achieve this led to fragmentation in both the state and the political spheres. Thus, during the second half of the 1990s and during the 2000s, the state became a field for open warfare between power networks that had established direct links between state apparatuses, political society, and civil society. These fragmentations – that is the parcellation of state apparatuses – triggered an intra-state crisis. Regarding the formation of the state and the political spheres in the neo-liberal era, this article shows that Turkey is a unique case in the debate on variegated forms of authoritarian statism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of the Turkish and Irish republics took place nearly simultaneously, under the influence of the nationalist movement. This study discusses the cultural foundations of nationalism that emerged during the independence struggles and the necessity of transferring them to children in comparison. In particular, it is claimed that nations that have fought for independence want to create myths about these difficult times, immortalize them with works such as poetry, stories, and novels, and then pass them to the next generations. This study indicates that although they have different languages, religions, and traditions, these two countries tell fairy tales and epics for children in almost the same period for the same purposes. To illustrate this, two folk narratives of both cultures were compared in this study. In conclusion, these comparisons show that the Irish and Turkish nationalist movements exercise their freedom to 'conceive themselves' and hope to benefit somewhat from reflecting this on children's literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines the recent presidential memorandum that replaced the Anglicized exonymic version "Turkey" with the endonym "Türkiye" as a conscious, performative and public relations campaign at both national and international levels. On the surface, this change addresses populist sociolinguistic hypersensitivities surrounding the connotations of the term "turkey" while simultaneously harnessing the commodification and marketization of the Turkey brand through selective references culled from collective memory (i.e., past) and branding aimed at economic gains (i.e., future). However, at the deeper level, this transformation serves as a discursive political instrument and a top-down nation branding effort powered by substantial resources from the state and its institutions with an ultimate motivation to consolidate President Erdoğan's political power and authority, elevate his status to that of a national leader and institutionalize his populist/nationalist yerli ve millî rhetoric from a de facto to de jure within Yeni Türkiye as a competitive authoritarian regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When and under what conditions do ideologically similar nationalist parties adopt different positions and discourses about refugees and immigrants? We address this question by examining nationalist parties' approaches toward Syrian refugees in Turkey. Documenting these differences based on an original Twitter dataset and party manifestos, we argue that electoral dynamics under the new presidential system have shaped nationalist parties' discourses about refugees in the country. In particular, we explore how pre-electoral alliances and a strategic opening in the political space have motivated nationalist parties to amplify, ambiguate, or silence their otherwise conservative and nativist refugee discourses. Additionally, we maintain that urbanization has influenced the discursive strategies of nationalist party elites toward immigrants and refugees, giving rise to contradictory forms of nationalism in urban areas, including both far-right and liberal nationalisms. Overall, this study offers valuable insights into the complex interactions between refugee politics, electoral dynamics, nationalism, and urbanization in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mainstream literature on Turanism defines the term as an essentially expansionist and irredentist movement that aims at unifying all Turkic populations. This article challenges this presupposition, arguing that the Turanist imagination has multiple usages. A considerable number of Turkish nationalist intellectuals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in fact, approached it as a modern political concept within the confines of solidarity and sovereignty. They regarded the general idea of nationalism as a universal concept to which everyone could make an equal claim, including non-Turks in the Ottoman Empire. This translates to mean that Turanism is not necessarily territorial expansionism, nor must it go hand in hand with racist/expansionist claims. Neither should it be understood as the hegemony of Turkey's Turks over other Turks. It rather strives for a Turkist internationalism in which Turks negotiate with each other to maximize their sovereign interests. Seen in that light, Turanism is not a mystical idea, and it refers to modern practical/political concepts such as independence, territorial integrity, national sovereignty, and self-determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on nationalism have recently transitioned from macro‐level analyses of large structural factors to micro‐level examinations, emphasizing nationalism as a set of cultural and political beliefs held by individuals. Such works that use opinion measures to explore heterogeneity in national self‐understandings show that nationalist beliefs distribute among the public in particular and non‐random ways, though the extent to which these heterogeneities induce variation in behavioural outcomes remains relatively unexplored. In this article, we argue that varying conceptions of nationhood inform ethnonational boundary‐making strategies and social action. Using latent class analyses and a resource allocation task in original representative survey data (N = 1,460), we ask whether varying cultural positions on nationhood covaries with preferential behaviour. We found that nationalist cultural models provide heterogeneous cultural templates and lead to preferential treatment of ethnonational ingroups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores ordinary individuals' understandings of nationhood. In so doing, it focuses on the case of Armenian migrants from Turkey to Canada and their conceptualizations of the host country. The paper captures multiple strands of nationhood and argues that these are pertinent to different boundary-making processes. The outer boundary of nationhood is defined along inclusive and civic lines where difference is recognized and appreciated. Living with difference, on the other hand, brings to the fore the tension between recognizing it on the one hand and accommodating it on the other. The case study further reveals how the exercise of state power and individuals' encounters with the state shape their understandings of nationhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the violent politics of stigmatisation and erasure of nationalist urban infrastructure. In general, urban infrastructure is a mechanism of state power. But, through the case of the imposing presence of Turkish nationalist infrastructure in the Kurdish city Diyarbakir, it demonstrates that when tied to an antagonistic nationalist political project, this infrastructure is often purposefully built to violently cleanse urban spaces of the national "other". Be it a statue, a mural or a picture of a nationalist leader – this infrastructure is incapable of inflicting physical pain. Nonetheless, its violence is symbolic and meant to have a real effect on Diyarbakir's Kurds' ability and willingness to identify as Kurds. That said, violence does not entirely inform the spatial experience of those targeted by this nationalist infrastructure. The article demonstrates that Kurdish residents also found ways of remaining unaffected, even treating the infrastructure laden with Turkish nationalist iconography as a reminder of their own Kurdish identity. This article thus expands our understanding of what nationalist infrastructure does. It may be designed to be violent. However, it also reveals itself to be a site of contestation – equally inspiring the persistence of the counter-narrative of the national "other". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, human geneticists have substantially embraced the concept of "biogeographical ancestry" to account for the racial, ethnic, and linguistic categories they use to analyze and interpret genetic difference. Understanding the ongoing role of these categories in human genetic research therefore requires attention to geneticists' representations of geography, particularly the geographic maps they use to illustrate gene distribution and migration. This article examines how the methods and imagery of international genetic geography and its major evolutionary narratives have reinforced or refashioned nationalist practices of geography in the Middle East. Geneticists simultaneously conceptualize the region's physical space as both a historical "crossroads" of human migration and the birthplace of distinct gene sequences and civilizations, alternately blurring and sharpening the boundaries between Europe and Asia. Focusing on genetic research in Turkey and Iran, this paper analyzes how geneticists draw and interpret geographic maps of the region while selectively erasing or highlighting state borders. These genetic maps negotiate between the idealized aims of international projects to reconstruct human evolutionary history, and the reality of practicing science under the constraints of nationstate politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For voters, phenomena such as increasing feelings of nationalism, the transformation of the perception of foreign powers into a political tool by the government, and the pursuit of polarisation politics by making the opposition enemies, push the importance of the economic crisis towards the back of the list of concerns for the voters. The general elections that took place between 1980 and 2018 are examined and the economic voting behaviour is explored in this study, especially in terms of periodical developments in Turkish politics. It is obvious that the economic voting model was an important determinant on the Turkish voters in the elections until 2008. However, ideological factors, strong leadership analysis or other indicators have started to replace the economic voting model in Turkey with serious political changes after 2008. In this context, this study is aimed to make an important contribution by filling the gap in the literature on economic voting in Turkish politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to analyze the nationalist discourses used in the reproduction of national identity through the representation of athletes in the press within the framework of the relationship between sports and nationalism. In this context, the study focuses on the defection of weightlifting athlete Naim Süleymanoğlu to Turkey and the nationalist discourses in the press before, during and after the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics in South Korea. The theoretical framework of the research was formed based on the literature on the relationship sports, nationalism, and media. In the qualitative research design, qualitative content analysis technique was used. The sample of the study consists of news articles and columns in the online archive of Milliyet Newspaper between 1984 and 2000. As a result of the content analysis, the findings revealed three main themes: The first is the theme of “Bulgarian persecution”, which was prominent in the first period of the athlete’s defection to Turkey. This theme stands out with the discourse of “anti-communism” and “negative/enemy/other”, one of the mainstays of Turkish nationalism. The second theme is in line with the “strong state” and “positive/we/Turkish” discourse, which is one of the triangulation points of Turkish nationalism. The second theme is in line with the “strong state” “positive/we/Turkish” discourse, which is one of the triangulation points of Turkish nationalism. The third theme is the “positive/national pride” theme that became prominent in the media discourse after the athlete’s performance success in the Olympics. The results of the research show that the nationalist discourse in the press has a content compatible with the “Turkish-Islamic synthesis” of the period and that national identity is reproduced within the framework of this content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the language used in media articles with framing content against Turkey in the Balkans, specifically in Albania and Kosovo. Albanian national identity and the nationalism that arose following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire have periodically resurfaced throughout modern history. Today, Albanian nationalism can sever ties with modern Turkey, often portraying the past and present in a negative light. The study focuses on how Albanian media with a nationalist perspective covered the construction of a Turkish memorial in Tirana's park, which was intended as a symbol of friendship between the two countries and as a tribute to the martyrs of July 15th. A total of 69 news articles were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods, and categories of news framing related to a nationalist perspective in the journalists' reporting were identified. The results showed that media outlets in both countries covered the event, but Kosovo media displayed a higher level of framing against Turkey, despite the fact that the event took place in Albania. This nationalist approach suggests that Turkey continues to be perceived as a geostrategic, political, and cultural threat to the Albanian nation in the Balkans.

In the absence of anti-fascist public education and debates, the marginalized majority, minority groups, and their political allies will continue to be brutalized in the region. Problematizing exclusionary politics is essential for recognizing the ongoing democratic struggles of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This article aims to stimulate more academic and public debates about fascism in MENA. Critically investigating the history of several waves of nationalism and their affinity with the first historical rise of fascism could enable us to better appreciate the challenges resistance movements in the MENA region have been facing. To that end, the persisting threat of fascism in Turkey, the Arab world, and Iran are examined critically. While the article applies the ideology form theory, a new critical theory of fascism, the soundness of the central argument regarding the significance of and the need for critiquing exclusionary, racist, and genocidal ideologies, movements, regimes, and politics does not rely on the theoretical application of the concept of fascism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of the results of Turkey's May 2023 elections reveals that alongside President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's victory in the second round of the presidential elections, nationalist forces earned greater representation in the Turkish parliament. Since 2015 Erdogan and his party have been in a coalition with the party that represents Turkish ultranationalism--the National Movement Party. In parallel, there has been a general rise in nationalist sentiment in Turkish political discourse, in part due to the renewal of the armed conflict with the Kurds and the increased weight of the Syrian refugee issue in Turkey. In light of the close race before the latest elections, an effort was made among both the governing coalition and the opposition to pursue every vote, which led to the political strengthening of figures with ultranationalist positions. After the elections, Erdogan established a government that comprises primarily technocrats, and this serves as a moderating factor. Nevertheless, at any stage he will be able to appoint other figures who reflect the strengthening of the ultranationalist element of Turkish foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Public Administration & Policy is the property of Journal of Public Administration & Policy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines possible strategies for preserving the national identity of Ukrainians living outside of Ukraine, specifically in the Republic of Turkey for many years, as well as those who were forced to leave Ukrainian territory due to Russia's open military aggression against Ukraine in 2022. The research material is based on the achievements of the Ukrainian community in the Turkish city of Bursa, which is one of the largest cities in the Republic of Turkey. The close proximity of Bursa to Istanbul, and therefore to Turkey's major transportation hub, led Ukrainians to choose this city for temporary residence outside of Ukraine as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Despite the fact that the Turkish government does not extensively cover the events currently taking place in Ukraine in the majority of media outlets, has not imposed sanctions against Russia and the increasing number of Russians in Turkey, the Ukrainian community is making significant efforts to preserve, promote, and manifest the Ukrainian language, culture, and unity. The study focuses on the means and methods that have contributed to the exploration of these paths. It analyzes the achievements of Ukrainians in the fields of education, politics, religion, and culture. The article also highlights certain volunteer initiatives, including online volunteering, by Ukrainians, particularly those who were forced to leave Ukraine due to the full-scale war, in the city of Bursa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking religious education as an important indicator in evaluating religious freedom in a country, this paper focuses on the religion courses in Turkey in order to evaluate Europeanisation and religious freedom in the country. The EU Commission's recent progress reports indicated that the conduct of religious courses in Turkey is incompatible with EU norms. Although important legal arrangements have been made in accordance with the adoption of minority rights in Turkey, it seems more difficult for change to happen in an ideological issue such as education. As religious freedom is an important value for the European Union, this paper aims to explore the impact of Europeanisation on the state of religious education in Turkey and the extent of Turkey's compliance with the European norms in a highly debated area like religious education. It also aims, in a broader sense, to shed a light on the place of religion in the national identity of Turkey today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a critical conceptualisation of human rights education (HRE), this study investigates how human rights were presented in a set of textbooks which were used in Turkey from 1950 to 2020. Findings show that the textbooks avoid human rights issues, struggles, campaigns, and activists by sustaining a de-politicised and de-contextualised narrative. They do not even refer to the Holocaust in explaining the historical development of human rights. These findings suggest that HRE gained a curricular status as a matter of window dressing, an 'escapist' model developed as a result. This model is characterised by a deliberate avoidance of anything that may be considered as 'political'. This study concludes that placing socio-political issues at the centre of HRE and encouraging learners to critically reflect on discrepancies between claims and realities of human rights can improve the transformative powers of HRE in nationalist contexts with no strong tradition of rights struggle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]