Search

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]

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]

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 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]

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]

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]

This study offers an alternative perspective for examining the rise of Turkish nationalism in the Eastern Mediterranean in relation to cinema culture within the political and historical contexts of Cyprus. The cinema business and its practices had their golden age in the 1950s through the distribution of Turkish films from Turkey and the increasing number of movie theatres in Turkish Cypriot neighbourhoods. This period was also crucial in terms of political developments on the island due to the drastic rise in ethnic and national divisions. Drawing on archival research and oral history; this article aims to examine how Turkish nationalism was provided with the ideal conditions to grow rapidly at Cypriot cinemas and how multi-communal cinemagoing experiences of the early 1950s had transformed into nationally divided Cypriot audiences during the last years of British colonial rule in Cyprus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The State of the Republic of Türkiye was actually and officially established on April 23, 1920. The name of his regime became the Republic On October 29, 1923. Our state has 6 basic founding principles. The most prominent among these is nationalism. Nationalism is the main source of the other five principles. What is meant by nationalism is Turkish nationalism. Therefore, nationalism is an inclusive and encompassing principle. Atatürk established the State of the Republic of Türkiye as an independent, national Turkish state. He defined the Turkish homeland as the only indivisible Turkish homeland. He determined by the decision of the Parliament that the only anthem representing our state is the National Anthem. He determined Turkish, which is a Turkish language, as the only official language. He declared that the only flag representing our state is the Turkish flag. He insisted that our state is the only Turkish state that cannot be divided and broken up. He said that the name of our nation is only the Turkish nation. He gathered all our citizens under the roof of the Turkish nation. He revealed Turkish history as a whole. Turkish nationalism has become a determinant in all types of art such as music, painting, architecture, theater, literature. He made the interests of the Turkish nation the sole determinant in foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the victory of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey's 2023 presidential election, the role of fear‐oriented populist nationalism in Turkish politics, and the implications of the results for society. It argues that Turkey faces a deep moral and social crisis rather than a mere political problem. The article explores the sociocultural origins of polarization, as competing communities with few shared values contribute to divisions. It also analyzes the formation and ideologies of the People's Alliance and the Nation Alliance, the two major blocs involved in the 2023 elections, providing insights into their visions for Turkey. Last, the article scrutinizes the cult of the strongman, the widespread use of nationalism and religion, the utilization of state resources by Erdoğan's administration, and the influence of media—largely controlled by Erdoğan—on public opinion. This includes investigating the impact of alternative truths and narratives on the electoral process. The analysis highlights the deep‐rooted moral bankruptcy Turkey faces in the third decade of Erdoğan's rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food and food culture are formed by being influenced by the origin of the culture. Food culture creates a cultural belonging and identity. Thus, food and the culture it creates differ between societies. These differences are reflected in the character of societies and this character determines the nationalist ideologies of the society. Today, anti-refugee is one of the issues that nationalist ideologies have made a major problem. In this direction, the main purpose of the study is to examine the comments made on the news about refugee foods on the YouTube channels of news agencies operating in Turkey in the context of nationalist ideology. In the study, qualitative content analysis method was applied. In the findings of the study, it has been seen that it has become a medium where the anti-refugee discourse is reproduced and disseminated intensively. Besides, it has been determined that anti-refugee sentiment is not based on food culture, but directly based on nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This paper examines the relation between nationalism and heteronormativity through the lens of hegemonic masculinity and shows how Turkish nationalism helps to construct the "normal" and thus strengthen heteronormative thinking in Turkish society. Utilizing in-depth interviews in Çanakkale with 16 men who carry the typical features of a privileged Turkish citizen—namely the ones self-identifying as Turkish, Sunni Muslim, heterosexual, and breadwinner—my aim in the paper is to reveal and comprehend attitudes toward non-heterosexual people in Turkey, to challenge the effect of the possible nationalist ideological tendencies on participants' discourses, and to explicate if such tendencies play a part in justifying their attitudes. I suggest that respondents' privileges are obtained in exchange for strict commitment to Turkish nationalistic values. These values not only define what constitutes "normal" but also determine and disparage anyone who deviates from such definition. Greater commitment to such values signals a more powerful heterosexual matrix and thus greater exclusion of queer people in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Erol Güngör (1938-1983) is one of the important figures of nationalist-conservative thought. Since the 1970s, he started to draw attention among the Turkish intelligentsia with his writings. He analyzed the modernization process, which he comprehended on the axis of the intellectual-people conflict, in terms of the failure to establish the unity of national culture. He evaluated Turkey's issues in a historical-sociological perspective, with his exceptional personality, who was knowledgeable in both Ottoman and Western cultures. In doing so, although he was politically involved, he did not completely abandon a scientific approach. Although Güngör is a member of the academy, he is a university professor whose intellectual horizon far exceeds the boundaries of this field. He published his works during the Cold War conjuncture (1960-1980) when the right-left polarization was effective. One feature of this period is the rise of leftist ideology and politics in Turkey, and the other is the strengthening of a nationalism that emphasizes anti-communism. Erol Güngör made important criticisms towards the Turkish Left in an effort to raise the intellectual level of the nationalist camp in such conditions. With his writings in Yol and Töre magazine, he expressed the dilemmas of the left. His struggle against the left constitutes one of the main elements of his thought. This article has been written in order to analyze the nature of Erol Güngör's criticisms of the left in the Cold War conjuncture and to clarify the path of intellectual development in the period 1965-1975. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Erol Güngör, who studied nationalism, which was one of the effective ideologies in the political atmosphere of the 1970s, using the social science method with the advantage of being a social psicologist, acquired a different position among the intellectuals who lived in that period. His approach to social issues both historically and by researching from different ideas enabled him to reveal different perspectives and strengthened his critical approach. It has become a necessity to reveal his point of view on concepts such as nationalism, culture, civilization and religion to understand in detail some of the issues that are still current even though he wrote in his lifetime. Thus, it is aimed to contribute to the researches of today's researchers on these issues. While examining Erol Güngör's view of concepts, the text analysis method was used in our study, and its conceptual framework was tried to be revealed through his own works. Erol Güngör did not only deal with topics such as culture, modernization, Islam, religion, nationalism, intellectuals and history, which were the subject of intense debates both in the world and in Turkey at that time. While declaring his ideas or making a statement on another subject, he prioritized and reflected his ideas about these basic concepts. This has led Erol Güngör to not only define but internalize these concepts in his works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines oral traditions in the discourse of Kurdish intellectuals between 1920s and 1940s. Through a critical and textual analysis of three main publications, namely Hawar [cry for help] (1932–1943), Ronahî [light] (1941–1943), and Roja Nû [new day] (1943 − 1946), it discusses the different ways in which oral traditions were seen as instrumental for crafting national selves, advancing literacy, and disseminating local histories. The article identifies the endeavours of Kurdish intellectuals as a form of romantic nationalism and approaches it within the theoretical framework of John Hutchinson's cultural nationalism. It shows that Kurdish intellectuals' interests in oral traditions were the outcome of complex, ideological positions and conditions, and that the cultural and the political were closely intertwined in their pursuits. Exploring those pursuits also informs us of the symbolic and political significance of expressive traditions in the contemporary cultural politics of Kurds in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to the 1980s, Turkey experienced a period of vicious political polarisation and even violent conflicts. The 1980 coup administration strived to reach an agreement regarding nationalism, religion, and Kemalism. Following the military coup of 1980, the Social Studies course was abandoned in secondary schools in 1985 and the National History, National Geography, and Citizenship courses were reconstituted. Thus, the word national was placed in the front of the History and Geography courses for the first time in Turkey. The notion of National Geography in National Geography lessons mostly highlighted geographical areas settled by Turks. The overall course content was shaped by Kemalist ideology. This study therefore critically evaluates the National Geography lessons taught in secondary schools in the aftermath of the 1980 coup. Official documents from the period and textbooks are the primary resources for this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, I aim to find the impact of social values and demographic characteristics on attitudes toward immigrants in Turkey. For the empirical analysis, wave 7 data from the World Values Survey (WVS) is used. Individual-level data from 2018 shows that religion and nationalism play a key role in increasing negative attitudes toward immigrants. As individuals' social class improves, their anti-immigrant sentiments tend to decrease. However, when there is concern about potential competition for scarce jobs in the labor market, social class jumps result in discrimination against immigrants. The logit regression coefficients for political opinion, education, age and marital status do not show robust results in different models using different measures of negative attitudes. Thus, demographic characteristics do not systematically influence opinions toward immigration in Turkey. Rather, values and socioeconomic position in society have an impact on opinions toward immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1969 and 1979, the Devlet newspaper became an important newspaper that published in line with Turkish nationalism and provided communication between nationalist intellectuals and the nationalist mass. The newspaper came to the fore as an intellectual and political publication agency trying to explain the problems of the nationalist base in the chaotic period when Turkey was divided into ideologically two poles. Galip Erdem who one of the writers with the most articles in the newspaper drew attention as an opinion leader followed by the nationalist mass with his ideas about the political and youth events of the period. Galip Erdem who trying to gather Turkish nationalists at one point took part in the collective effort of nationalist intellectuals. In the study Galip Erdem's articles in the Devlet newspaper were examined, his perspective on the political process of the period and Turkish nationalism was discussed in a multidimensional way. In the study it was observed that Galip Erdem's efforts to protect and develop the ideology of Turkish nationalism in the political conditions of the period had social and political reflections in different ways. It has also been seen that Galip Erdem is one of the pioneers of Turkish-Islamic nationalism and who also cares about the intersection points of religion against secular nationalism in the social sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between populism, nationalism and religion through evidence from Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule. The literature on the populism's rapport with nationalism has developed in isolation from the burgeoning theorization of populism-religion nexus. This study has a two-fold contribution. Theoretically, it advances a historical approach to deepen our understanding of the widespread appeal of contemporary populism. It argues that populism can capitalize on unique contextual fusions of religion and ethnic (secular) nationalism that originate from historical legacies and ideas of modern nation-building to (re)construct the antagonistic discourse dividing the society into two camps of 'the people' and 'the elites'. Empirically, by drawing upon discourse theory and empirical analysis of the AKP's public discourse, the study offers a nuanced approach to the AKP's much-debated stance on religion as an ideology versus instrument. Three areas are investigated to exemplify AKP's construction of populist dichotomy: a) ethnic and religious minorities, b) women, and c) youth. The analysis reveals that the AKP has built three different, and at times, contradictory articulations of 'people as underdogs', 'people as nation' and 'people as the ummah' against 'the secular elites', 'the enemies within' and 'the West', respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rather than addressing the Kurdish conflict in Turkey directly, this study focuses on how the rising nationalist populism bears on Kurdish voters supporting the pro‐Kurdish party HDP. There are very few studies on how Kurds are affected by the nationalist populism often expressed in Turkey by the governing People's Alliance (Cumhur İttifakı) with its slogan "domestic and national," even though the literature offers a broad variety of studies on the Kurdish conflict. To fill this gap, this study is supported by focus group discussions with the Kurds in Turkey who support the HDP, based on a sample of the Kurds living in Istanbul, which is sometimes referred to as the "largest Kurdish city." This study claims that the populist slogan of the "domestic and national" not only marginalises the Kurdish interviewees but also weakens their sense of belonging to Turkey, thus encouraging them to establish their own national identities. An important result of the focus group meetings is that AKP's polarising policy not only causes polarisation among Turks but also among the Kurds. [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]

Cyprus has featured prominently on Turkey's foreign policy agenda in recent years. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has weaved this long-standing issue into a broader narrative of 'geographical imagination'. Cyprus policy has thus reflected the AKP's socio-political vision of a 'Yeni Türkiye' (New Turkey), first articulated nearly a decade ago, in which well-entrenched narratives about national identity and the Cyprus conflict are central. Against this backdrop, Cyprus has been leveraged in the twin interests of AKP survival (boosting incumbency through nationalist appeals) and Turkey's regional power aspirations. The present article offers a timely survey of Turkey's Cyprus policy over a 15-year period from 2002 (when the AKP rose to power) until the failure of the negotiation talks on Cyprus in Crans-Montana, Switzerland in July 2017. In so doing, the article charts the important continuities as well as the key markers of transition in Ankara's policy towards Cyprus under the AKP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the ideas of Hüseyin Nihal Atsız and Seyyid Ahmet Arvasi, two iconic ideologues of ethnic and religious nationalism in Turkey, respectively, on the issues of history, identity, and national ideal. It first argues that Atsız mainly presents a history of Turkish supremacism whereas Arvasi embraces a method of Islamization to remember history. It also demonstrates that Atsız tends to equate the racial and the national while Arvasi uses Islamic legitimacy for Turkish identity and nationalism. It is also evident that while Atsız offers classical pan-nationalism, Arvasi shows third-worldist and universalistic tendencies in defining Turkish destiny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against this background, Dimitris Kamouzis's book, I Greeks in Turkey: Elite Nationalism and Minority Politics in Late Ottoman and Early Republican Istanbul i , is more timely than ever. These two chapters are crucial in understanding the interplay between the "absentees" and the Greek statesmen who they felt were sacrificing their interests to those of the Greek state throughout Greece's negotiations with Turkey. [Extracted from the article]

Based on primary sources such as field notes, reports, and project memorandums, this article addresses architectural restoration work in Turkey from the 1920s to the 1960s. Despite the country's limited budget and workforce, especially in the early years of the republic, the government crafted an intense preservation program of historic monuments, whereby preservation professionals implemented the scientific protection of architectural heritage mainly through maintenance and repairs. This article argues that the historiography of Turkish art became an agent in restoration, while the concept of the essence of national architecture served as the ideological basis for physical interventions. Seeking to restore the pure forms of Turkish architecture, preservationists searched for the pedigree of built works, and Sinan's style was treated as the zenith of Turkish architecture. Works by him, along with other examples associated with the "Classical Period of Architecture" were subjected to heavy-handed interventions aimed at achieving stylistic purity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boycotts, one of the important forms of political consumerism, are democratic actions in which consumers show their sensitivity to social issues via consumer protests. These actions are seen as more peaceful forms of opposition, separated from other politically motivated forms of opposition, and seen as citizen practices that reinforce democracy. However, in some cases, boycotts can threaten political and social equality, support undemocratic ideologies, and turn into hostile actions when these peaceful collective movements are shaped by consumer ethnocentrism fed by nationalism and religiosity. This study examines the factors affecting the participation of individuals in boycotts within the framework of political consumerism, and in particular, the relationship between important concepts for ethnocentrism such as nationalism and religiosity, and participation in boycotts within the context of Turkey. In this study, which was conducted using survey data collected from a representative sample in Turkey in 2020, a statistically significant relationship is found between "nationalism", "religiosity", "education level", "full-time employment" and the frequency of boycotts. Our quantitative analysis in the context of ethnocentrism, which is the main focus of the research, shows that the level of religiosity in Turkey is more effective in participating in boycotts than the level of nationalism. While this study contributes to the understanding of consumer behavior in the context of political participation, an important field of study in communication studies, it is also important for the development of new policies and communication strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explains how the Turkish nation's composition has changed under Justice and Development Party rule. Turkish nationalism and Turkish national identity have dramatically changed since 2010, when the Kurdish Opening process was started by former prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Syrian refugee crisis and the influx of Syrian refugees into Turkey created another change in Turkish national identity. Increasing religiosity in Turkey and the use of Islam by the Justice and Development Party created a flexible nation, where all Sunni Muslims can be considered members even though they are not ethnically Turkish. The author uses primary sources, such as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's speeches since 2010, to show how his discourse became more embracing of non-Turkish Muslim groups and created a dynastic understanding of nationalism based on religion rather than the idea of an ethnically homogenous, secular Turkish nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional historiographical paradigm depicts the consolidation of nation‐state and nationalism in Turkey as a top‐down political project characterised by the domination of the 'center' over the 'periphery'. In this narrative, the masses are portrayed as either passive recipients or silenced opponents of the nation‐state project. Based on a historical and contemporary analysis of the state‐sponsored tea production in Rize, this article contends that this perspective neglects the agency of the provincial population in the reproduction of the nation‐state and nationalism in Turkey and in influencing the decisions made by the state elite. The economic interventionist measures of the ruling authority to extend its nationalist hegemony across Anatolia also opened a field of action for rural/provincial populations to negotiate their interests with the state and thereby influence its policies. The main contours of this relationship have remained salient during the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) period, and it needs to be taken into account to explain this party's large ideological appeal in the Black Sea region. This argument builds on a fieldwork conducted in Rize that included in‐depth interviews with local tea workers and farmers as well as extensive archival research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to evaluate the development of nationalism academic literature in the world through bibliometric analysis. The absence of a similar study -a bibliometric study on the nationalism literature in Turkey-, which seeks to answer the question of how the development of nationalism is shaped in academic literature, makes this study more meaningful. In this context, contributing to the Turkish political science literature constitutes another goal of this study. This study examines 9175 articles between 1975-2021 on nationalism and related concepts and theories according to the development of the literature in the Web of Science database. There were discussed through co-author analysis on country basis, co-citation analysis on country basis, co-author analysis, co-entity analysis, and bibliometric mapping. According to the results of this study, it has been determined that the concepts of nationalism, racism, ethnicity and modernism have been studied intensively in the nationalism literature, which has a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary nature, today as well as in the past, and that nationalism continues its potential existence as a field of study in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores local people's attitudes toward the naturalization of the Syrian refugees in Turkey. Based upon fieldwork data, I explored the way the people of Bolu construct Syrian refugees as the "Other" on the grounds of citizenship and the way these narratives reproduce a nationalistic discourse in Turkey. The results indicated that the people reject granting citizenship for ideological reasons and on the grounds of a subjective nationalistic understanding of nation-state membership. Simultaneously, extending such citizenship rights as state welfare (healthcare and education) was seen as a social right or courtesy toward their Muslim neighbors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the question of whether Turkey has been turning away from Europe in the last decade, this research argues that there has been a false promise of Europeanisation of the Turkish national identity since the pro-Islamist AKP government came to power in 2002. Adopting a critical constructivist approach has revealed that the Europeanisation process has contributed to the domestic power struggle of competing Turkish nationalist discourses in maintaining and transforming Turkey's Kemalist nation-state identity that, paradoxically, has empowered de-Europeanisation of Turkey's identity. An analysis of debate in the print media discourse empirically shows how Turkey constructs its identity as 'the other' in Europe in different discourses of Turkish nationalism. Consequently, this study points out that the domestic power struggles involved in the reconstruction of Turkey's identity, which was triggered by the Europeanisation process that targeted the Kemalist and Europeanist construction, has consolidated the Islamist, post-Kemalist nation-state identity discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the extent to which history education (HE) in Turkey adheres to the HE principles proposed by the Council of Europe. A compulsory history textbook is analyzed in detail. The analysis finds an understanding of HE that marginalizes minorities due to nationalist and militarist content. The Atatürk's Principles and History of Reforms (APHR) course also fail to include controversial historical issues and does not adopt a multiperspective approach. Thus, a vital question has emerged: Is the APHR a course that serves to develop universal values such as respect for differences, a culture of inclusion, and support for democracy, or does it continue to be used solely as a tool for reproducing national values or more precisely, the dominant groups' values? This question reveals the significance of developing a HE curriculum in Turkey and elsewhere that reflects current realities and also supports intercultural dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the emergence of Nobel Prize-winning Turkish scientist Aziz Sancar as a scientific persona model. After receiving the Nobel Prize in 2015, Sancar's nationalistic tendencies and close relationship with incumbent Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi – AKP) leaders opened up a wide range of discussions on how a scientist's relationship with politics should be intellectually interpreted. Focusing on the case of Aziz Sancar, this article examines the specific contextual conditions in which a scientist expresses his identity and how it is interpreted by the public. To this end, the aim of this work is to present an in-depth analysis of the discussions that took place in Ekşi Sözlük, a popular social media platform acting as an online forum in Turkey, and news from the national media and to scrutinize how a scientific persona is conceived in Turkey and how Aziz Sancar has been 'de-scienticized' in the heavy polarized Turkish political atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The youngest generation of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Turkey was formed almost immediately after the downfall of the Soviet Union, resulting in the increased emigration of Azerbaijanis to foreign countries, in particular to Turkey, where the language barrier is minimal due to linguistic proximity. This article is an attempt to investigate the dynamics of identity production (and, consequently, senses of belonging) of the most recent generations of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Turkey in relationship to their linguistic and cultural repertoires. While language and culture are key factors in identity production, linguistic and cultural practices may be influenced by various social factors. I have therefore tried to examine the identity paradigms of Azerbaijanis living in Turkey in the frameworks of their ethno-national, socio-cultural, and socio-communicative perceptions. The survey I conducted for this purpose mostly covers post-Soviet immigrants to Turkey and, to a lesser extent, earlier generations of Azerbaijanis who settled in Turkey during Soviet times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2011, almost four million refugees were welcomed in Turkey. This paper aims to explore how these people are included/excluded from the society through the construction of the self/the other. The paper argues that studying the media representations of these refugees in Turkish print media reveal the wider politics of nationalism in the country. To study the wider politics of nationalism, I collected newspaper articles from pro-government and anti-government papers from 2014 to 2018. This data not only reveals the inclusion/exclusion of these people from the definitions of 'nation' but also reveals the tension between AKP and Kemalist ideologies in Turkey. The paper discusses these discourses through 'secular' and 'humanitarian' nationalisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey has become a powerful example of rising ethno-religious nationalism since the ruling Justice and Development Party allied with the Nationalist Movement Party in 2016. Conceptualising the political ideology in power as Islamic nationalism, I expose ways in which this ideology is articulated in the education reform discourse of 'new Turkey' through a critical analysis of a foundational education reform report (the Report). The analysis shows various aspects of ethno-religious construction of education reform discourse through a focus on citizenship education (CE) partly because the prominent configuration of power relations manifests itself in considerations of CE. The analysis finds that the Report vilifies CE and proposes an alternative for it: social entrepreneurship. Furthermore, it presents Turkey's diverse population as a monolithic homogenous mass and makes no mention of democracy and human rights values. These findings call out the research community to investigate the negative implications of rising ultra-nationalism for CE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a comparative analysis of Tel Aviv and Izmir based on their urban identities grounded on a secular modernist ideological outlook and a Mediterranean way of life based on egalitarian and democratic norms. These criteria will be operationalized by analyzing the ideological preferences as well possibilities for alternative lifestyles for the residents of both cities. Due to the policies of right-wing governments in both countries, there has been an increasingly overbearing impact of religion in the daily lives of the people and have been undergoing a redefinition of their national identities at the expense of the secular aspects of their national attributes. While a significant number of citizens in both countries have been leaning towards an ethnoreligious worldview, Tel Aviv in Israel and Izmir in Turkey resist such attempts and remain bastions of secularism with their Mediterranean way of life. This study purports to present the similarities and differences between the two cities within their larger conservative setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is a study of the reception of antisemitism, and its appeal among Turkish nationalists and state elites in the 1930s and 1940s. Based on a closed reading of the investigation of İnkılâp, the first antisemitic journal published in Turkey, by state bureaucrats in 1933, the article argues that antisemitism in the 1930s offered Turkish nationalist actors of competing convictions a tool to legitimize contending versions of Turkish nationalism, as well as a novel language to legitimize already existing antiminority practices explicitly against local Jews. Nationalist actors could thus discriminate against Turkish Jews without reference to religious difference. Finally, this study has detected an increased input of European post-First World War European antisemitism, especially the German post-Versailles conspiratorial 'stab-in-the-back' antisemitic theme and argues that this association had been facilitated by the increased relations between the Ottoman Empire/Turkey and Germany since the late nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay considers Ziya Gökalp, the received "spiritual father of Turkish nationalism", as an early mastermind of fascism in Greater Europe. During the 1910s, Gökalp acted as a prophet of expansive war and as a mentor of demographic engineering in the Ottoman capital, Istanbul, which was a laboratory for new political styles in a crisis-ridden empire. Gökalp's thinking longed for a supreme leader in an army-like, disciplined and hierarchised society, while it rejected a social contract-based nation and state. An influential inspiration for and beyond the new élites in the capital, Gökalp combined the call for radical modernisation according to "European civilisation" with an assertive essentialism based on völkisch (cultural-racial-ethnic Turkish) and religious (political Islamic) references. He was the chief ideologist of the Young Turk party-state (1913–18) – side by side with Talaat Pasha, its main executive leader – and "the father of my thoughts" for Kemal Atatürk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cultural imperialism thesis that emerged in late 20th century focused on inequalities in the West driven global flow of culture and communication, and how that adversely affected the cultural conditions of nations in the so called Third World. However, the core–periphery dynamic at the root of cultural imperialism has not merely been confined to the transnational level, from the West to the Rest. It has existed at the national level as well. Conducting a historical examination of state policy vis-à-vis Kurdish culture in Turkey, and drawing on the theories of cultural imperialism, internal colonialism and nationalism, I develop the concept of internal cultural imperialism to capture the state of severe center peripheral cultural imbalance that has been a product of Turkish nationalist ideology and its policies of cultural homogenization. In hegemonic condition, the state's ultimate goal has been to subjugate and/or possibly eradicate the cultures of non-core groups within its territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, employing qualitative research methods, I explore how the Ottoman past, selectively rejected by Kemalist historiography, is displayed in an established place of memory – Topkapı Palace Museum (the imperial house) – in a neo-Ottoman Turkey. Since the 2000s, Topkapı Palace Museum has transformed from a regular state museum to a national museum and then to a national palace museum. In this old state museum in transformation, the Ottoman past is revitalized through the pan-Islamic and multicultural imperial legacy and through primordial Turkic roots in Central Asia and the West, the two main tenets of Kemalist historiography. Accordingly, I argue that, in Topkapı Palace Museum, the Ottoman past is selectively re-inserted to the homogenous, empty time the Kemalist elite imagined while constructing Turkishness. This reflects on the ensuing significance of Kemalist historiography in displaying the Ottoman past, as well as the centralization and malleability of neo-Ottomanism in a 'new' Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To consolidate a predominant party system, an incumbent party will attempt to anchor voting behavior to social cleavages, a strategy called cleavage enclosure. However, does this strategy actually work? In Turkey, the incumbent AKP government has focused its campaigning on conservatives and nationalists. The analysis of the 2018 post-election survey reveals that the cleavage enclosure worked for conservatives but not for nationalists. Of the incumbent supporters in the previous election, conservatives replicated their support, whereas nationalists were less likely to support the incumbent than other identity holders. Nationalists tend to punish but not reward the incumbent party for its economic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to analyse the construction of Turkish national identity as 'we' and 'they' in textbooks taught in the primary schools during the first years of the Republic of Turkey and the beginning of the 2000s in the context of narration of the Turkish War of Independence. The main material of the study consists of history and social studies textbooks. In this scope, four primary school history textbooks taught in the first years of the Republic of Turkey and four social studies textbooks taught at the primary school level at the beginning of the 2000s were selected. In selection of these textbooks care was taken to ensure that they were compliant with the curriculum in force at the time and that they were approved by the authorities responsible for education. Document analysis method was employed to gather subject data from the textbooks in question. The data gathered by this method were analysed using content analysis technique. The result of the analysis identified important and striking differences in the construction of Turkish national identity as 'we' and 'they' in the context of the Turkish War of Independence in textbooks from the two time periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The early monumental statues of Atatürk in Turkey have so far been studied from the perspective of the state and its ambition to disseminate a national consciousness. While this state‐centric approach has been helpful to understand the role of symbolism in nation‐building, it ends up reducing people to a passive recipient of symbolic indoctrination. We, in contrast, approach public perception as an active component in the discursive construction of these monuments over time. We first analyse the period until the death of Atatürk in 1938 during which the democratic possibility of conflicting with the official narrative remained quite minimal. We then look at the aftermath of Atatürk's death, which coincides with the introduction of the multiparty democracy in Turkey where there were more critical engagements with these monuments, particularly by the right‐wing constituents and politicians. We conclude that such resistance was still discursively bound by the nationalist context within which it operated. Our analysis of the politics of symbolism in Turkey taps into the theoretical works of Hanna Pitkin and Warren Breckman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares state policies of Israel and Turkey regarding their citizens of Palestinian and Kurdish descent, respectively. It then explores the reasons for the differences and points at the consequences for Israel's and Turkey's democracy. Israel's citizens of Palestinian descent and Turkey's citizens of Kurdish descent have faced systematic discrimination. While Israel never considered assimilating its Palestinian citizens into mainstream Israeli national identity, considering Jewishness as its essential and indispensable element, Turkey engaged in assimilation policies vis-à-vis its Kurdish citizens, which met with limited success. While applying different methods in defining the boundaries of Israeli and Turkish ethnicity, both Israel and Turkey have refused to view members of these groups as equal citizens. Awarding full citizenship rights has been questioned on accounts of Jewish sovereignty-dilution fears in Israel and of Kurdish self-determination and partition in Turkey. Failing to distinguish their citizens from their trans-border ethnic kin groups and viewing them as part of a transnational community threatening Israeli and Turkish sovereignty, Israel's citizens of Palestinian descent and Turkey's citizens of Kurdish descent have been turned into 'inside outsiders'. This has deprived them of fundamental constitutional rights and limited the prospects of democratic consolidation in both states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern Turkey's emergence was a nationalist struggle that aimed to cultivate youth as secular citizens. Almost a century later, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) attempts to re-model youth through a new ethno-religious nationalist project. This study argues that different from the secular Kemalist social engineering that dominated the state's youth policy for decades, the AKP relies on the intermediary agency of Islamist-conservative and government-oriented civil society to shape young generations and convey ethno-religious nationalism to youth. Seventeen government-oriented youth organizations illustrate the extent of the Justice and Development Party's (AKP) quest for a new national identity and cultural hegemony within the broader context of Turkey's steady decline into an authoritarian regime. The findings—based on original fieldwork conducted between October 2017–June 2019—demonstrate youth organizations' country-wide grassroots engagement in four categories: indoctrination, extra-curricular training, service provision in the education sector, and street activism and humanitarian work. Their self-defined goals, ideological roots and grassroots reach inject a new disciplinary ethos and statist values in youth towards shaping them as Muslim and nationalist 'ideal citizens'. The study offers insights on the societal aspects of authoritarian regime building and cautions that crafting 'successful' authoritarian regimes is not a one-way process that takes place only at the formal institutional level. A broad range of societal players and coalitions, including civil society, play a critical role in authoritarian regime building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with Karl Neufeld's trip to Medina, undertaken in the framework of German efforts to incite insurrections with the aim of destabilizing British rule in the Muslim world. His specific task was to spread propaganda in the Hijaz and the Sudan; he made it only to Medina, from where he was expelled by the Ottoman government after a stay of six weeks. Neufeld's diary on which this article is mainly based is the only source about how Holy War propaganda was actually disseminated. Therefore, it goes beyond the existing literature and adds new insight into the discussion of German expeditions organized to counter British influence in the Middle East during the First World War. In contrast to most of the other enterprises, Neufeld accomplished certain goals, which does not, however, change the overall picture that the " jihād made in Germany" was a failure. Materials used include files from the archive of the German Foreign Office (Politisches Archiv, Auswärtiges Amt: PA-AA), the Sudan Archive Durham (Durham University Library: SAD), and narrative sources, as well as the pertinent research literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the 'nationalist movement' of Ahıska, a forcibly displaced people who have been arriving in Turkey from various parts of the former Soviet Union since the early 1990s. I focus on how members of this community attempt to define the Turkish nation, how they invoke migration to Turkey as a patriotic and nationalist act, how they criticize the state's responses to this migration as insufficiently nationalist, and how they respond to the movement of non‐Turkish others into the territorial and documentary space that they seek to inhabit. This nationalist movement, albeit small in number, demands our attention because it is born of a phenomenon that is intimately familiar to displaced people and not commonly associated with nationalism – the longing for rest. This longing animates Ahıska efforts to organize themselves and engage with the Turkish state. What possibilities and limitations does this genre of nationalist movement hold for displaced people across the world? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]