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Turkish republicanism is commonly thought to have originated with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the founding of modern Turkey in 1923, and understood exclusively in terms of Kemalist ideals, characterized by the principles of secularism, nationalism, statism, and populism. Banu Turnaoglu challenges this view, showing how Turkish republicanism represents the outcome of centuries of intellectual dispute in Turkey over Islamic and liberal conceptions of republicanism, culminating in the victory of Kemalism in the republic's formative period.
Drawing on a wealth of rare archival material, Turnaoglu presents the first complete history of republican thinking in Turkey from the birth of the Ottoman state to the founding of the modern republic. She shows how the Kemalists wrote Turkish history from their own perspective, presenting their own version of republicanism as inevitable while disregarding the contributions of competing visions. Turnaoglu demonstrates how republicanism has roots outside the Western political experience, broadening our understanding of intellectual history. She reveals how the current crises in Turkish politics—including the Kurdish Question, democratic instability, the rise of radical Islam, and right-wing Turkish nationalism—arise from intellectual tensions left unresolved by Kemalist ideology.
A breathtaking work of scholarship, The Formation of Turkish Republicanism offers a strikingly new narrative of the evolution and shaping of modern Turkey.
Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Dramatis Personae xiii
Introduction 1
Revival of Turkish Interest in Republicanism 3
Republicanism as a Political Tradition 4
1 Shaping the Empire 12
Early Stages of Ottoman State Formation 14
Ottoman Political Thought in the Classical Age 15
Ottoman Perceptions of Decline during the Seventeenth Century 23
The Turn to the West 29
Conclusion 32
2 The Age of Transformation in Ottoman Political Thought: The Reigns of Selim III (r. 1789-1808) and Mahmud II (r. 1808-39) 34
Reactions to the French Revolution 34
The New Order and Reforms of Selim III 40
The Reforms of the Absolutist Sultan Mahmud II 43
Conclusion 49
3 The Tanzimat Era and the Republicanism of the Young Ottomans 50
The Rise of Bureaucratic Authoritarianism and the Reform Movement 51
Ottomanism (Osmanlıcılık) 54
The Political Thought of the Young Ottomans: Liberalism, Islamism, and Radicalism 56
Conclusion 84
4 The Positivist Universalism and Republicanism of the Young Turks 86
Comte's Universalism: Uniting the Occident and the Orient through Positivism 88
The Young Turks' Idealism, Republicanism, and Positivist Universalism 92
Humanity in Two Senses 103
Reactions to Ottoman Positivist Universalism 112
Conclusion 113
5 The Political Thought of the Young Turk Revolution 115
Political Activism and Reorganization of the Young Turks 115
The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 118
The New Vision of the Ottoman State and the Impact of French Republicanism: Liberty, Equality, Justice, and Fraternity 126
Conclusion 137
6 Political Thought in the Balkan Wars: The Rise of Authoritarianism, Militarism, and Nationalism 138
The Shift toward Authoritarianism 139
The New Theory of War 141
The Shift from Universalism to National Idealism 147
The New Formation of the State as a War Machine 160
Conclusion 163
7 Ottoman Political Thought during World War I 165
The Conceptualization of the War and Public Opinion 165
The International Turn (1914-17) 169
The Social and National Turn (1917-18) 180
Conclusion 194
8 The War of Independence (1919-22): Road to the Independent Turkish Republic 196
Hâkimiyet-I Milliye (National Sovereignty) and İrâde-I Milliye (National Will) 197
The Political Language of War Propaganda 207
Conclusion 217
9 The Victory of Radical Republicanism 219
Abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate 220
The Proclamation of the Republic 235
Conclusion 241
Conclusion The Ideology of the Early Republic 243
Bibliography 253
Index 283
Description
Turkish republicanism is commonly thought to have originated with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the founding of modern Turkey in 1923, and understood exclusively in terms of Kemalist ideals, characterized by the principles of secularism, nationalism, statism, and populism. Banu Turnaoglu challenges this view, showing how Turkish republicanism represents the outcome of centuries of intellectual dispute in Turkey over Islamic and liberal conceptions of republicanism, culminating in the victory of Kemalism in the republic's formative period.
Drawing on a wealth of rare archival material, Turnaoglu presents the first complete history of republican thinking in Turkey from the birth of the Ottoman state to the founding of the modern republic. She shows how the Kemalists wrote Turkish history from their own perspective, presenting their own version of republicanism as inevitable while disregarding the contributions of competing visions. Turnaoglu demonstrates how republicanism has roots outside the Western political experience, broadening our understanding of intellectual history. She reveals how the current crises in Turkish politics—including the Kurdish Question, democratic instability, the rise of radical Islam, and right-wing Turkish nationalism—arise from intellectual tensions left unresolved by Kemalist ideology.
A breathtaking work of scholarship, The Formation of Turkish Republicanism offers a strikingly new narrative of the evolution and shaping of modern Turkey.
