Turkeys Nationalist Course

The longstanding U.S. strategic partnership with Turkey, a powerful NATO ally, has become strained in recent years. RAND researchers assess challenges confronting the partnership and advance recommendations for sustaining it over the coming decade.

The United States Response to Turkish Nationalism and Reform, 1914-1939 was first published in 1971. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. The history of Turkish-American relations in the early years of the twentieth century, before World War II, forms a significant part of the background necessary to an understanding of the present political importance to America of the Middle East. This book, after a brief introduction covering the period before 1914, analyzes in detail the course of relations between Turkey and the United States from the beginning of World War I to the start of World War II. The period which Professor Trask covers in this study was a critical time in both nations' histories. The relations between the two countries varied from cool neutrality (1914) to a rupture of formal ties (1917) to rapprochement (by 1939). Conditions affective Turkish-American contacts included two world wars, a major world depression, and, especially, a Turkish nationalist revolution under the leadership of Kemal Ataturk. Professor Trask analyzes the process of American accommodation to this revolution, with emphasis on diplomatic, political, economic, social, and cultural ties, and points out the implications for the balance of power during World War II and the cold war.

"This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the nationalist ideas and practices of Turkey's Nationalist Action Party (MHP) over the course of several decades, from the leadership of its founder, Alparslan Türkeş, to Devlet Bahçeli. Applying both diachronic and synchronic approaches to the multidimensionality of nationalism, the book analyzes how Türkeş and Bahçeli emphasized or de-emphasized ethnic, cultural, and civic components of the party's nationalism in response to the threats they perceived in specific historical contexts. The author draws on party documents, speeches, and interviews to examine how recurring themes in Türkeş's and Bahçeli's nationalist ideas and practices have evolved over half a century, between 1965 and 2015. In this way, the book provides fresh insights into the evolution and complexity of the MHP's nationalism, thereby contributing to the theoretical understanding of nationalism's multidimensionality. The book also highlights the political significance of the MHP in contemporary Turkey, where nationalist and right-wing politics have become increasingly influential in recent years. Spanning a number of disciplines, including political science, international relations, and Turkish studies, the book will be of interest to a broad range of scholars and students, as well as those seeking insights into the broader implications of nationalism"--

It is commonly believed that during the interwar period, Kemalist secularism successfully eliminated religion from the public sphere in Turkey, leaving Turkish national identity devoid of religious content. However, through its examination of the impact of the Ottoman millet system on Turkish and Balkan nationalisms, this book presents a different view point. Cagaptay demonstrates that the legacy of the Ottomon millet system which divided the Ottoman population into religious compartments called millets, shaped Turkey’s understanding of nationalism in the interwar period. Providing a compelling examination of why and how religion shapes national identity in Turkey and the Balkans the book covers topics including: * Turkish nationalism * the Ottoman legacy * Kemalist citizenship policies and immigration * Kurds, Muslims and Jews and the ethno-religious limits of Turkishness. Incorporating documents from untapped Turkish archives, this book is essential reading for scholars and students with research interests in Turkey, Turkish nationalism and Middle East history.

Nationalism was a defining characteristic of Turkey in the twentieth century and was a central driving force in Kemal Ataturk's foundation of the Republic in 1923. How did the prominence of Kemalist ways of political thinking affect its people and policies? Is Turkey making progress towards post-nationalism or post-Kemalism in the twenty-first century? To what extent has Turkey's EU candidature been a vehicle of transformation since 1999 and what would EU membership mean for modern Turkey? This book explores the historical impact of Turkish nationalism, anti- liberalism and Westernization and examines the conditions that have contributed to the country's evolution from a quasi-religious Kemalism. Tracing the development of nationalism from its founding period before the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 to Kemalism and the present AKP government- and analysing key factors such as the position of minorities in the Turkification process and the influence of religious politics-this strong and significant contribution casts a new light on a vivid international debate.

Turkish society has been going through institutional and ideological change that has affected its social, cultural and political practices. This book examines these contemporary tensions, which have led to a re-appraisal of Turkey as a nation and Turkish nationalism as it tries to situate itself as a regional and global power. Analysing the internal and external dynamics of Turkey and the role played by nationalism, this book considers how the understanding of the nation and nationalism has changed since the creation of the Republic of Turkey, and how it has now become central to its desire to become a global power. Despite on-going negotiations about entry into the EU, an ambition for Turkey to be a regional power feeds nationalist feeling that contradicts institutional, discursive and cultural changes. Presenting interdisciplinary perspectives from experts in history, sociology, political sciences and economics, the contributors offer new perspectives on contemporary Turkey and its future. Turkey between Nationalism and Globalization will be of interest to students and scholars of Turkish studies; globalization studies, nationalism studies, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean studies, international relations, political science and sociology.

Becoming Turkish deepens our understanding of the modernist nation-building processes in post—Ottoman Turkey through a rare perspective that stresses social and cultural dimensions and everyday negotiations of the Kemalist reforms. Yilmaz asks how the reforms were mediated on the ground and how ordinary citizens received, reacted to, and experienced them. She traces the experiences of the subaltern as well as the experiences of the elites and the mediators in the overall narrative—highlighting the relevance of class, gender, location, and urban and rural differences while also revealing the importance of nonideological, social, and psychological factors such as childhood and generations.

A radical history of Turkey, from the end of the Ottoman Empire to the present day, rejecting traditional narratives of a 'clash of civilisations'