Reconfiguring the Turkish Nation in the 1930's
Reconfiguring the Turkish Nation in the 1930s*
SONER ÇAGAPTAY**
This article studies Turkish nationalism during the 1930s. In this decade of
Kemalism par excellence or High Kemalism, the rise of ethnicist nationalism in Turkey was accompanied by the ascent of the “Turkish History Thesis.”
The article presents an analysis of Turkish nationalism in this era through
Ankara’s population resettlement policies. Consequently, it examines
Turkish nationalism in the 1930s through the interaction between the
Kemalist state and the country’s minorities.
“The Kurds of the Eastern provinces, the Arabs of South-Eastern Anatolia, the
Moslems from Russia, the territories detached under the Treaty of Lausanne, the
Greek islands, Greece, the Balkans and Roumania will be scattered among pure
Turkish populations, so that they may lose the characteristics of the countries and districts of their birth, and, in a generation, be Turkish in speech, dress, habits and outlook, undistinguishable from their old-established neighbors...By the present policy...Turkey hopes to build up a well-populated and homogenous state.”1
Nationalism in Turkey during 1930s is a crucial episode of recent Turkish history. Much has been said and written on this era, whose legacy seems to have imprinted itself on the later decades of Turkish history. Whereas some students of Turkish studies argue that
Turkish nationalism in this decade promoted a territorial definition of the nation,2 others claim that Islam, more than anything, defined Turkishness in this era.3 In this paper, I will argue that a juxtaposition of territory, religion, and ethnicity in the 1930s produced a definition of the Turkish nation that was more nuanced that suggested by either of these
*
I would like to thank Dr. Ayhan Aktar of Marmara University, Istanbul, and Dr. Hakan M. Yavuz of University of
Utah, Salt Lake City for reading various drafts of this paper and offering me valuable feedback on it.
**
Ph.D.
SONER ÇAGAPTAY**
This article studies Turkish nationalism during the 1930s. In this decade of
Kemalism par excellence or High Kemalism, the rise of ethnicist nationalism in Turkey was accompanied by the ascent of the “Turkish History Thesis.”
The article presents an analysis of Turkish nationalism in this era through
Ankara’s population resettlement policies. Consequently, it examines
Turkish nationalism in the 1930s through the interaction between the
Kemalist state and the country’s minorities.
“The Kurds of the Eastern provinces, the Arabs of South-Eastern Anatolia, the
Moslems from Russia, the territories detached under the Treaty of Lausanne, the
Greek islands, Greece, the Balkans and Roumania will be scattered among pure
Turkish populations, so that they may lose the characteristics of the countries and districts of their birth, and, in a generation, be Turkish in speech, dress, habits and outlook, undistinguishable from their old-established neighbors...By the present policy...Turkey hopes to build up a well-populated and homogenous state.”1
Nationalism in Turkey during 1930s is a crucial episode of recent Turkish history. Much has been said and written on this era, whose legacy seems to have imprinted itself on the later decades of Turkish history. Whereas some students of Turkish studies argue that
Turkish nationalism in this decade promoted a territorial definition of the nation,2 others claim that Islam, more than anything, defined Turkishness in this era.3 In this paper, I will argue that a juxtaposition of territory, religion, and ethnicity in the 1930s produced a definition of the Turkish nation that was more nuanced that suggested by either of these
*
I would like to thank Dr. Ayhan Aktar of Marmara University, Istanbul, and Dr. Hakan M. Yavuz of University of
Utah, Salt Lake City for reading various drafts of this paper and offering me valuable feedback on it.
**
Ph.D.