The Sociological Foundations of Turkish Nationalism

Although Emile Durkheim’s sociology was used by the Turkish state elite in the early 20th century, no comprehensive literature delineating its influence on Turkish politics exists. This article attempts to fill this lacuna by analysing how Ziya Gökalp, the founding father of Turkish sociology and a prominent politician of the early 20th century, adapted Durkheimian sociology to explain and respond to the socio-political problems of the period. It relies on a comparative reading of the works of Gökalp and Durkheim, along with related academic literature. The present study proposes that: (1) Gökalp’s culture–civilisation distinction is the foundation of his attempt to provide a basis for social unity in Turkey; and (2) Durkheim’s theoretical claims regarding magic and religion in particular, and his view on the relationship between social constraints and individual agencies in general, are intrinsic to the culture-civilisation duality. This article concludes that the sociology of Ziya Gökalp is less original than has been suggested in the literature.

Turkish Studies , 2016

Umut Uzer's An Intellectual History of Turkish Nationalism offers a textual analysis of the ideational grounds and developments of Turkish nationalism from the late Ottoman Empire to the present. The book's overarching argument is that in the course of its " ideological odyssey, " Turkish nationalism has evolved from a modern, secular, progressive, and even revolutionary idea—which the author loosely associates with early Kemalist thinking—to a " conservative " and patriarchal ideational formation that embrace traditional, exclusionary, and Islamic values. Uzer mainly credits the transition to multiparty democracy in the 1950s for this transformation but also emphasizes other factors, including the republic's gradual welcoming of Islamic ideals and groups into political life, the Cold War dynamics and anxieties about communism, and urbanization. In mapping this transformation, the book covers an impressive range of primary literature including not only the nationalist thinkers such as Ziya Gökalp who commonly feature in studies of Turkish nationalism, but also, more usefully, neglected figures such as Nihal Atsız, the influential proponent of Turkish racism. Indeed, the book's strongest contribution is its comprehensive analysis of racist thought and ethnic nationalism in modern Turkey. Thus, in addition to Uzer's analysis of the racial components of Turkish nationalism, the expansive primary sources contained within the book make it an important and useful resource for students and scholars interested in the region and era, but who cannot read Ottoman and Turkish. There are, however, three criticisms that could be raised against this otherwise important book. The first concerns style. Despite bringing together close readings of an impressive body of literature, some of which appears for the first time in English, the texts covered are not situated within a broader theoretical structure. Nor does the book offer a theoretically rich account of them. Instead, the presentation takes the form of descriptions and summaries of different texts, leaving the reader craving a more robust analysis of their theoretical depth and structure. The second point concerns the book's main argument about the evolution of Turkish nationalist thought from a relatively progressive and revolutionary ideational form to a more right wing and Islamist ideology. While not novel in the scholarship, this argument endorses a somewhat romanticized

The Routledge International Handbook of Contemporary Muslim Socio-Political Thought, 2022

This volume unfolds the ebbs and flows of Muslim thought in di erent regions of the world, as well as the struggles between the di erent intellectual discourses that have surfaced against this backdrop. With a focus on Turkey, Egypt, Iran and the Indian subcontinent-regions that, in spite of their particular histories and forms of thought, are uniquely placed as a mosaic that illustrates the intertwined nature of the development of Muslim socio-political thought-it sheds light on the swing between right and left in di erent regions, the debates surrounding nationalism, the influence of socialism and liberalism, the rise of Islamism and the conflict between state bureaucracy and social movements. Exploring themes of civil society and democracy, it also considers current trends in Muslim thought and possible future directions. As such, it will appeal to scholars across the fields of sociology, anthropology, political science, history and political economy, as well as those with interests in the study of religion, the development of Muslim thought, and the transformation of Muslim societies in recent decades.

Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 2008

Living Together: Discourses on Citizenship in Turkey, Armağan Öztürk ve Murat Satıcı [eds.], Nomos Yayınları, Baden, Almanya, 2019.