100 Years of Turkey, 1923 – 2023. The new book by Anna Karamanou

A Taupe-Green Turkish Century: A Note on the Study “100 Years of Turkey, 1923 – 2023: Nationalism, Feminism, Europeanism & Political Islam, From Osman to Kemal & Erdoğan” by Anna Karamanou, published by Armos.

The founding of the Turkish Republic on October 29, 1923, marked the beginning of a new secular, national state modeled after European standards. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk built modern Turkey on the remnants of a small part of the defeated Ottoman Empire, one of the most powerful empires in world history.

No study can ignore the Ottoman tradition and the profound transformations achieved under Kemal’s leadership. The dominance of political Islam over the past 22 years is incomprehensible without recognizing the deep historical influence of religion in shaping Turkey’s national identity. The Ottoman Turks were entirely identified with Islam.

The concept of the nation was unknown.
Kemalism and Secularization
Kemalism emerged as a radical break from the multinational Ottoman Empire. The state now united individuals not around religious or communal identities, but through the bonds of the Turkish nation-state, based on common ancestry, race, and culture. Changes and ethnic cleansings were enacted within the rising spirit of nationalism, focused on “pure-blooded” peoples and the end of tolerance for diversity, which brought with it hatred, bloodshed, and suffering. The forced population exchange following the Treaty of Lausanne occurred within this framework of “pure” nations. The ongoing tragedy in the Middle East confirms this reality.
The desire and great national goal of Turkey, since the mid-19th century with the Western-style reforms (Tanzimat), was to acquire a European identity. Kemal, an admirer of the European way of life and inspired by Western European intellectualism, equated modernization with Europeanization. Together with the secularization of the state and nationalism, these became the fundamental pillars of Kemalist doctrine upon which modern Turkey was built. His dominant belief was that the future of the Turkish nation and its progress were tied to culture, which for him meant the culture of the West and no other!
His first objective was to secularize his country, which was 99% Muslim, by nullifying the theocratic power of the Islamic Caliphate and abolishing the Arabic language, that is, the language and script of the Quran. He then replaced the sacred Sharia law with European constitutional law, banned traditional Islamic dress, eliminated the privileges of the large feudal families, abolished religious schools, religious marriage, polygamy, and child marriages, established mixed education for boys and girls, and granted the monopoly of education to the state. In 1925, he passed Law 677, which declared monasteries (tekke) illegal, prohibited the use of graves as places of worship, and banned Islamic brotherhoods. That same year, he adopted the Western calendar, and in 1928, he abolished the constitutional article that designated Islam as the state religion.

Women’s rights were a significant part of the secularization and Europeanization program and served as a barometer for modernization. Kemal’s wife, Latife Uşaklıgil, a graduate of the Sorbonne, played a crucial role in shaping the vision for modern Turkey and women’s rights.

Official historiography overlooked her, as it did with all the significant women of the time. In 1930, women were granted the right to vote in local elections, and 13 women were appointed as judges. In 1934, women were given full political rights, and in 1935, 18 women were elected to the Grand National Assembly of 395 members. Kemal’s pacifist policy was marked by the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Turkey and Greece, signed in Ankara in 1930 by leaders Kemal Atatürk and Eleftherios Venizelos. The treaty remained in effect until the 1950s when the Cyprus issue emerged.

The milestone of Erdoğan.

The endeavor of Kemal was clearly bolder than what traditional society could absorb. Despite extensive reforms and the marginalization of Islam, the essence of culture remained almost untouched for the majority of the people. Secularization sparked major revolts in the pre-modern societies of the southeastern regions. The difficulties and restrictions became apparent immediately after Kemal’s death on November 10, 1938, when his successor, İsmet İnönü, yielded to pressures for the revival of religious events and education. The struggle for “cultural authenticity” intensified when Adnan Menderes’s Democratic Party won the elections on May 14, 1950, paving the way for the return of Islam to the public sphere. His government (1950-1960) was marked by the persecution of opponents, censorship of the press, and the prohibition of gatherings. Thousands of mosques reopened, and many religious schools (Imam Hatip) were established. One of these was where Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, born in 1954, studied. In September 1955, for a trivial reason, a pogrom erupted against the prosperous Greek community of Istanbul. The causes were the Cyprus issue, nationalism, and ethnic cleansing policies. One of the traumas that haunt Erdoğan is the death sentence imposed on Menderes by the 1960 coup plotters.

After World War II, Turkey pursued the pro-Western policy of Kemal. In 1948, it joined the Marshall Plan, in 1949 it became a founding member of the Council of Europe, and in 1952 it joined NATO. Turkey’s institutional relationship with the European Community dates back to 1959 when it applied for association with the EEC (July 31, 1959), becoming the second country to do so after Greece. On September 12, 1963, they signed an association agreement that referenced the prospect of full membership.

The year 2023 has been characterized as a milestone for the history of Turkey by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan since the pre-election period of 2010-2011 when he declared his primary goal to elevate Turkey among the ten largest economies in the world. Today, it is part of the G20. All his moves and the international diplomatic fervor that drives him reflect his passion to associate his name with something grand, something equivalent to the peak of the Ottoman Empire, or something on par with the founding of the Turkish Republic. Explicitly and implicitly, Erdoğan expresses his desire to be remembered in the consciousness of the Turkish people as the great reformer and father of a Turkey equal to the greatness and power of the Ottoman Empire, displacing Kemal as a traitor for signing its extinction to create a nation-state. The new century of Turkey begins today, October 29, 2023!

*Ms. Anna Karamanou holds a PhD in Political Science and Public Administration from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and is a former MEP of PASOK. Her book “100 Years of Turkey: Nationalism, Feminism, Europeanism & Political Islam” is published by Armos Editions.*