Constitutive Discourse of Turkish Nationalism: Atatürk's Nutuk and the Rhetorical Construction of the “Turkish People”

Abstract

This article explores the “Great Speech” Nutuk, delivered in 1927 by Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In analyzing Nutuk and its rhetorical features, we identify the mythic underpinnings Atatürk employed to construct a modern “Turkish people.” We use this case to further our understanding of the constitutive discourses of nationalism. We believe Atatürk's Nutuk provides a profitable discourse to think with as we attempt to understand Muslim nations and their negotiation of modernity.

Keywords:

• Ataturk
• Collective Identity
• Constitutive Discourse
• Myth
• Nationalism
• Nutuk
• Turkey

Notes

For consistency, we used Nutuk's (Atatürk, 1963) official translation into English as the base text for the quotations. There are places where we disagreed with this translation. In those instances, we provide our corrections in brackets. Quotes from other related Turkish sources were translated by the authors.

In Turkish culture, “Mehmet” is a general name referring to Turkish soldiers.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aysel Morin

Aysel Morin is Assistant Professor at East Carolina University.

Ronald Lee

Ronald Lee is Professor at University of Nebraska–Lincoln.