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ABSTRACT
This article elaborates upon Blue Anatolianism as another form of supranationalism with which Turkish nationalism is linked. Having quite different arguments from other types of Anatolianisms and supranationalisms on culture and civilization, Blue Anatolianists ‘creatively’ include the West in their perception of Turkishness. This study investigates the Blueists’ claims regarding Western civilization – as the only civilization – and the Turkish nation – as the ‘real owner’ of this civilization – within the framework of Social Identity Theory (SIT). It explores Blueists’ perceptions of national identity through content analysis of selected works of Kabaağaçlı, Eyüboğlu and Erhat, the core trio of the movement.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to Rahime Süleymanoğlu-Kürüm, Selim Sezer and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive remarks and suggestions on earlier versions of this article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Özkırımlı, Theories of Nationalism, 212.
2 Bilsel, “Our Anatolia”; Albachten, “Mavi Yolculuk”; Karacasu, “Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı”; and Akyıldız, “Mavi Anadoluculuk.”
3 Van den Berghe, “Race and Ethnicity.”
4 Van den Berghe, “Sociobiological Theory.”
5 Grosby, Nationalism.
6 Gellner, Nations and Nationalism, and Anderson, Imagined Communities.
7 Tajfel and Turner, “An Integrative Theory.”
8 Turner, “Social Comparison.”
9 Brubaker, Citizenship.
10 Özkırımlı, Theories of Nationalism, 208.
11 Larson, “Social Identity Theory.”
12 Tajfel, Differentiation, 93–94.
13 van Knippenberg and Ellemers, “Social Identity.”
14 Tajfel, Differentiation, 52.
15 Ibid., 52–53.
16 Tajfel and Turner, “An Integrative Theory.”
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid, 43.
19 Aktar, “Conversion.”
20 Özbudun, “Milli Mücadele,” 151–2.
21 Mardin, Jön Türklerin Siyasi Fikirleri.
22 Ibid.
23 Kaya, “Modernism,” 581.
24 Levy, Social Patterns.
25 Kazancıgil and Özbudun, Atatürk.
26 Lechte, Fifty Key, 260.
27 Keyder, “The Dilemma,” 23.
28 Tamami, “The Origins,” 18–28.
29 Ahmad, The Making.
30 Nas, “Turkish Identity,” 177.
31 Rumelili and Suleymanoglu-Kurum, “Brand Turkey.”
32 Aktar, Varlık Vergisi.
33 Çagaptay, Islam, Secularism, and Nationalism.
34 Aktürk, “Incompatible Visions.”
35 Torbakov, “Neo-Ottomanism.”
36 Bora, “Nationalist Discourses.”
37 Ibid., 449.
38 Deren, “Türk Siyasal,” 533.
39 Çınar, Anadoluculuk ve Tek Parti.
40 Ibid.
41 Topçu, Milliyetçiliğimizin Esasları.
42 Durgun, Memalik-i Şahane’den Vatan’a, 207–208.
43 Ibid., 208.
44 Topçu, Milliyetçiliğimizin Esasları.
45 Durgun, Memalik-i Şahane’den Vatan’a, 207.
46 Mithat Atabay, “Anadoluculuk,” 532.
47 Bilsel, “Our Anatolia.”
48 This is seen in Gökalp’s distinction of culture – identified with Turkishness and Islam as “moral necessities” – and civilization – identified with economic and technological infrastructure as “material necessities”. See Gökalp, Türkleşmek İslamlaşmak Muasırlaşmak.
49 Strauss and Corbin, Basics of Qualitative Research.
50 Akyıldız, “Mavi Anadoluculuk,” 474.
51 Halikarnas Balıkçısı, Anadolu’nun Sesi, 162
52 Karacasu, “Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı,” 472.
53 Ibid., 159.
54 Özkırımlı and Sofos, Tormented by History, 96.
55 Koulos, “Nationalism and the Lost Homeland,” 482.
56 Smith, Ethno-Symbolism, 65.
57 Sezer, “Cultural Awakening.”
58 Erhat, Mektuplarıyla Halikarnas Balıkçısı, 169.
59 Albachten, “Mavi Yolculuk”, 435.
60 Halikarnas Balıkçısı, Arşipel, 147–148.
61 Eyuboğlu, Mavi ve Kara, 10.
62 Halikarnas Balıkçısı, Anadolu’nun Sesi, 171–172.
63 Özkırımlı, Theories of Nationalism, 49–67.
64 Tajfel and Turner, “An Integrative Theory.”
65 Erhat, İşte İnsan, 190–1291.
66 The Turkish History Thesis basically aims to refute European theses arguing that Turks are Asiatic and not civilized and argues that Turks belong to the white race and are the founders of the oldest and highest civilizations as well as the oldest inhabitants of Anatolia (Türk Tarihinin Ana Hatları, 59–72).
67 Erhat, İşte İnsan, 1.
68 Erhat, Mavi Anadolu, 2.
69 Aytürk, “Türk Dil,” 108.
70 Aktürk, “Incompatible Visions,” 359.
71 Copeaux, Türk Tarih, 80.
72 Softa means madrasah or religious school student, but the meaning of this word has transformed into and used by Blueists with a pejorative meaning as the bigot or fanatic adherent.
73 Eyüboğlu, Mavi ve Kara, 30.
74 Ibid., 13.
75 Ibid., 128.
76 Kedourie, Nationalism.
77 Smith, Ethnic Origins.
78 Eyuboğlu, Mavi ve Kara, 9–13.
79 Halikarnas Balıkçısı, Anadolu’nun Sesi, 173–4.
80 Eyuboğlu, Mavi ve Kara, 155.
81 Eyüboğlu was expelled from his position in National Education Ministry in 1947 and Erhat was displaced from her position in the university in 1948, on the grounds that she had “left tendencies”. After the May 27 1960 coup, Eyüboğlu had to leave his position at Istanbul University. After the March 12 1970 coup, Eyüboğlu, Günyol and Erhat were arrested on charges of “establishing a secret communist organization” and they were acquitted in the case.
82 Süleymanoğlu-Kürüm, Conditionality.
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Elif Gençkal Eroler
Elif Gençkal Eroler received her BA from Marmara University, her MA from Leibniz Universitaet in Hannover, and her PhD from Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul. She is the author of Dindar Nesil Yetiştirmek: Türkiye’de Eğitim Politikalarında Ulus ve Vatandaş İnşası (2002–2016) [Raising a Pious Generation: Construction of Nation and Citizenship Through Education Policies in Turkey (2002–2016)] (Iletisim Press, 2019). She has also written articles on nationalism, Westernization, militarism, and gender in Turkey.