Turkish nationalism at its beginning: Analysis of Türk Yurdu, 1913–1918

Abstract

Turkish nationalism became an element of the Ottoman political scene in the late nineteenth century. Although its roots can be traced back to the Hamidian period (1876–1909), Turkish nationalism emerged as one of the most important political ideologies during the Constitutional Regime. Wars that the Ottoman State participated in from 1911 to the end of the empire in 1918 resulted in population and land losses. Especially, following the Balkan Wars, most of the lands that were populated by non-Muslim and non-Turkish subjects were lost. Within this context, Turkish nationalism came to be seen as the most dominant ideological tool intended to save the Empire. This article argues that Turkish nationalism emerged as a reactive ideology that addressed Ottomanism and Islamism, which were the two other dominant state ideologies during the late Ottoman State, due to the changing political context. In this article, Türk Yurdu, a well-known and influential periodical, is used as the primary source of reference to demonstrate the basic features of Turkish nationalism in its infancy.

Keywords:

• Turkish Nationalism
• Türk Yurdu
• The Balkan Wars
• The Ottoman Empire

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Prof. Nesim Şeker and Prof. Gavin D. Brockett for their invaluable comments and criticims in writing this manuscript. More than anyone else, Çağdaş Sümer made this article possible. Our special thanks to him.

Notes

In this study, we are not trying to present a full-fledged picture of Turkish nationalism. We are just analyzing the importance of a specific journal and how its approach to the Turkish nationalism changed over time. Since the journal was published by the educated elites and aimed to influence the state elites at first, we are utilizing the theories which look at the construction of nationalism from the top-down by elites. We are aware that such theories were challenged by the feminist and post-structuralist perspectives and subaltern studies. On the other hand, we do not believe that such theories, at least some of them, are completely out of date. It is still important to analyze how elites or states take a specific ideological position and diffuse it to society. Of course, it is a very important issue how the society reacts to such an effort, but this is not the problematic of this study.

Ülker argues that the CUP implemented different nationalist policies in different regions of the country. These policies might be examined in a large scale of measures from cultural assimilation and geographical nationalization to centralization and decentralization. While the former measures were implemented in Anatolia, the latter ones were applied especially in the Arab provinces. For detailed information see, Ülker 2005, 622.

This concept refers to society based on ethnic affinity.

Uriel Heyd claims that scientific and aesthetic Turkism has developed under the Western influence, whereas political Turkism has been shaped by Russian-originated intellectuals. İsmail Gasprinski and his newspaper, Tercüman, and Hüseinzade Ali were the most influential figures (1950, 106–107).

This riot was initiated by Sherrif of Mecca, Hussein Bin Ali, to secure independence of Arab provinces from the Ottoman Empire. The battles between the Ottoman and Arab troops which were supported by the British Empire in terms of money, arms and manpower lasted until 1918.