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Abstract
This study analyzes transformations of historiography and identity discourses by focusing on the Memory House of Ali Rıza Efendi (the father of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk) as a “site of historical consciousness” which was reconstructed in the western part of the Republic of Macedonia. The House, referred to by the villagers as the “Memory House of Atatürk,” was opened in 2014 in a Muslim village, Kocacık, with the support of the Turkish state. Through material and textual representations of Atatürk’s life, the House speaks to the Turkishness and Turkish presence in the Balkans. The Turkishness, however, is imagined through the neo-Ottoman and Islamic prisms. The House thus becomes the locus of alternative interpretations of the past, and, consequently, narratives of Muslims’ identity and origin in the region. Moreover, as it is reconstructed at the nexus of the local and the transnational, the House is also called a symbol of the “politics of brotherhood” between Macedonia and Turkey. In this way, the institution embodies the reconstruction of the past not only at the local and national levels, but also at the international level.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Arolda Elbasani, Jelena Tošić, and Galina Oustinova-Stjepanovic for inspiring theoretical remarks at different stages of this paper. I thank my colleagues at the University College London for their inspiring comments, and Katherine Meier for language editing. I am also indebted to my interlocutors and friends who told me their stories and guided me through the field.
Notes
1 The village has two official names: Turkish: Kocacık, and Macedonian: Коџаџик (transliterated as Kodžadžik). All inhabitants of Kocacık consider themselves Turks; hence I use the Turkish version.
2 According to the population census conducted in 2002, 80% of the population consider themselves Turks, while 12% consider themselves Macedonians, and 7% Albanians (Source: Census of Population, Household and Dwellings in the Republic of Macedonia Citation2002).
3 This term is often wrongly translated from Macedonian as “Macedonian Muslim,” which, however, does not reflect its original meaning: “Makedonci Muslimani” – which was used in Macedonian literature and legislation – literally means “Macedonians Muslims” – “Makedonci” is a noun in a plural form, not an adjective (which is “Makedonski”).
4 After the Balkan Wars, western Macedonia subsequently belonged to the Kingdom of Serbia and Yugoslavia, Socialist Yugoslavia, and the Republic of Macedonia established in 1991.
5 I differentiate between place and space, understanding the latter as broader than the placed location (Gupta and Ferguson Citation1992), including, for example, the Internet.
6 Another explanation is that the name is derived from an important male figure (Tr.; koca) (Rusić Citation1959).
7 The online source is http://echr.ketse.com/doc/62059.00-en-20011122/view/.
8 The state is obliged to finance education in languages spoken by at least 20% of the municipality’s population, and recognized minorities have a guaranteed right for representation in parliament with the relevant number of job positions in the public sector.
9 The movement, however, does not have the support of all “Torbeši;” thus, it shall not be seen as an “ethnic group” itself.
11 It is the commemoration of the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence, which started in 1919.
12 I talked with my interlocutors in Macedonian or Turkish.
13 The translations are Tr.: Kocacık Odası, Mac.: Коџаџик Соба.
14 The translations are Tr.: Mustafa Kemal Anı Odası, Mac.: Спомен Соба на Мустафа Кемал.
15 The original is ќулах, a traditional hand-made head cover for men made of white or/and black wool.
16 Selected from TİKA’s booklet about the museum, entitled “The Memory House of Ali Rıza Efendi, Father of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk” and translated by the author. In the original, the title is “Mustafa Kemal Atatürk`ün Babsı Ali Rıza Efendi Anı Evi” TİKA.
17 I was told that the original house was most probably located down the hill, in the village.
18 In Macedonian: Спомен Куќа на Ататурк
19 From an interview with a 40-year-old male, August 2012.
20 Both interviews took place in 2012.
21 I use the Macedonian name of the region, which in Bulgarian is “Golo Bărdo.”
22 Some of my informants would joke that as a blue-eyed blonde, I also looked Turkish (they knew that I was Polish) and that I resembled the Turks from the Black Sea region, known for their light complexion.
23 “Europe” was defined in opposition to the Ottoman, to Islam, and to the “barbarian ‘East’” (Sulstarova Citation2015; Zadrożna Citation2015).
24 The process of history rewriting had started during the debate around Macedonian independence in the 1990s, when the more realistic threat to the newly established state were Greek and Bulgarian nationalist policies, which questioned the Macedonian right to independence, the use of national symbols, or even the existence of the Macedonian nation (Danforth Citation1993). In turn, the Turkish state recognizes the Republic of Macedonia under its name.
25 Consequently, some actors such as Serbia and Albania accuse Turkey of pursuing a “neo-Ottoman agenda” (Petrović and Reljić Citation2011, 169).
27 This intensified especially after 2012, when the municipality elected as leader a young politician from the TDP, Arijan Ibraim, who was a graduate of a university in Turkey.
28 Tonkin (Citation1995, 101–103) uses the term “social individual,” recognizing the individual as a social actor affected by and affecting others, who experiences more or less effective socialization and education.