Turkish transformation and the Soviet Union: navigating through the Soviet historiography on Kemalism

ABSTRACT

Being founded in the wake of the First World War, both Turkey and the Soviet Union followed revolutionary modernizing pathways. At the outset, one could trace many similar patterns in their radical modernization paradigms; however, their development models as well as political and social orders were radically distinct, which became more obvious with the passage of time. The paper discusses the external interpretations of Kemalism by observing the Soviet perspectives on the inception and evolution of Kemalism. Paying more attention to diplomatic, geopolitical and economic complexities of the Turkish-Soviet relations, scholars have rarely problematized the Soviet Union perceptions of Turkish ideological transformations. In reality, since the early 1920s, different state institutions, intellectual schools of thought and research in the Soviet Union closely observed the domestic transformations in Turkey by providing valuable insights on the perspective and the implications of the Kemalist transformation. The article also looks at the question of how the incorporation of Soviet perspectives can enrich the historiography and our understanding of Kemalism.

KEYWORDS:

• Turkey
• Kemalism
• Soviet Union
• Soviet historiography

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Conference program. Paris. Workshop Towards a transnational history of Kemalism Beyond Turkey. 2011. http://www.ifea-istanbul.net/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1390:workshop-towards-a-transnational-history-of-kemalism-beyond-turkey-08-09-12-2011&Itemid=286&lang=tr

2. For instance, Erdal Kaynar used it in his review of Stefan Ihrig's book. Erdal Kaynar. ‘Review of Stefan Ihrig's ‘Atatürk in the Nazi Imagination’, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. International Journal of Turkish Studies Vol.21 (1–2). (2015), pp.227–9.

3. Stefan Ihrig, Atatürk in the Nazi Imagination, (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Pres, 2014).

4. Ibid. 49.

5. Ibid. 113.

6. Pınar Dost-Niyego, Le Bon Dictateur: L'image de Mustafa Kemal Atatürk en France (1923-1938) (Istanbul: Libra Yayınevi, 2014).

7. Roger Trask, The United States Response to Turkish Nationalism and Reform, 1914-1939 (Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press, 1971).

8. ‘Turkish Students' Movements and the Turkish Left in the 1950's – 1960′s’, ‘US Diplomatic Documents on Turkey’ series, 2006, presented and annotated by Rıfat N. Bali, Istanbul, The Isis Press; ‘The Turkish Cinema in The Early Republican Years’, ‘US Diplomatic Documents On Turkey’ series, 2007, presented and annotated by Rıfat N. Bali, Istanbul, The Isis Press; ‘Family Life In The Turkish Republic Of The 1930′s’, A Study by G. Howland Shaw, ‘US Diplomatic Documents On Turkey’ Series, 2007, presented and annotated by Rıfat N. Bali, Istanbul, The Isis Press; ‘New Documents On Atatürk: Atatürk as Viewed Through the Eyes Of American Diplomats’ Foreword by Andrew Mango, ‘US Diplomatic Documents On Turkey’ series, 2007, presented and annotated by Rıfat N. Bali, Istanbul, The Isis Press; ‘The First Ten Years Of The Turkish Republic Thru The Reports Of American Diplomats’, ‘US Diplomatic Documents On Turkey’ series, 2009, presented and annotated by Rıfat N. Bali, Istanbul, The Isis Press; ‘Sports And Physical Education In Turkey In The 1930′s’, ‘US Diplomatic Documents On Turkey’ series, 2009, presented and annotated by Rıfat N. Bali, Istanbul, The Isis Press.

9. Ali Kazancigil, ‘Anti-emperialist Bağimsızlık Ideologisi ve Üçüncü Dünya Ulusçuluğu Olarak Kemalizm', in M. Belge (ed.), Kemalizm: Modern Turkiye'de Siyasi Düşünce. cilt 2 (Istanbul: Iletişim, 2001), pp. 235–46.

10. Naeem Qureshi, Ottoman Turkey, Atatürk, and Muslim South Asia: Perspectives, Perceptions, and Responses (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2014).

11. Qureshi, (2014), p.184.

12. Vahram Ter-Matevosyan, ‘Kemalism and Communism: From Cooperation to Complication’, Turkish Studies Vol.16 (4) (2015), pp.510–26.

13. Timothy Ed. O'Connor, Diplomacy and Revolution: G. V. Chicherin and Soviet Foreign Policy Affairs, 1918-1930 (Ames. Iowa State University Press, 1988), pp.135, 142.

14. O'Connor, (1988), pp.143, 145.

15. Stephen White. ‘Soviet Russia and the Asian Revolution, 1917-1924’, Review of International Studies Vol.10 (3) (1984), p.220.

16. Dogovor mezhdu Rossiej i Turtsiej, 16 marta, 1921 g. Dokumenty vneshnej politiki SSSR. Tom 3 [Treaty between Russia and Turkey, 16 March 1921: USSSR Documents on Foreign Policy] (Moscow: Gospolitzdat, 1959), pp.597–604.

17. Teddy Uldricks, Diplomacy and Ideology: The Origins of Soviet Foreign Relations, 1917-1930 (London: SAGE Publications, 1979), p.112.

18. O'Connor (1988), pp.144–9.

19. Bruce Hopper, ‘Narkomindel and Comintern: Intruments of World Revolution’, Foreign Affairs Vol.19 (1) (1940), p.738.

20. Uldricks (1979), p.157.

21. Uldricks (1979), pp.157–8.

22. Jon Jacobson, When the Soviet Union Entered World Politics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), p.50.

23. Twelfth congress of the RKP (b), Minutes. Moscow. 1968, pp.47–8. cited in White (1984), p.230.

24. David Priestland, Stalinism and the Politics of Mobilization: Ideas, Power, the Terror in Inter-war Russia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp.177–8.

25. Bülent Gökay, Soviet Eastern Policy and Turkey, 1920-1991: Soviet Foreign Policy, Turkey and Communism (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), pp.36–7.

26. Abraham Bodurgil, Atatürk and Turkey: A Bibliography, 1919-1938 (Washington: Library of Congress, Near East Section, Orientalia Division, 1974).

27. Muzaffer Gökman, Atatürk ve Devrimleri Tarihi Bibliyografyası [Bibliography of the History of Atatürk and His Reforms], cilt 3. (Istanbul: Milli Eğitimi Basimevi, 1981–1983).

28. Kemal Karpat, ‘The Personality of Atatürk’ (Review of The Immortal Atatürk: A Psychobiography by Vamik D. Volkan; Norman Itzkowitz)’, The American Historical Review Vol.90 (4) (1985), p.894.

29. It needs to be stressed that since the 1890s Oriental Studies in Russia became the second largest area of research after Slavic Studies. The scholarly works of Victor Rozen and his students (Vaislii Bartol'd, Nikolai Marr, Sergei Ol'denburg, Fedor Shcherbatskoi) widely contributed to the development of Russian and Soviet Oriental Studies. For a detailed discussion of the development of Oriental Studies in Russia see Tolz Vera, Russia's own Orient: The Politics of Identity and Oriental Studies in the late Imperial and Early Soviet Periods (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

30. Ozherel'eva Z. (compiler). Kemalizm (Ukazatel' Inostrannih knig 1930-1976 gg. (Po fondam bibliotek Moksvi, Leningrada i Baku)) [Kemalism (Index of Foreign Books 1930-1976 (Based on the Fonds of Libraries of Moscow, Leningrad and Baku)] (Moscow: Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, 1979).

31. Bibliografija Turtsii (1917-1975) [Bibliography on Turkey (1917-1975)], Collected by Sverchevskaja A., and Cherman T. Edited by A. Shamsutdinov (Moscow: Nauka, 1982).

32. Harish Kapur, Soviet Russia and Asia 1917-1927: A Study of Soviet Policy towards Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan (Geneva: Geneva Graduate Institute of International Studies, 1966), ch., 4, 5; Vladimir Danilov, ‘Kemalism and World Peace’, in Ergün Ozbüdün and Ali Kazancigil (eds.), Atatürk: A Founder of a Modern State, 2nd ed. (London: Hurst and Company, 1997), pp.103–26; A. Mel'nik, Turtsija [Turkey] (Moskva: Gosudarstvennoe Social'no-Jekonomicheskoe Izdatel'stvo, 1937); S. Kuznecova, Ustanovlenie sovetsko-tureckih otnoshenij: K 40-letiju Moskovskogo dogovora mezhdu RSFSR i Turtsiej [Establishing Soviet-Turkish Relations: The Fortieth Anniversary of the Moscow Treaty between RSFSR and Turkey] (Moskva: Izdatel'stvo Vostochnoj Literatury, 1961); P. Moiseev, Ju. Rozaliev, K istorii sovetsko-tureckih otnoshenij [Towards the history of the Soviet-Turkish Relations] (Moskva: Gospolitizdat, 1958); A. Miller, Kratkaja Istorija Turtsii [A Short History of Turkey] (Moskva: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo politicheskoj literatury, 1948); Emel Akal, Mustafa Kemal, Ittihat Terakki ve Bolşevism Milli Mücadelenin Başlangıcında (Istanbul: Iletişim Yayıncılık, 2012); Igor' Chernikov, V interesakh mira i dobrososedstva: (O sov.-tur. otnoshenijakh v 1935-1970 gg.) [In the interest of peace and friendly-neighboring relations: About Soviet-Turkish relations 1935-1970] (Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 1977); Gökay, 2006.

33. Recently, Rasim Örs, a Turkish researcher, published a short book with excerpts and photocopies from Soviet newspapers (2 newspapers and 3 journals) of the 1920s. His objectives was to present to the Turkish readers how the birth of the Turkish Republic and the character of Mustafa Kemal were covered in the Soviet Union through pictures and cartoons. See Rasim Dirsehan Örs, Rus Basininda Kurtuluş Savaşı ve Atatürk (Istanbul: Devrim Yilları, 2010).

34. P. Kitaygorodskij, ‘Zametki o Kemalistskoj Turtsii: Prichini Pobedi Nacional'noj Revoljucii v Turtsii [Notes on the Kemalist Turkey: The Causes of the Victory of the National Revolution in Turkey]’, Bol'shevik (18) (1927), pp.41–50.

35. See, for instance, Anatolij Mel'nik, ‘Pjat' let respublikanskoj Turtsii [Five years of Republican Turkey]’, Mezhdunarodnaja zhizn' (11) (1928), pp.6–11.

36. M. Lazarev, ‘Yubilej [Anniversary]’, in Ot Stambula do Moskvi: Sbornik statei v Chest' 100-letija profesora A. F. Millera [From Istanbul to Moscow: Collection of articles dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Professor A. F. Miller] (Moscow: Muravej, 2003), p.18. For the criticism of Miller's scholarly works by the Soviet scholars in the period between 1940s and 60s, see Boris Potskhveria, ‘Chornije dni A. F. Millera [Black Days of A. F. Miller]’, in Ot Stambula do Moskvi: Sbornik statei v Chest' 100-letija profesora A. F. Millera [From Istanbul to Moscow: Collection of articles dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Professor A. F. Miller] (Moscow: Muravej, 2003), pp.23–30.

37. For a detailed analysis of Anatolij Miller's bio and scholar works see M. Lazarev (2003), pp.11–22.

38. Irandoust, Zametki o smene rezhima v Persii [Notes on the Change of Regime in Persia], Novij Vostok Vol.15 (1926); Gurko-Kryazhin. Kratkaja istoriya Persiji [Short History of Persia] (Moscow, 1925).

39. V. Krimskij, ‘Panturkisti – fashistskaja agentura [Pan-Turkists: Fascist Agents in Turkey]’, Bol'shevik Vol.10–11 (1944), pp.79–85; Ivan Samilovskij, Turtsija – votchina Wall-Strita [Turkey – Patrimony of the Wall Street.] (Moscow: GosPolitIzdat, 1952); Anna Tveritinova, ‘Ot natsional-shovinizma k nacional-predatel'stvu’ [From National-chauvinism to national treachery]’, Zvezda Vostoka Vol.8 (79) (1953), pp.70–87; G. Akopyan, ‘Turtsija - Votchina Amerikanskogo Imperializma [Turkey - a patrimony of the American Imperialism]’, Propanagist i Agitator Vol.14 (1951), pp.23–31.

40. Igor' Chernikov, V interesakh mira i dobrososedstva: (O sov.-tur. otnoshenijakh v 1935-1970 gg.) [In the interest of peace and friendly-neighboring relations: About Soviet-Turkish relations 1935-1970] (Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 1977).

41. Esmeralda Gasanova. ‘Ob ideologicheskih osnovah kemalizma i ih sovremennom tolkovanii v Turtsii [On the ideological foundations of Kemalism and their contemporary interpretations in Turkey]’, Narody Azii i Afriki Vol.3 (1968), pp.24–35; Dmitrij Yeremeyev, ‘Kemalizm i pantjurkizm [Kemalism and Pan-Turkism]’, Narody Azii i Afriki Vol.3 (1963), pp.58–60.

42. Esmeralda Gasanova, ‘Voprosy ideologii kemalizma v trudah sovestkih uchenyh [Questions of the ideology of Kemalism in the works of the Soviet scholars]’, in Doklady i soobshhenija sov. delegacii. III Mezhdunar. s"ezd po izucheniju stran Jugo-Vostochnoj Evropy, Buharest, 4-10 sentjabrja, 9 p. Moscow. 1974.

43. Gasanova (1974), p.2.

44. Ibid. p.6.

45. Ibid. p.7.

46. Esmeralda Gasanova, Ideologija burzhuaznoj nacionalizma v Turtsii v period mladoturok, 1908-1914 gg. [Ideology of bourgeoisie-nationalism in Turkey in the Period of Young Turks, 1908-1914] (Baku: Publication of National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijani SSR, 1966).

47. I. Alibekova, Gosudarstvenii kapitalizm v Turtsii [State Capitalism in Turkey] (Moscow, 1966).

48. John Kautsky argues about the importance of looking at Marxism and Leninism as two distinct ideologies. The author of this research shares that approach, however, the using of the Marxist-Leninist concept in this study, implies that it follows the dominant Soviet interpretation of it, which saw no much difference between them. John H. Kautsky, Marxism and Leninism, not Marxism-Leninism: An Essay in the Sociology of Knowledge (London: Greenwood Press, 1994).

49. Miller (1963), pp.66–7.

50. Kemal Atatürk, Izbrannye rechi i vystuplenija [Selected Speeches and Statements], ed. Andrei Miller (Moscow: Progress, 1966).

51. Bruce Pauley, Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini: Totalitarianism in the Twentieth Century (Malden: Wiley Blackwell, 2015), p.20.

52. Priestland (2007), pp.166–7, 177.

53. Michael David-Fox. Revolution of the Mind: Higher Learning Among the Bolsheviks, 1918-1929 (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1997), p.9.

54. Cited in David-Fox (1997), p.205.

55. David-Fox. 1997. 204. For a more detailed account on the difficult relations between the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the Communist party as well as on the purges and seizure of academic structure see Loren Graham, The Soviet Academy of Sciences and the Communist Party, 1927-1932 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967).

56. Margarita Ivanova, Introduction to the Regional Studies: From the History of the Soviet Oriental Studies (Tomsk: Tomsk Pedagogical Unvirsity, 2006), p.13.

57. Ivanova (2006), pp.10–14.

58. Ivanova (2006), pp.14–15.

59. Iosif Stalin, Beseda so Studentami Universiteta Imeni Sun Yat-Sena 13 maja, 1927 g [Discussion with the Students of the Sun Yat-Sen University, 13 May 1927] (pp.559–81) was first published in Iosif Stalin ‘Revolucija v Kitaje i oshibki oppozicii’ [Revolution in China and the mistakes of the opposition]. Moscow-Leningrad: GosIzdat. 1927. It was published again in Iosif Stalin. Ob oppozitsii: Stat'i i rechi 1921-1927 [About the opposition: Articles and speeches 1921-1927] (Moscow-Leningrad: GosIzdat, 1928), p.273.

60. Iosif Stalin. Mezhdunarodnoye Polozhenije i oborona SSSR (Rech' na Zasedanii Ob"edinennogo Plenuma CK i CKK 1 avgusta 1927 g.) [International Situation and the Defence of the USSR (Speech at the United Session of the CC and CCC, 1 August 1927] (pp.637–80) in Iosif Stalin. Ob oppozitsii: Stat'i i rechi 1921-1927 [About the opposition: Articles and speeches 1921-1927] (Moscow-Leningrad: GosIzdat, 1928), p.649.