İmparatorlukların yıkılıp ulus-devletlerin kurulduğu 20. yüzyıla varan süreçte Osmanlı, Habsburg, Romanov ve Kaçar imparatorluklarının sınırlarına büyük bir hareketlilik hâkimdi. Kalıplaşmış siyasi... Show moreİmparatorlukların yıkılıp ulus-devletlerin kurulduğu 20. yüzyıla varan süreçte Osmanlı, Habsburg, Romanov ve Kaçar imparatorluklarının sınırlarına büyük bir hareketlilik hâkimdi. Kalıplaşmış siyasi hayat baştan aşağıya değişiyordu. Asiler Devri, bu süreçte Balkanlar’dan Kafkasya ve Ortadoğu’ya uzanan geniş bir coğrafyayı şiddet yoluyla şekillendiren eşkıyaların, isyancıların, çetecilerin ve eylemcilerin izini sürüyor. Ramazan Hakkı Öztan ve Alp Yenen’in derlediği bu çalışma, Kafkas eşkıyalar ile Balkan devrimcilerin, İranlı çeteciler ile İttihatçıların kurulu düzeni ihlal etmelerine yol açan koşulları ve eylemlerinin sonuçlarını, çeşitli vakalar üzerinden tarihsel ve biyografik yaklaşımlarla ele alıyor. Show less
Cumhuriyet’in kuruluşunun yüzüncü yılı vesilesiyle, Leiden Üniversitesi Türkiye Çalışmaları ekibi olarak 2019 yılının son çeyreğinde toplu bir eser ortaya koyma kararı aldık. Türünün ilk örneği... Show moreCumhuriyet’in kuruluşunun yüzüncü yılı vesilesiyle, Leiden Üniversitesi Türkiye Çalışmaları ekibi olarak 2019 yılının son çeyreğinde toplu bir eser ortaya koyma kararı aldık. Türünün ilk örneği olarak uzman yazarların okurlara siyasetten ekonomiye, toplumdan kültüre, cinsiyetten sanata kadar geniş bir konu yelpazesinde tarihsel kaynakları tanıttığı ve tartıştığı yüz yazı üzerinden Cumhuriyet Türkiye’sinin yüz yıllık serüvenini keşfetme imkânı sağlamak amacıyla yola çıktık. Amacımız, tarihin sayfalarını çevirirken, geçmişin anlarını ve anılarını yeniden canlandıran yasalar, mektuplar, gazete makaleleri, şiirler ve daha fazlası ile, her dönemin farklı atmosferini, geçmişin seslerini ve renklerini yakalamaktı. Ülkenin her anlamda çok yönlü tarihine ışık tutmanın yanı sıra, aynı zamanda Türkiye’nin bugününü ve yarınını anlamak için elzem olan geçmiş söylemlerinden ve imgelerinden bir seçki ortaya koymak gerekliliğini sahiplendik. Cumhuriyet Türkiye’sinin tarihinde derin izler bırakan anlar ve anılar, sadece geçmişin kaybolmuşluğu veya uzak yankıları değil, aynı zamanda bugünü ve yarını da şekillendiren bir bütünün parçaları olarak düşünülmelidir. İşte Leiden Üniversitesi Yayınları’ndan 1 Ekim 2023’te çıkan A Hundred Years of Republican Turkey: A History in a Hundred Fragments kitabımız, bu anları ve anıları yakalamak, bir araya getirmek ve geleceğe taşımak için hazırlandı. Show less
The Republic of Turkey was founded a hundred years ago on 29 October 1923. Turkey holds a unique position between Europe and the Middle East. It continues to captivate international attention,... Show moreThe Republic of Turkey was founded a hundred years ago on 29 October 1923. Turkey holds a unique position between Europe and the Middle East. It continues to captivate international attention, evoking hopes and fears in the hearts and minds of contemporary observers. As a critical commemoration of its centenary, this book presents a mosaic of one hundred carefully curated fragments by expert authors, shedding light on politics, economy, society, culture, gender, and arts in a hundred years of Turkey. Each fragment offers a glimpse into a specific aspect of Turkey’s development, revealing the complexities of Turkey’s historical reality. Through exhibiting a diverse range of historical sources like laws, speeches, essays, letters, newspaper articles, poems, songs, memoirs, photos, posters, maps, and diagrams, each fragment brings the voices and images of Turkey’s past and present to readers. A Hundred Years of Republican Turkey: A History in a Hundred Fragments is an invaluable resource for researchers, educators, students, and anyone interested in Turkey’s fascinating history since 1923. Show less
In the centenary year of the Republic of Turkey, there is a need for a new approach to history writing. The crisis that the AKP regime has dragged Turkey into has demonstrated the necessity of... Show moreIn the centenary year of the Republic of Turkey, there is a need for a new approach to history writing. The crisis that the AKP regime has dragged Turkey into has demonstrated the necessity of reevaluating post-Kemalist revisionism in Turkish Studies. The transitional period from the Empire to the Republic is a field dominated by post-Kemalist literature. This article aims to reevaluate the impact of post-Kemalist literature on historiography, particularly by revisiting commonly accepted assumptions and interpretations regarding the “Young Turk” Committee of Union and Progress. While post-Kemalist approaches, which have made significant contributions to the studies of identity and minority issues, have confronted the dark legacy left by the Young Turks on the Republic, attributing all the dark events in the history of the Republic solely to a Unionist curse can lead to flawed historical interpretations. First, in post-Kemalist literature, it is problematic to distort the continuity thesis from Unionism to Kemalism into a thesis of singularity and immutability. In fact, there lies a transformative process shaped by competition and conflicts beneath continuity. Second, although many post-Kemalist approaches exhibit a critical stance towards Turkish nationalism, they inadvertently strengthen a narrative of Turkism by falling into the trap of methodological nationalism. Instead of solely viewing the empire as a precursor to a future nation-state, it is necessary to examine it within its own context and timeframe. Understanding the diversity, variability, and relationality of nationalism, without neglecting the complexity of historical processes, requires analyzing it not as the cause or result, but as an influential factor. The issue of Young Turks will remain a subject of controversy in the second century of the Republic’s history because the Young Turks assumed simultaneously the dual roles of destroyers/perpetrators and founders/protectors during the transition from the Empire to the Republic. These two analytical dimensions should neither be considered separately nor contradictory. Show less
In the aftermath of the First World War, British officials had difficulty understanding the elusive forces behind the Anatolian resistance movement. They anxiously assumed that Kemalists were being... Show moreIn the aftermath of the First World War, British officials had difficulty understanding the elusive forces behind the Anatolian resistance movement. They anxiously assumed that Kemalists were being controlled by the Unionist leaders in exile and that they were part of an international conspiracy. In this confusion, the fugitive Unionist leaders received disproportionate attention and credit in British intelligence reports, with critical consequences for their political sense-making and decision-making. I argue that the preconception of ‘Young Turks’ in general as well as assumptions about Unionist leaders’ alleged and actual activities after 1918 were crucial for British officialdom's policies towards the Anatolian resistance movement. Show less
The international recognition of Turkey through the Treaty of Lausanne is often seen as the foundational moment of Turkey in international diplomacy. This article approaches diplomatic history from... Show moreThe international recognition of Turkey through the Treaty of Lausanne is often seen as the foundational moment of Turkey in international diplomacy. This article approaches diplomatic history from a decentred perspective. It highlights the activities of various non-state actors and semi-official figures who became engaged in international politics during the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923). They used citizen diplomacy, public propaganda, as well as other clandestine and public channels of transnational diplomacy to strive against the Allied peace terms. Notwithstanding their divergent political visions and agendas, these unofficial diplomats strengthened—though not always intentionally—the international recognition of the Turkish nation-state formation, only to be absorbed by the Ankara government’s growing monopoly on foreign policy. Informed by the New Diplomatic History approach, this article illustrates the important role of unofficial, transnational dynamics that escapes state-centred accounts of Ottoman-Turkish diplomacy during the aftermath of the First World War. Show less
The assassination of Talat Pasha by Soghomon Tehlirian on 15 March 1921 in Berlin, as well as Tehlirian’s trial and acquittal on 2–3 June 1921, have contributed to the formation of conflicting... Show moreThe assassination of Talat Pasha by Soghomon Tehlirian on 15 March 1921 in Berlin, as well as Tehlirian’s trial and acquittal on 2–3 June 1921, have contributed to the formation of conflicting legacies of the Armenian Genocide. Though minuscule in terms of violence and legal ramifications, these events and their reimagination in contentious narratives have shaped a dominant prism of sensemaking in Turkish-Armenian relations. In the imagination of rival groups, Talat and Tehlirian compete for the very same normative categories of hero and victim at once and each are demonized as a villain and perpetrator. Moreover, it is each figure’s embodiment of martyrdom and revenge that explains why their heroizations have proved so enduring and effective across time and space. This mutual framework of sensemaking, which I call the Talat-Tehlirian complex, ultimately denies the chances of historical reconciliation. In terms of its theoretical implications, this case study explains how a martyr-avenger complex can continuously demand solidarity, sustain grievances, and sacralize violence in post-conflict societies. Based on a thick description of what happened in Berlin in 1921 and its contentious narratives across different generations, this paper calls for a transition to a post-heroic age in Turkish-Armenian relations. Show less
