An Intellectual History of Turkish Nationalism

Turkish nationalism erupted onto the world stage in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as first Greeks, then Armenians and other minority groups within the Ottoman Empire began to assert national identity and seek independence. Umut Uzer examines the ideological evolution and transformation of Turkish nationalism from its early precursors to its contemporary protagonists. Through a textual analysis of nationalist writings, this volume considers how political developments influenced Turkish nationalism. It tackles the question of how an ideology that began as a revolutionary, progressive, forward-looking ideal eventually transformed into one that is conservative, patriarchal, and nostalgic to the Ottoman and Islamic past. Between Islamic and Turkish Identity is the first book in any language to comprehensively analyze Turkish nationalism with such scope and engagement with primary sources, dissecting the phenomenon in all its manifestations.