- Turkish Linguistics, Turkish Nationalism, Oriental Studies, Turkish Language, History of Turkish Republic, Turcology, and 22 moreRelations between France and the Ottoman Empire / Turkey (1860-1960), Race and Ethnicity, Race and Racism, Modern Turkey, Kemalism, Irkçılık, Nationalism, Ottoman Studies, Turkey, Near Eastern Studies, Education in Turkey, Political History of Turkey, History of Modern Turkey, History of Turkey and Middle east, Intellectual History of Turkey, Langue Et Idéologie, Critical Race Theory, Turkish and Middle East Studies, Identity politics, Orientalism, Postcolonial Studies, and Linguistic landscapesedit
- François Georgeonedit
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Order and Compromise: Government Practices in Turkey From the Late Ottoman Empire to the Early 21st Century,
in Marc Aymes, Benjamin Gourisse, and Élise Massicard (eds.), Leiden, Brill, 2015.
in Marc Aymes, Benjamin Gourisse, and Élise Massicard (eds.), Leiden, Brill, 2015.
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Par leur charge dénotative et surtout connotative, un grand nombre de patronymes turcs charrient un pesant référentiel symbolique. Pour le comprendre, il faut examiner le contexte discursif dans lequel fut adoptée la « loi sur les noms de... more
Par leur charge dénotative et surtout connotative, un grand nombre de patronymes turcs charrient un pesant référentiel symbolique. Pour le comprendre, il faut examiner le contexte discursif dans lequel fut adoptée la « loi sur les noms de famille » (juin 1934), lorsque les dirigeants kémalistes entreprirent d’importer le système anthroponymique européen en Turquie et d’amener la population anatolienne à se choisir un nom parmi un stock onomastique sélectionné selon des critères étymologiques et sémantiques. Dans sa dimension proprement linguistique, l’altération des anthroponymes en Turquie offre un cas particulièrement poussé de nationalisation de la cognition.
By their denotative and even more their connotative charge, large numbers of Turkish patronyms are repositories loaded with symbolism. To understand this, one must examine the discursive context in which the “Surname Law” of June 1934 was... more
By their denotative and even more their connotative charge, large numbers of Turkish patronyms are repositories loaded with symbolism. To understand this, one must examine the discursive context in which the “Surname Law” of June 1934 was adopted. The Kemalist leaders imported into Turkey the European anthroponymic system and had the Anatolian population choose surnames from an onomastic stock selected according to etymological and semantic criteria. In its actual linguistic dimension, the alteration of anthroponyms in Turkey displays a particularly strong case of nationalization of cognition.
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Insiders et outsiders à la fois, les non-musulmans de Turquie se trouvent pris dans une nasse d’injonctions contradictoires entre, d’un côté, une intégration séculariste autoproclamée et, de l’autre, la perpétuation de logiques de... more
Insiders et outsiders à la fois, les non-musulmans de Turquie se trouvent pris dans une nasse d’injonctions contradictoires entre, d’un côté, une intégration séculariste autoproclamée et, de l’autre, la perpétuation de logiques de différenciation fondées sur l’appartenance ou l’assignation ethno-confessionnelle. La capacité de l’État turc à reconduire et institutionnaliser ce type d’ambiguïtés, des discours « ordinaires » (comme celui de la presse) vers le domaine normatif, est ce que j’appelle la production légale de l’incertitude. Dans ce chapitre, j’étudie ce phénomène à travers la loi 2525 sur les noms de famille, une réforme encore méconnue en ce qui concerne son application aux non-musulmans.
Research Interests: International Relations, Armenian Studies, Onomastics, Identity politics, Nationalism, and 15 moreLanguage Policy and Politics of Identity, Middle Eastern Studies, Modern Greece, Turkish Foreign Policy, Middle East Politics, Turkish Linguistics, Kemalism, Sephardic Studies, Non-Muslim Minorities in Turkey, Minorities in Turkey, Turkish Language, English language and linguistics, Middle East, Language politics, and Turkish Language Reform
Research Interests: International Relations, Jewish Studies, Languages and Linguistics, Armenian Studies, Middle East Studies, and 15 moreOnomastics, Genocide Studies, Nationalism, Turkish Nationalism, Turkish and Middle East Studies, Turkish Greek Relations, Middle East Politics, Modern Turkey, Non-Muslim Minorities in Turkey, Minorities in Turkey, Modern Jewish History, Turkish Language, Turkology, Middle East, and Personal Names
Research Interests: Armenian Studies, Turkey, Surnames, Modern Greece, History of the Jews, and 11 moreModern Turkey, History of Turkish Republic, Turkish Linguistics, Non-Muslim Minorities in Turkey, Minorities in Turkey, History of Modern Turkey, Turkish Language, history of the non-Muslim minorities, Anthroponymie, post-Ottoman societies, and Jews in the Ottoman Empire
Research Interests: Languages and Linguistics, Middle East Studies, Race and Racism, History of Science, Turkish Nationalism, and 12 moreTurkish and Middle East Studies, Turkey, Racism, Middle East Politics, Modern Turkey, History of Turkish Republic, Turkish Linguistics, Kemalism, History of Modern Turkey, Turkish Language, Turkish politics, and Turkish Language and Literature
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Workshop held on 18-19 February 2015 at the Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes (Istanbul) Deadline for abstracts: 15 May 2016 Convenors: Marie Bossaert (EPHE, Paris) and Emmanuel Szurek (Princeton University) Turkish studies,... more
Workshop held on 18-19 February 2015 at the Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes (Istanbul)
Deadline for abstracts: 15 May 2016
Convenors: Marie Bossaert (EPHE, Paris) and Emmanuel Szurek (Princeton University)
Turkish studies, as a seemingly autonomous field of knowledge, has not been critically examined. With few exceptions, the existing literature generally provide a linear, internalist, if not hagiographic narrative centered on the “life-and-work” of a series of outstanding individuals. Moreover, conducted country by country, these surveys tend to neglect the international circulation of ideas, men and artifacts. We wish to take into account the different inheritances (European, Russian, Ottoman, Turkish, Arab, Japanese, American etc.) that have contributed to the intellectual and institutional autonomization of the field.
We propose to follow these leads through three sets of questions focusing on the definition, the actors, and the uses of Turkology.
1. What is Turkology? What is its object? Is it different than "Turkish studies"? Who are the "Turks" under consideration? When did Turkish Studies appear in the different countries, and how did they fit in the broader fields of orientalist scholarship, the humanities, and the social sciences at large?
2. Who is a Turkologist? How does one become a student in Turkish studies? Who are the non-academic and/or subaltern contributors to the field? What are the local, national and international networks enacted by these different actors?
3. What use is Turkology? What is the social and political role of the Turkologist (intelligence, military, diplomacy, translation etc.)? How were Turkish studies connected to Turkish nationalism(s)? To colonial empires? To international migrations? Is there such a thing as "War-Turkology"?
The detailed call for papers and submission guidelines are available at ejts.revues.org/5109 (English) and ejts.revues.org/5108 (French).
Deadline for abstracts: 15 May 2016
Convenors: Marie Bossaert (EPHE, Paris) and Emmanuel Szurek (Princeton University)
Turkish studies, as a seemingly autonomous field of knowledge, has not been critically examined. With few exceptions, the existing literature generally provide a linear, internalist, if not hagiographic narrative centered on the “life-and-work” of a series of outstanding individuals. Moreover, conducted country by country, these surveys tend to neglect the international circulation of ideas, men and artifacts. We wish to take into account the different inheritances (European, Russian, Ottoman, Turkish, Arab, Japanese, American etc.) that have contributed to the intellectual and institutional autonomization of the field.
We propose to follow these leads through three sets of questions focusing on the definition, the actors, and the uses of Turkology.
1. What is Turkology? What is its object? Is it different than "Turkish studies"? Who are the "Turks" under consideration? When did Turkish Studies appear in the different countries, and how did they fit in the broader fields of orientalist scholarship, the humanities, and the social sciences at large?
2. Who is a Turkologist? How does one become a student in Turkish studies? Who are the non-academic and/or subaltern contributors to the field? What are the local, national and international networks enacted by these different actors?
3. What use is Turkology? What is the social and political role of the Turkologist (intelligence, military, diplomacy, translation etc.)? How were Turkish studies connected to Turkish nationalism(s)? To colonial empires? To international migrations? Is there such a thing as "War-Turkology"?
The detailed call for papers and submission guidelines are available at ejts.revues.org/5109 (English) and ejts.revues.org/5108 (French).
Research Interests: Turkish Nationalism, Turkish and Middle East Studies, Turkish History, Turkey, Education in Turkey, and 27 moreTurkey And Europe, Islam in Turkey, Kurdish Question in Turkey, Turkish Foreign Policy, Teaching Turkish As A Foreign Language, Modern Turkey, History of Turkish Republic, Turkish Linguistics, Turkish Literature, Old Turkic, Minorities in Turkey, History of Modern Turkey, Turkey in World Politics, Turkish Language, Turkology, Turkish politics, Modern Turkish Literature, Osmanlı/Türk siyasi düşünce tarihi, Türkiye, Türkçe Eğitimi, Turkish Language and Literature, Eski Türk Edebiyatı, Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı, Yeni Türk Edebiyatı, Ottoman Turkish historical writing, Türk Dili Ve Edebiyatı, and Turkic & Altaic Studies
The term Turcology refers to practices that are so diversified that it is doubtful whether they can be referred to via a single epistemological architecture. Conversely, a variety of scholarly designations (‘Turkology’, ‘Turkic studies’,... more
The term Turcology refers to practices that are so diversified that it is doubtful whether they can be referred to via a single epistemological architecture. Conversely, a variety of scholarly designations (‘Turkology’, ‘Turkic studies’, ‘Turkish studies’, ‘science of Turkishness’, ‘study of Turkey’) are available on the international linguistic marketplace to denote this body of studies. In this essay, we intend to explore the question of tension between Turkey, understood as a national construction and a state formation, and Turcology, conceived as a theoretical and practical modality of scholarly investigation. The article will shed light on two matters: the first, philological, will consist in dissecting a few core concepts and names of Turcology in their temporal and spatial variability; the second, historiographical, will outline how the history of the field is written and why the different patterns that shape its narrative (nativism, Eurocentrism, millennialism) tell more about the so-called Turcologists than about Turcology itself.
Research Interests: Philology, Race and Racism, Race and Ethnicity, Turkey, Racism, and 15 moreEducation in Turkey, Turkey And Europe, Classical philology, Political History of Turkey, History of Turkey and Middle east, Modern Turkey, History of philology, History of Modern Turkey, Turkey in World Politics, Orientalism, Oriental Studies, Greek Philology, linguistics,turcology,Turkish education, Turcology, and Russian/Soviet Turcology
« Histoire d'un feu de paille académique : les avatars du paradigme touranien en français scientifique (années 1850-1870) », A. Caiozzo, L. Dédryvère et S. Prévost (dir.), Le Touran. Entre mythes, orientalisme et constructions identitaires, Presses Universitaires de Valenciennes, 2019, p. 191-218.more
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This dossier is dedicated to a controversy as vigorous as it is vertiginous, sometimes even incandescent – some would call it a polemic – in which dozens of Turkish academics, journalists, and intellectuals have found themselves involved... more
This dossier is dedicated to a controversy as vigorous as it is vertiginous, sometimes even incandescent – some would call it a polemic – in which dozens of Turkish academics, journalists, and intellectuals have found themselves involved over the last decade or so: that of “post-Kemalism.” There’s no doubt that this matter has been the talk of the town. One colleague, a political scientist, referred to it as “one of the most prominent academic debates in Turkish studies”; another, a historian, deemed it nothing less than “the most important discussion of current paradigms in the field of Turkish studies”. Indeed, in Turkey, one publication follows another on the subject, attesting to the fact that the debate on post-Kemalism has found resonance in both academia and society. However, apart from a few podcasts and online meetings, as well as one or two publications, the discussion has remained confined to the Turkish-speaking editorial space.
Research Interests: Political Sociology, Middle East Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Political Science, Nationalism, and 15 moreTurkish and Middle East Studies, Post-Colonialism, Postmodernism, Turkey, Political History of Turkey, Modern Turkey, Minorities in Turkey, Islamism, History of Modern Turkey, Edward Said, Zionism, Armenian Genocide, Middle East, Orientalism, and Postmodern
Le présent dossier est consacré à une controverse aussi vigoureuse que vertigineuse, parfois même incandescente – d’aucuns l’appelleraient plus volontiers une polémique – à laquelle se sont trouvés associés des dizaines d’universitaires,... more
Le présent dossier est consacré à une controverse aussi vigoureuse que vertigineuse, parfois même incandescente – d’aucuns l’appelleraient plus volontiers une polémique – à laquelle se sont trouvés associés des dizaines d’universitaires, journalistes et intellectuels de Turquie depuis environ une décennie : celle sur le « post-kémalisme ». Nul doute que cette affaire a défrayé la chronique. Tel collègue, politiste, y a vu « l’un des débats universitaires les plus remarquables au sein des études turques » ; tel autre, historien, rien moins que « la plus importante discussion sur les paradigmes actuels dans le champ des études sur la Turquie ». De fait, en Turquie, les parutions s’enchaînent sur le sujet, témoignant de ce que le débat sur le post-kémalisme a trouvé de nombreux échos dans l’Université comme au sein de la société. Pourtant, à l’exception de quelques podcasts et rencontres en anglais, ainsi que d’une ou deux parutions, la discussion est demeurée cantonnée à l’espace éditorial turcophone.
Research Interests: Political Sociology, Political Theory, Middle East Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Political Science, and 14 moreNationalism, Turkish Nationalism, Postmodernism, Turkey, Political History of Turkey, Modern Turkey, Kemalism, Non-Muslim Minorities in Turkey, Islamism, Edward Said, Armenian Genocide, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Orientalism, and HIstory of Zionism and Jewish Nationalism
On 15 December 1935, some notables and members of the Armenian community in Istanbul gathered in front of the Pangaltı church after mass to solemnly burn a portrait of Franz Werfel and a cardboard box representing his last book, The Forty... more
On 15 December 1935, some notables and members of the Armenian community in Istanbul gathered in front of the Pangaltı church after mass to solemnly burn a portrait of Franz Werfel and a cardboard box representing his last book, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh (1933). The Turkish national anthem was sung. In this novel, the Viennese Jewish writer exposed for the first time to an international literary audience the workings of the extermination of the Armenians during the First World War, as well as an act of successful resistance by the Armenians against the Ottoman army. It was also a book haunted by the rise of Nazism and riddled with latent anxiety about the future of European Jewry. Shortly after its release, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the United States expressed its intention to make a film of it. Such sudden publicity for a crime that had been conscientiously concealed for a decade did not take long to mobilise the Turkish authorities and diplomacy, relayed by a press under orders, in a feverishly nationalistic, anti-Armenian and soon antisemitic tone. Armenians and Jews in Turkey were nevertheless “convinced” to join their voices to this patriotic symphony. This article analyses what Ankara’s campaign against Werfel, and especially the auto-da-fé of 15 December, can teach us about the long history of Turkish denial of the Armenian genocide, a phenomenon that it proposes to reperiodise as well as recharacterise.
Research Interests: German Literature, Censorship, Jewish Studies, Armenian Studies, Middle East Studies, and 14 morePropaganda, Genocide Studies, Holocaust Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Film Censorship, Turkish Foreign Policy, Modern Turkey, Kemalism, National Socialism, Armenian Genocide, Nazi Germany, Middle East, Hollywood, and Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Le 15 décembre 1935, quelques notables et membres de la communauté arménienne d’Istanbul se réunirent sur le parvis de l’église de Pangaltı, à la sortie de la messe, pour brûler solennellement un portrait de Franz Werfel ainsi qu’une... more
Le 15 décembre 1935, quelques notables et membres de la communauté arménienne d’Istanbul se réunirent sur le parvis de l’église de Pangaltı, à la sortie de la messe, pour brûler solennellement un portrait de Franz Werfel ainsi qu’une boîte cartonnée représentant son dernier livre, Les Quarante jours du Musa Dagh (1933). On chanta l’hymne national turc. Dans ce roman, l’écrivain juif viennois exposait pour la première fois, aux yeux du grand public lettré international, les rouages de l’extermination des Arméniens pendant la première guerre mondiale, en même temps qu’un acte de résistance réussie de ces derniers face à l’armée ottomane. C’était aussi un livre hanté par la montée du nazisme et traversé par une inquiétude latente quant à l’avenir des Juifs d’Europe. Rapidement, la Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer manifesta, depuis les États-Unis, son intention d’en tirer un film. Une telle publicité apportée soudainement à un crime consciencieusement occulté depuis une décennie ne tarda pas à susciter la mobilisation des autorités et de la diplomatie turques, relayée par une presse aux ordres, dans une tonalité fiévreusement nationaliste, anti-arménienne et bientôt antisémite. Arméniens et Juifs de Turquie furent néanmoins « convaincus » de joindre leur voix à cette symphonie patriotique. Le présent article analyse ainsi ce que la campagne orchestrée par Ankara contre Werfel, et tout particulièrement l’autodafé du 15 décembre, peuvent nous apprendre de l’histoire longue de la négation turque du génocide des Arméniens, phénomène dont il propose une nouvelle périodisation autant qu’une requalification.
Research Interests: German Literature, Jewish Studies, Armenian Studies, Middle East Studies, Propaganda, and 15 moreGenocide Studies, Jewish History, Armenian Culture, Censorship (History), Film Censorship, Austrian Literature, Turkish Foreign Policy, Modern Turkey, Kemalism, National Socialism, Armenian Genocide, Middle East, Nazism, Holocaust denial (negationism), and Turkish Language and Literature
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After Orientalism, Critical Perspectives on Western Agency and Eastern Re-appropriations, in François Pouillon and Jean-Claude Vatin (eds.), Leiden, Brill, 2015, pp.103-120.
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Depuis l’abolition du califat, en mars 1924, les observateurs français de la scène politique turque exaltent la « laïcité turque ». Adoptés en 2019, les programmes de Première, spécialité HGGSP, ont repris tel quel cet intitulé. La notion... more
Depuis l’abolition du califat, en mars 1924, les observateurs français de la scène politique turque exaltent la « laïcité turque ». Adoptés en 2019, les programmes de Première, spécialité HGGSP, ont repris tel quel cet intitulé. La notion turque de laiklik, théorisée en 1931 seulement, désigne cependant un mode d’organisation des relations entre le politique et le religieux qui n’entretient avec la laïcité française qu’une relation lointaine. Pour saisir ce qui se joue dans la Turquie de l’entre-deux-guerres, il faut ainsi distinguer des ordres de réalité apparemment contradictoires mais non exclusifs, à savoir : la laïcisation de la justice et de l’enseignement (un processus amorcé au xixe siècle) mais le maintien et même le renforcement d’un culte d’État, hérité de l’Empire ottoman ; une forme de sécularisation autoritaire de la société mais un processus continu de persécution des non-musulmans et d’islamisation de la population.
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Vierge de toute exploitation, la correspondance Basset permet de saisir l’orientalisme en situation coloniale par ses pratiques. Elle en donne à voir une autre image que celle reflétée par les archives institutionnelles et les productions... more
Vierge de toute exploitation, la correspondance Basset permet de saisir l’orientalisme en situation coloniale par ses pratiques. Elle en donne à voir une autre image que celle reflétée par les archives institutionnelles et les productions imprimées, cette science toujours déjà là qu’on rencontre dans les bibliothèques et à l’aune de laquelle on a trop exclusivement jugé de quoi fut fait l’orientalisme.
Research Interests: Archival Studies, Languages and Linguistics, French Studies, Colonialism, Family, and 12 moreArchives, French linguistics, 19th century France, French colonialism, 20th century France, Social History, France, Mediterranean and North Africa, Orientalism, Algeria, French colonial Algeria, and Colonial History
Juillet 2014. Un camion venu des Vosges arrive à Paris. Il contient deux coffres en bois et des dizaines de cartons : les archives de René Basset, professeur d'arabe et de berbère à la faculté des lettres d'Alger de 1880 à 1924. Cette... more
Juillet 2014. Un camion venu des Vosges arrive à Paris. Il contient deux coffres en bois et des dizaines de cartons : les archives de René Basset, professeur d'arabe et de berbère à la faculté des lettres d'Alger de 1880 à 1924. Cette université coloniale, la seule de l'Empire français, est devenue au tournant du xx e siècle l'un des principaux centres de l'orientalisme savant dans le monde.
À partir de ce fonds d'archives très singulier et au terme d'une enquête collective, ce livre entend saisir cet orientalisme en train de se faire, c'est-à-dire au quotidien, sur le terrain maghrébin, dans les salles de classe, et jusque dans l'intimité des familles. Il invite ainsi à repenser la catégorie d'orientalisme depuis l'Algérie coloniale, par les pratiques, dans une perspective d'histoire sociale.
À partir de ce fonds d'archives très singulier et au terme d'une enquête collective, ce livre entend saisir cet orientalisme en train de se faire, c'est-à-dire au quotidien, sur le terrain maghrébin, dans les salles de classe, et jusque dans l'intimité des familles. Il invite ainsi à repenser la catégorie d'orientalisme depuis l'Algérie coloniale, par les pratiques, dans une perspective d'histoire sociale.
Research Interests: French History, Languages and Linguistics, French Studies, Family studies, Race and Racism, and 15 moreHistory of Science, Colonialism, Family, Mediterranean Studies, Archives, 19th century France, French colonialism, 20th century France, Maghreb studies, Lorraine, Family history, Orientalism, Imperialism, Algeria, and French colonial Algeria
The years 1850-1890 offer a relevant framework for observing the rapid rise and then the no less rapid decline of the Turanian paradigm in French scholarly circles. My aim is to demonstrate that, from the 1850s onwards, several semantic... more
The years 1850-1890 offer a relevant framework for observing the rapid rise and then the no less rapid decline of the Turanian paradigm in French scholarly circles. My aim is to demonstrate that, from the 1850s onwards, several semantic and disciplinary filiations were able to overlap, or even to flourish simultaneously, sometimes under the same pen, in the shadow of the same terminology. Thus one should not crush the diversity of uses of the notion of Turan under an overly linear narrative. In fact, the actors themselves were not necessarily fooled by this polysemy: on the contrary, some of the scholars I shall pay attention to were the first to worry about the instability of the "Turanian" terminology, and thus claim its lack "scientificity". And it was in the light of this observation that, from the 1870s onwards, they converged, not to share its ambiguities but rather to increasingly declare its state of educational obsolescence, leading to the eviction of the notion (and its multiple avatars) from the discourse of the most professionalized circles within French linguistics and philology, and, slightly later, physical anthropology.
Research Interests: History of Linguistics, Philology, Russian Studies, History of Science, History of Anthropology, and 12 moreTurkish Nationalism, Central Asia (History), French linguistics, Comparative Linguistics, Turkish History, Russian History, Turkish Linguistics, Central Asia, Orientalism, Tatars, Turkic languages, and Turanism
Research Interests: Ottoman History, Near Eastern Studies, Middle East Studies, Middle East & North Africa, Middle East History, and 25 moreOttoman Studies, Turkish and Middle East Studies, Turkish History, Modernity, Turkey, Ottoman Empire, Modern Middle East History, Middle Eastern Studies, Turkey And Europe, Political History of Turkey, Middle East Politics, Late Ottoman Period, Ottoman-Turkish Westernization, History of Ottoman Art and Architecture, Modern Turkey, Orientalism in art, Turkish Literature, History of Modern Turkey, Middle East, Orientalism, Oriental Studies, Turkish Language and Literature, Edward Said; orientalism; Anti-Westernism, Ottoman Turkish historical writing, and Orientalismo
Research Interests: Ottoman History, Middle East Studies, Turkish and Middle East Studies, Turkish History, Ottoman Empire, and 11 moreMiddle Eastern Studies, Ottoman Literature, Middle East Politics, Ottoman-Turkish Westernization, Modern Turkey, Proper Names, Ottoman Military History, Turkish Language, Naming, Personal Names, and Turkish Language and Literature
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1928 is a crucial date in Turkey’s contemporary history. As part of the Kemalist reforms, which sought to modernize Turkey and break with the Ottoman past, Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Turkish Republic in 1923, decided to replace the... more
1928 is a crucial date in Turkey’s contemporary history. As part of the Kemalist reforms, which sought to modernize Turkey and break with the Ottoman past, Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Turkish Republic in 1923, decided to replace the Arabic alphabet with its Latin equivalent. In Turkey, this reform is still hailed as one of the Republic’s great early successes, for contributing to the improvement of literacy rates. At least, that is the official line.