An Intellectual History of Turkish Nationalism

the long version

Turkish nationalism entered the world stage in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as Greeks, Armenians, and other minority groups within the Ottoman Empire began to seek independence. Partly in response to the rising nationalist voices of these groups, Turkish intellectuals began championing nationalist ideas in academic and popular books. Later associations disseminated the ideology and propaganda through journals with the support of the Unionist and Kemalist governments. While analyzing these original sources, Umut Uzer takes into account how political developments influenced Turkish nationalism. He 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 about the Ottoman and Islamic past. This is the first book in any language to analyze Turkish nationalism with such comprehensive scope and engagement with primary sources; it aims to dissect the phenomenon in all its manifestations. -- from back cover.