This investigation is the result of a resarch on Turkish and Italian archives through which an attempt is made to revive the story of the Turkish air officers training in Fascist Italy between 1930...Show moreThis investigation is the result of a resarch on Turkish and Italian archives through which an attempt is made to revive the story of the Turkish air officers training in Fascist Italy between 1930 and 1932.Show less
Sâmiha Ayverdi represents a curious case of where the usual crude dichotomic categorisations that mark modern Turkey appear to loose validity. Having the outward appearance of a westernised ...Show moreSâmiha Ayverdi represents a curious case of where the usual crude dichotomic categorisations that mark modern Turkey appear to loose validity. Having the outward appearance of a westernised ‘republican woman’ as envisaged by the reformist Kemalist elite, Ayverdi managed to merge multiple, seemingly conflicting, personas in her person as a novelist, a public intellectual and the head of a Sufi brotherhood. This thesis seeks to evaluate Ayverdi’s memoirs in terms of their value of providing us with a counter-narrative on the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of the republic and the numerous political crises that it faced throughout its existence. It is not a study of Ayverdi’s Sufi inspired religious views which have been discussed elsewhere. It is hoped this study will constitute a humble contribution to the academic discourse regarding the hybridity of Turkish intellectuals.Show less
In this study is been examined the stance of the Kemalist elite towards liberalism as a competing political program of modernization and as one opposed to that of the RPP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi –...Show moreIn this study is been examined the stance of the Kemalist elite towards liberalism as a competing political program of modernization and as one opposed to that of the RPP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi – Republican People’s Party) in the period of 1922-1945. According to the prevalent viewpoint in most of historical analyses of the early republican history of Turkey, the path to the formation of the new state and the viewpoint of the ruling elite clashed with the liberal ideal. The hybrid ideological nature of Kemalism, as the dominant trend of Turkish nationalism, and its distance from other existing paradigms is clearly captured by Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk)’s phrase uttered during the debate on the abolition of the sultanate, ‘Biz bize benzeriz’ (We resemble ourselves). Through the study of the government’s acts and the intellectual debates of the period, I show that certain aspects of liberalism, such as constitution, rule of law, popular sovereignty and representative government, are an organic part of any modern political system, including Turkey's, and that any state has to adopt at least some of them if it is to be regarded as modern.Show less
This thesis is about the role of women organizations in the Gezi protests in Istanbul in 2013. The theory "civil resistance" is used. The research question is: "What has motivated several non...Show moreThis thesis is about the role of women organizations in the Gezi protests in Istanbul in 2013. The theory "civil resistance" is used. The research question is: "What has motivated several non-environmentalist women’s organizations in Istanbul to actively participate in the Gezi protests? Have these organizations mobilized women?"Show less
In the latest presidential elections of Turkey, which was realized on August 2014, Selahattin Demirtas, the co-leader of pro-Kurdish ethnic party HDP, got 9,76% of the votes. Compared to previous...Show moreIn the latest presidential elections of Turkey, which was realized on August 2014, Selahattin Demirtas, the co-leader of pro-Kurdish ethnic party HDP, got 9,76% of the votes. Compared to previous elections, this meant fifty percent increase in votes of the party. Thus, the main problem of the thesis is that in Turkey, considering the vote limitation of an ethnic party in a historical context, how could the noticeable rise in votes of HDP’s candidate Demirtas could be explained? The thesis will argue that there are several factors which contributed to the success of the HDP. First, for the last few years Kurdish political movement has been following a new strategy with which the party abandons Kurdish ethnic party claims and aims to become a party of Turkey, with increasing democratic modernization emphasis. Second, Gezi movement which occurred in 2013, showed the societal base of leftist movements in Turkey. Democratic modernization of HDP was in line with the ideals of Gezi movement and Demirtas successfully used the discourse of Gezi, whereby he enhanced the electorate base of his party. Lastly, the absence of 10% election threshold had an important role in voting behavior of the electorate and this factor had positive influence on the vote share of HDP.Show less
