Turkish nationalism is a political ideology that promotes and glorifies the Turkish people, as either a national, ethnic or linguistic group. Like most forms of nationalism, it usually puts the interests of the state over all others influences, including religious ones.

History of Turkish nationalism

Turkish nationalism began with the Turanian Society founded in 1839, followed in 1908 with the Turkish Society, which later expanded into the Turkish Hearth^[1] and eventually expanded to include ideologies such as Pan-Turanism and Pan-Turkism.

The Young Turk revolution which overthrew Sultan Abdul Hamid II, allowed Turkish nationalism into power, eventually leading to the Three Pashas control of the late Ottoman government. It is believed that the nationalistic leanings of the Young Turks, Enver Pasha in particular, is what led the Committee of Union and Progress to oversee a series of massacres, mass arrests, and deportations against Anatolia's largest non-Muslim Minority in what is known as the Armenian Genocide during World War I.^[2]

After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the reformer Mustafa Kemal Atatürk came to power. Atatürk discouraged the Pan-Turkic ambitions of his predecessors. Atatürk introduced Hilaire de Baranton's Sun Language Theory into Turkish political and educational circles in 1935, at the high point of attempts to "cleanse" the Turkish language of foreign influence. Turkish researchers at the time also came up with the idea that Early Sumerians were proto-Turks.^[3]

Modern Turkish nationalism

Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which is perceived as being contrary to notion of freedom of speech, states "A person who explicitly insults being a Turk, the Republic or Turkish Grand National Assembly, the penalty to be imposed shall be imprisonment for a term of six months to three years."^[4] It also states that "Expressions of thought intended to criticize shall not constitute a crime."

There have been recent indications that Turkey may abandon or modify Article 301, after the embarrassment suffered by some high profile cases.^[5] Nationalists within the judicial system, intent on derailing Turkey's full admission into the European Union, have used Article 301 to initiate trials against people like Nobel-prize-winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish novelist Elif ?afak, and the late Hrant Dink.^[6]

In May 2007, a law was put into effect allowing Turkey to block Web sites that are deemed insulting to Atatürk.^[7]

See also

• Anatolianism
• Grey Wolves
• Greek nationalism

References

1. ↑
2. ↑ Adalian, Rouben Paul. Young Turks and the Armenian Genocide
3. ↑
4. ↑
5. ↑
6. ↑
7. ↑

Further reading

External links

• Turanian Community Turanian Community
• Turkcu and Turanist Forum Turkish Nationalist Community

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