The Formation of Turkish National Identity: the Role of the Greek “Other”
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THE FORMATION OF TURKISH NATIONAL IDENTITY: THE ROLE OF THE GREEK “OTHER” A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY FER ĐDE ASLI ERGÜL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SEPTEMBER 2009 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences ___________________ Prof. Dr. Sencer Ayata Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ___________________ Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunı şık Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ____________________ Prof. Dr. A. Nuri Yurdusev Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Şaban Çalı ş (Selçuk University, IR) ____________________ Prof. Dr. A. Nuri Yurdusev (METU, IR) ____________________ Prof. Dr. Mustafa Aydın (TOBB ETU, IR) ____________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Oktay Tanrısever (METU, IR) ____________________ Assist. Prof. Dr. Zana Çitak Aytürk (METU, IR) ____________________ I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Signature: iii ABSTRACT THE FORMATION OF TURKISH NATIONAL IDENTITY: THE ROLE OF THE GREEK “OTHER” Ergül, Feride Aslı Ph.D., Department of International Relations Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ahmet Nuri Yurdusev September 2009, 351 pages. This dissertation analyzes the role of the Greek “other” in the process of Turkish national identity formation. Addressing the transformation of Turkish identity from multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious imperial character into a homogeneous and unitary national form, this thesis mainly focuses on the changing attitude of the Ottoman elites of the last period and the modern Turkish state elites towards the Greeks in domestic and foreign affairs. In fact, this change can be evaluated as a part of constructing a Turkish nation which had been long carried out as break from the plural Ottoman inheritance. Within this context, this dissertation aims to understand the importance of Greek culture in Turkish identity, the stimulating role of the Greek existence in Anatolia during the Turkish War of Independence, neglect of the Turkish history writing about the Greek background or the Rumi identity and besides, the fragile relations between Turkey and Greece via questioning the overlapping aspects of Turkish nationalism and Greek “otherization”. Keywords : Nation, identity, otherization, Turkish, Greek iv ÖZ TÜRK M ĐLL Đ K ĐML ĐĞĐ ’N ĐN OLU ŞUMU: YUNAN “ÖTEK ĐSĐ”N ĐN ROLÜ Ergül, Feride Aslı Doktora, Uluslararası Đli şkiler Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Ahmet Nuri Yurdusev Eylül 2009, 351 sayfa. Bu tez Yunan “ötekisi”nin Türk milli kimlik olu şumu sürecindeki rolünü incelemektedir. Özellikle son dönem Osmanlı ve modern Türk devlet seçkinlerinin iç ve dı ş politikada Yunanlılara kar şı de ğişen tutumları, Türk kimli ğinin çok-etnisiteli, çok-kültürlü ve çok-dinli imparatorluk karakterinden uzakla şarak homojen ve üniter milli yapıya dönü şümü içerisinde ele alınmaktadır. Aslında, bu de ğişim uzun zaman sürdürülmü ş olan ço ğul kimlikli Osmanlı mirasından kopu şun bir parçası olan Türk milleti in şa etme sürecinin içerisinde görülmelidir. Çalı şma kapsamında, Yunan kültürünün Türk kimli ğindeki önemi, Anadolu’daki Yunan varlı ğının Türk Kurtulu ş Sava şı sırasındaki tahrik edici rolü, Türk tarih yazımının Yunan tarihi ve Rum kimli ğini görmezden gelmesi ve ayrıca Türkiye ile Yunanistan’ın kırılgan ili şkilerinin Türk milliyetçili ği ve Yunan “ötekile ştirmesi”nin örtü şen yönlerinin sorgulanması aracılı ğı ile anla şılması hedeflenmektedir. Anahtar kelimeler: Millet, kimlik, ötekile ştirme, Türk, Yunan v To my dear mother, Refiye Ergül vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Ahmet Nuri Yurdusev for his guidance, advice, criticism, encouragement and insight throughout the research. I am also grateful to my distinguished examining committee members, Prof. Dr. Şaban Çalı ş, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Aydın, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Oktay Tanrısever and Assist. Prof. Dr. Zana Çitak Aytürk for their valuable comments and suggestions. I would like to thank to Prof. Dr. Thanos Veremis for his encouragenments and comments. I would also like to express gratitude to my dear family, Refiye and Alim Ergül, Nilay and Erdo ğan Görgülü for believing in me and encouraging me to go on. Thank you for your unconditional love and patience. For her cheerful existence in my life, I am always grateful to my sweet niece Sude Ceren Görgülü. Special thanks go to Ceren Katipoğlu, Sermin Çakıcı and Zeynep Akda ğ for offering their patience and friendship at most crucial moments. I am also grateful to Mete Ula ş Aksoy, Aslıgül Sarıkamı ş Kaya and, especially, to my dear friend Berna Özen Süer, for their support. Finally, I do not know how to thank Mustafa Murat Yurtbilir for standing by me all through my hard days. I owe a lot to him for motivating and helping me during my studies. The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without him. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ................................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................... iv ÖZ .................................................................................................................................. v DEDICATION ................................................................................................................ vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...........................................................................................vii TABLE OF CONTENTS..............................................................................................viii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES.........................................................................................................xi LIST OF MAPS .............................................................................................................xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................xiii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 1 2. THEORIES OF NATION AND NATIONAL IDENTITY ....................................... 11 2.1. Nation and Nationalism....................................................................................... 20 2.2. Identity, National Identity and “Other”............................................................... 54 3. THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE ....................................................................................... 64 3.1. Rise of the Ottoman Empire in History............................................................... 65 3.2. The Structure of a Multi-Faceted Empire: Millet System ................................... 72 viii 3.3. The Ottoman Identity: Was it Ottoman, Turkish, Muslim or Rum ? ................... 78 3.4. Collapse of the Ottoman Empire and Rise of the Greek Nation ....................... 103 4. FROM OTTOMAN IDENTITY TO TURKISH IDENTITY.................................. 130 4.1. Islam and the Turkish Identity .......................................................................... 167 4.2. Turkish Nationalism: Ethnic or Civic?.............................................................. 177 4.3. Population Movements and the Greeks in Anatolia.......................................... 189 5. TURKISH REPUBLIC ............................................................................................ 211 5.1. Definition of Turkishness.................................................................................. 230 5.2. Re-Writing Turkish History: Problematic of the Greek Past ............................ 247 5.3. Domestic Affairs: The Greek Minority as the “Other” ..................................... 262 5.4. Perception of the “Other” in Turkish Foreign Affairs: Relations with Greece. 277 6. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 295 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................ 303 APPENDICES.............................................................................................................. 321 A. MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATÜRK'S ADDRESS TO YOUTH ............................... 321 B. TANZIMAT ( GÜLHANE ) AND ISLAHAT FIRMANS ........................................... 323 C. THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE OFFICIAL CENSUS OF 1914 .................................. 331 D. MUSLIM, GREEK AND ARMENIAN POPULATIONS IN 1914....................... 332 E. ARTICLES ABOUT MINORITY ISSUES IN THE TREATY OF LAUSANNE. 333 F. TÜRKÇE ÖZET ...................................................................................................... 338 G. CURRICULUM VITAE ......................................................................................... 350 ix LIST