Art and Power in Turkey: Culture, Aesthetics and Nationalism During the Single Party Era

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 91-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duygu Köksal

One prominent intellectual of the early Turkish Republic, İsmail Hakkı Baltacıoğlu, argued that the new Republic should be “a Republic of fine arts.” Indeed, the early Republican project in Turkey perceived culture and art as media through which the Republic could not only represent its achievements but also “create” itself. The present study focuses on the cultural policies and elite perceptions of culture during the single-party regime in Turkey. More specifically, it looks into the developments that took place in the plastic arts and in elite approaches towards aesthetics. This is done in order to shed light on young Turkey's cultural modernization. Examining the interaction between aesthetics and power, this discussion stands at the intersection of political studies and cultural history.

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-59
Author(s):  
Nikos Lekakis

Abstract This paper, which covers the period of the 2004 Annan Plan and its rejection to date, places the Cyprus Problem in an International Relations theoretic framework. It searches for a “foreign policy outcome,” essentially a decision by the leaders of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities, to politically reunite these two communities under the auspices of the UN. The paper provides a synthesis of the neo-liberal and the neoclassical realist paradigms, aiming to better interpret the existing experience and to shed light on the prospect of a future solution to the problem. The strategic environment for the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is ‘permissive’ because the message sent by the international system for reunification does not require the use of hard power. The leaders of the two communities play a key role, although the strategic political culture in small states such as the TRNC is not developed and state-society relations are underdeveloped. Also, the civil society at large can play a role in influencing the leaders' images regarding the reunification opportunity.


DIYÂR ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-288
Author(s):  
Umit Eser

The end of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the Kemalist nation-state were political changes that not only affected the lives of millions of individuals, but also heralded a total demographic and physical reconstitution and transformation of the cities and towns in Asia Minor. The port city of Smyrna/Izmir was undoubtedly one of the Ottoman cities that was devastated by this irrevocable physical, political, and social change. This study attempts to shed light on the history of a church building whose congregation had been compelled to migrate to Greece in September 1922, in the early Republican period. Agios Ioannis o Theologos (Saint John the Theologian), one of the complete churches located in the Upper Neighbourhood, was sequestered by the Commission of the Abandoned Properties (Emvâl-i Metruke Komisyonu) immediately after the Great Fire of 1922. This paper situates the Church of Agios Ioannis Theologos at the nexus of the Abandoned Properties measures and re-territorialisation in the early Republican period. Firstly, a decision was made to destroy the bell tower of the church and convert the remaining building into a school at the end of a lengthy series of correspondence between the ministries and the municipality in 1926. Secondly, its relics, church furniture, and icons were forgotten until the late 1930s. Finally, following two cabinet decisions and lengthy bureaucratic procedures, these relics were transported to Athens in 1945. This paper argues that various institutions of the Republic adopted different strategies to deal with the properties of Ottoman Christian communities after the population exchange in 1923, though the state retained its pragmatic approach towards these remaining properties.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filiz Yildiz ◽  
Ozlem Aydogmus Ordem

Studies on ideology in the social sciences have been incremental in recent decades. Childhood ideology remains a pivotal issue in the humanities from pedagogy to philosophy. Since children are easily accessible ideological subjects, the exercise of ideology can be more clearly noticed in children. This study aims to focus on childhood ideology adopted by the authorities in the early Turkish Republican Era. The emergence and rise of nationalism from 1923 directed by the authorities to focus on what kind of generation they would raise for the future of the Turkish Republic. The study involved four regularly published newspapers -Cumhuriyet, Akşam, Vakit/Kurun, Hakimiyet-i Milliye/Ulus- dating back to 1930s. The main goals of the modernization project of the Republic were raising honest, industrious, patriotic and healthy children, which were the main individuals that had to be reared for the new Republic. Thus, a strong relationship between Turkish nationalism and the new types of children was established.


2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 429-439
Author(s):  
Boğaç Erozan

Established in 1923, Turkey has been a republic without a dominant republican conception of liberty. A chance to install such a conception was missed in the early republican period and never recaptured. The republic was unable to get rid of vestiges of the authoritarian tradition of the past. Centuries-old authoritarian tradition persisted well into the recent and the contemporary periods. Presenting ample evidence, the article underlines the weight of history and the legacy of authoritarian mentality that promoted the use of authority, not liberty, in political problem-solving. The initial failure to abandon an authoritarian problem-solving approach proved fateful for the chances of the deepening of democracy in Turkey.


Author(s):  
Yuan Zhi Ou

Abstract Ethnicity, religion, and geopolitics affect historians’ interpretations of the history of Xinjiang, a very chaotic frontier region of China that did not come fully under the control of the People’s Republic of China until recent decades. The case of Sheng Shicai, an early Republican Era Chinese military officer, shows how professional training and, most importantly, the ability to capitalize on emerging opportunities contributed to his military success in Xinjiang from 1931 to 1934. This paper analyzes the Republic of China’s government documents, Sheng and his acquaintances’ memoirs, newspaper articles, and other sources to examine how Sheng applied his military training and employed regional and foreign military forces to win battles in northern Xinjiang. Professional military training helped officers to utilize their resources efficiently and take advantage of their geopolitical situations. Amid numerous talented Chinese military officers, Sheng rose in rank and successfully secured Xinjiang as a part of the Republic of China even when Xinjiang’s geopolitics seemed extremely challenging. This study highlights the value of Sheng’s military prowess, something that the literature has not previously appreciated.


2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-19
Author(s):  
Yaroslav Kushnir ◽  

This article provides a comprehensive study in areas of counteraction to the temporarily occupied territories of a sovereign state. Regulations, doctrinal approaches, international experience serve as a subject to this study in the context of a set of functional national activities of states that have faced the issue of territories’ separation. Particular attention is paid to foreign experience in counteracting the temporary occupation through the prism of the Republic of Cyprus which held an activity to counter the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, as one of the most successful examples of confrontation with the temporarily occupied territories for a long time and comparing Ukraine's activities in this field. To this end, the author conducts a comprehensive analysis of measures aimed at combating the spread and recognition of the temporarily occupied territories of the Republic of Cyprus, as well as the scientific achievements of international scientists who have studied this issue. Analyzing these objects, the author carries out the qualification based on the criteria of differentiation of measures accepted by foreign scientists and determines which measures were implemented to solve the same problem in Ukraine. Given the personal experience of operational and service activities of the author and a deep awareness of this topic, it is proposed to expand the generally accepted areas of counteraction. The author provides the grounding of additional direction on how to counter the expansion and recognition of the Ukrainian temporarily occupied territories, disclosing a complex of measures which were, and can be introduced for its realization. The result of this study is the formation of the author's approach to defining the complex concept of «counteraction to temporary occupation», the formation of a list of national measures to combat the temporarily occupied territories, and their classification, as well as proposals for the most effective countermeasures and their further use in law enforcement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-307
Author(s):  
Elvira M. Kolcheva

Introduction. The article is the first in a series of publications dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Mari autonomy and the fact of the emergence of professional visual arts among the Mari people. The author regards it as a systemic element of national-ethnic culture, which performed the function of ethno-cultural reflection by artistic means throughout the entire century, in which four major stages and corresponding stylistic forms can be traced. The article describes the initial stage of the Mari fine arts of the 1920s – 1930s. Materials and Methods. The main material was the collection of art and ethnographic works of the 1920s–1930 found in the funds of the National Museum of the Republic of Mari El. The author used various methods: historical research, art history analysis of works of art, as well as the author’s own method of structural and archetypal analysis. Results and Discussion. The first art institutions appeared in the mountainous Mari region at the turn of the 1910–1920 thanks to the artist A.V. Grigoriev, who together with his associates later founded the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia in Moscow. The systematic institutionalization of the Mari fine arts began in the second half of the 1920, which was facilitated by the activities of the Mari Regional Society of Local History and the Central Mari Museum in the town of Krasnokokshaisk. The founders of the Mari fine arts were the invited artists from Kazan, namely P. A. Radimov, G. A. Medvedev, V. K. Timofeev, M. M. Vasilyeva, the first Mari artists K. F. Egorov and E. D. Atlashkina, and P. G. Gorbuntsov. With the beginning of the “Great Terror” period, the first stage of the Mari art was interrupted, and socialist realism replaced ethnographic realism. Conclusion. The development of the fine art of the Mari at the initial stage was stimulated by the Mari Regional Society of Local History and the Central Mari Museum represented by V. A. Mukhin (Savi), V. M. Vasiliev, T. E. Evseev. Their educational interests, combined with the documentary-oriented program of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia, contributed to the formation of such a stylistic form as ethnographic realism, which became the first artistic form of ethnocultural reflection by the means of fine arts.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
Nafilah Abdullah

In this article, the authors review about A.R. Baswedan and his movement through the Arab Party of Indonesia (PAI). A.R Baswedan is an Arab descendant known as the pioneer of independence of the Republic of Indonesia. The author through historical socio-political studies found that A.R Baswedan is an example of Arabic descent who counter Arabism and views between the Arab descendants and the descendants of indigenous Indonesians are the same or equal and the same fate. They both have one nationality, Indonesia. This fusion attitude in the Indonesian citizenship and nationality equation is evident in its movement within the PAI.Keywords: A.R. Baswedan, Biography, and Thought (PAI)


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 307
Author(s):  
Hasan Şehmuz Haştemoğlu ◽  
Engin Kepenek

The Mevlevism order was established in the Seljuk period in Anatolia in the thirteenth century. After the death of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi, his son Sultan Veled systemized his father's thoughts and created his own rules and brought the rituals to a ceremony in the form of sema ceremonies. Sultan Veled gave the name “Mevlevism” to his sect and was called “Mevlevihan” to his Dervish Houses. Nearly 140 Mevlevihane building was established in a wide geography which its east is in Tabriz (Iran), west is in Pecu (Hungary), north is in Gözleve (Ukraine), South is in Cairo (Egypt) and Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Nearly 80 of these Dervish Houses remained in the Republic of Turkey. After the declaration of Turkish Republic, these Dervish Houses were closed in 1925 by the law of “closure Tekkes and Zaviyes”, no. 677. There are two kinds of Mevlevihan, which are “Asitane” and “Zaviye”. Mevlevihan called Asitane are the main Dergahs which are full-fledged and has removing “ordeal” possibilities. The number of Asitane constructions is around 15 in all Mevlevihan buildings. Another Mevlevihan building is Zaviye. Zaviye were ruled by Mevlevi, who has the title of “şeyh” and “dede”. Many of the Mevlevihan become a historical monument because of their architectural style and construction date. However, most of these structures have been ruined over the years. Apart from a small number of Mevlevihan, which was established as "Külliye", "Semahane" parts of these Mevlevihan were used as mosques and remained up to date. When the architectural programs of the Mevlevihans are examined, it is seen that the Mevlevihans, which were settled down in 13th century have an architectural program after the 16th century and they take Konya Mevlana Dergah as an example. However, it is not possible to mention about same sized and specified spaces in all the Mevlevihans. There are similar sections only in the large- scale Mevlevihans which are “Asitane” status. In this study, an evaluation and classification study was carried out on the architectural formation of the Mevlevihans one of the Dervish constructions in Islamic architecture which attracted attention with its wide geography.


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