Race, assimilation and Kemalism: Turkish nationalism and the minorities in the 1930s

• Published in: Middle Eastern studies Vol. 40; no. 3; pp. 86 - 101
• Main Author: Cagaptay, Soner
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-05-2004
• ISSN: 0026-3206
• DOI: 10.1080/002632000213474

Examines the extent to which race shaped nationalism throughout the 1930s, by analysing the interaction between Turkish nationalism and race during this decade. As late as the 1920s, Turkishness had been mostly defined independently of race. Turkey had a heterogeneous population, which included Turks, Jews, Christians, Georgians, Greek-speaking Muslims, Albanians, Macedonian Muslims, Pomaks, Serb Muslims, Bosnians, Tartars, Circassians, Abkhazes and Daghestanis, among others. The 1924 Constitution of the republic aimed to address this diversity. The article first examines the ascent of the notion of race under Turkish nationalism in the 1930s. It then scrutinises the affairs between Ankara and the Jews and Muslim minorities in this era, particularly the "Citizen Speak Turkish" campaign. It is concluded that far from using race to alienate the Jews and the non-Turkish Muslims, Ankara employed it as a vehicle to co-opt them and, unexpectedly even the Christians, into the Turkish nation.