World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies

Barcelona, July 19th – 24th 2010

· NOT_DEFINED date: TUE 20, 5.00-7.00pm

· NOT_DEFINED institution: Koc University (Turkey)

· NOT_DEFINED organizer: Fuat Keyman

· NOT_DEFINED sponsor: International Association of Middle Eastern Studies (IAMES)

· NOT_DEFINED language: English

· NOT_DEFINED description: ‘Turkish voters put faith in nationalism’ was the verdict reached by The Guardian, reporting on the 18 April 1999 parliamentary elections in Turkey which saw a drastic increase in the votes of the radical right Nationalist Action Party (MHP), from 8 to 19 percent – making it second only to the late Bülent Ecevit’s equally nationalist Democratic Left Party (DSP). ‘The rise of nationalism was the most notable feature of the general election’ said the writer, expressing concerns about the possible implications of this change of heart for Turkey’s long-standing Kurdish question (Morris, The Guardian, 20 April 1999). The New York Times concurred. The strong showings of these two parties suggested a surge of nationalist feeling in Turkey after the capture of Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdish separatist PKK, in Kenya (Kinzer, The New York Times, 19 April 1999).

Turkey’s ‘nationalism question’ hit the headlines again in the wake of the European Council decision to start accession talks with Turkey in the 17 December 2004 Brussels Summit. ‘[N]ationalist antagonism to Europe’s prevarications and changes of mind is rising in Turkey’ stated the leading article of The Independent on 30 September 2005. ‘Turkey could face a nationalist backlash if long-awaited talks over joining the European Union fail’, ruled The Guardian, just three days later (Smith, The Guardian, 3 October 2005). In any case, few other countries were so nationalistic, according to The Washington Post: ‘Turks are raised to believe that Turkey is surrounded by enemies and can rely only on itself’ (Vick, The Washington Post, 29 September 2005).

In this panel, we will argue that the talk of the rise of nationalism in Turkey presupposes a distinctive understanding of nationalism, one that treats it as a conjunctural force which waxes and wanes in particular historical moments. This is a derivative of what some commentators call ‘the return of the repressed’ perspective which has been given a new lease of life in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989, with the proliferation of ethnic and national conflicts in various parts of the world. Drawing on recent theoretical debates in the field of nationalism studies and empirical data, we will try to show that ‘the tidal wave approach’ to nationalism – as a conjunctural force or a temporary aberration – is misleading and desensitizes us to the ‘continual’ nature and pervasiveness of nationalism in contemporary societies. Nationalism is a deeper state of mind, constantly reproduced by the ideological apparatuses of the state and through popular culture, which makes it an integral part of our everyday lives. It may thus become more visible or aggressive depending on conjunctural factors, but it never disappears; it continues to incubate inside society, waiting for the right moment to hatch out.

The panel will then consider the implications of nationalism on the prospects of coexistence in multicultural societies focusing on the cases of the Kurds in Turkey and Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus, and the minority question in Turkey. We will argue that the Turkish Cypriot community, a numerical minority in Greek Cypriot dominated Cyprus, discovers the ideology of nationalism as a reaction against the prevailing Greek Cypriot nationalism, and under the influence of modern Turkey and Kemalist ideology. ‘Fear’ is the driving force which mobilizes Turkish Cypriot community in an attempt to defend herself against Greek Cypriot domination. In developing a strong tendency for separation, Turkish nationalism in Cyprus reorganized the Turkish community against unification of the island with Greece and for the final partition of the island. Rauf Denktaş as the most outspoken Turkish Cypriot nationalist turned the notion of the partition into his life project, exploiting and politicizing the Turkish Cypriot fear which was the outcome of the unequal development of the two communities throughout Cypriot modernity. The downfall of Rauf Denktaş was again related to the gradual decline of this fear and the growing desire among Turkish Cypriots for living together with the Greek Cypriot community. Moreover, while the current predominance of the Kurdish Question seems to confirm this shift in focus for the Turkish case, the political exclusion of citizens on the basis of their ethnic or religious identity is beyond being a recent or contextual matter. Through presenting the specific case of the Greek Orthodox populations of Turkey, I will demonstrate that minorities of all sorts have been subjected to a politics of discrimination since the construction period of the Turkish Republic. This leads to indicate the limits of both the practice of democracy and of Turkish citizenship, which relates to the very ideological foundations of the nation-state rather than simply being a dimension of the new politics of identity in Turkey.

Chair:Pere Vilanova (Professor of Political Science and Government, University of Barcelona)

Discussant: Eduard Soler i Lecha (Fundacion CIDOB)

Paper Presenter: Assoc. Prof. Umut Özkırımlı (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University), “The Problem of Nationalism in Turkey”
In this paper, I will argue that the talk of the rise of nationalism in Turkey presupposes a distinctive understanding of nationalism, one that treats it as a conjunctural force which waxes and wanes in particular historical moments. This is a derivative of what some commentators call ‘the return of the repressed’ perspective which has been given a new lease of life in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989, with the proliferation of ethnic and national conflicts in various parts of the world. Drawing on recent theoretical debates in the field of nationalism studies and empirical data, I will try to show that ‘the tidal wave approach’ to nationalism – as a conjunctural force or a temporary aberration – is misleading and desensitizes us to the ‘continual’ nature and pervasiveness of nationalism in contemporary societies. Nationalism is a deeper state of mind, constantly reproduced by the ideological apparatuses of the state and through popular culture, which makes it an integral part of our everyday lives. It may thus become more visible or aggressive depending on conjunctural factors, but it never disappears; it continues to incubate inside society, waiting for the right moment to hatch out.

Paper presenter: Prof. Fuat Keyman (Koç University), “The Kurdish Question and Nationalism in Turkey”
It would not be possible for Turkey to consolidate its democracy as a political regime, as a political culture and a social system, without having attempted to resolve what has come to be known as the “Kurdish question.” Without resolving the Kurdish question, it would also not be possible for Turkey to remain powerful and stable in the rapidly changing, risky, uncertain and insecure global world, and create an active, multi-faceted, democratic, and constructive vision of foreign policy which could contribute to the solving of the Iraq question, the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and the establishment of stability and peace in the Middle East. Furthermore, without resolving the Kurdish question, it would not be possible for Turkey to attain sustainable economic growth which simultaneously create macroeconomic stability and act as a long-term solution to the social justice problems, namely those of poverty, unemployment and exclusion. Lastly, without resolving the Kurdish question, it would not be possible to strengthen the norm and culture of living together in Turkey through the establishment of a regime of democratic, constitutional, multi-cultural and equal citizenship among diverse cultural identities. The list can be extended with all additions and all new dimensions including the phrase “not possible without resolving the Kurdish question”. In this sense, This paper suggest that the Kurdish question is in fact a national question par excellence; a question of Turkish democracy as a whole and a question whose long-term and sustainable solution cannot be achieved without the consolidation of Turkish democracy. It argues that to do so, there is a need to rescue the Kurdish question from nationalism and locate it in the domain of democracy and its consolidation in Turkey.

Paper presenter: Prof. Niyazi Kızılyürek, (Cyprus University), “The Cyprus Question and Nationalism”
This paper argues that the Turkish Cypriot community, a numerical minority in Greek Cypriot dominated Cyprus, discovers the ideology of nationalism as a reaction against the prevailing Greek Cypriot nationalism, and under the influence of modern Turkey and Kemalist ideology. ‘Fear’ is the driving force which mobilizes Turkish Cypriot community in an attempt to defend herself against Greek Cypriot domination. In developing a strong tendency for separation, Turkish nationalism in Cyprus reorganized the Turkish community against unification of the island with Greece and for the final partition of the island. Rauf Denktaş as the most outspoken Turkish Cypriot nationalist turned the notion of the partition into his life project, exploiting and politicizing the Turkish Cypriot fear which was the outcome of the unequal development of the two communities throughout Cypriot modernity. The downfall of Rauf Denktaş was again related to the gradual decline of this fear and the growing desire among Turkish Cypriots for living together with the Greek Cypriot community.