Ilker Aytürk
Biographic Data
| ID | 304131 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ilker Aytürk |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ilker |
| FAMILY NAME | Aytürk |
| SIGNATURE | AYTÜRK I |
| AFFILIATIONS | Bilkent University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7491-4081 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 74 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Language Policy and Planning
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) was an Ottoman military officer who led the Turkish war of independence against the entente powers in the aftermath of the Ottoman defeat in World War I.
Introducing the Turkey Protest, Repression, and Pro-Government Rally Dataset (TPRPGRD)
The repression-protest nexus in authoritarian regimes has attracted scholarly attention of contention scholars for a long time. However, studies have generally overlooked pro-government actors’ role in contentious dynamics. This article introduces an original event dataset on protests, repression, and pro-government rallies in Turkey under the rule of the Justice and Development Party during a period in which authoritarianism has increased in int…
Post-Post-Kemalism, One More Time
This article is an attempt at stocktaking five years after the publication of the 2015 article on post-Kemalism. It also responds to critics, who filled two consecutive issues of the journal Birikim, as part of a special dossier on the post-Kemalist paradigm
Post-Post-Kemalism
This article traces the origins of a particular paradigm, i.e. post-Kemalism, that dominated the study of modern Turkey and late Ottoman Empire from the 1980s to the 2010s. Post-Kemalist academia agreed on: 1) that almost all of Turkey's modern day problems can be traced back to mistaken policies of the period between 1908-1950, and 2) that Turkey could democratize only if a liberal left - Islamist - Kurdish alliance wins elections and displace t…
The Far Right, Labor Unions, and the Working Class in Turkey since the 1960s
This article tracks far-right attitudes and policies toward organized labor and the working class in Turkey since the 1960s. In particular, we attempt to explain why nationalist attitudes have remained unchanged over nearly six decades, whereas political Islamists have shifted to neoliberal policies since the 1990s under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In explaining Erdoğan’s neoliberalism, we highlight the working relationship between Is…
In the Turkish Context, the Term Conservatism Creates More Problems of Categorization than It Solves
For the past ten years, your research interests shifted towards the study of what we call Turkish conservatives and conservative movements during the Cold War years. Why did you make this move? What got you interested in this new field of research?There is a long and a short answer to your question. But to cut the long story short, around 2007 and 2008 I was increasingly skeptical of the dominant narrative in academic circles at the time, the nar…
The Flagship Institution of Cold War Turcology
The study of the cultural Cold War, the untold story of how the USA and the USSR employed and often exploited the academia and the arts for war purposes, is now a particularly fruitful line of inquiry, but it has scarcely reached the field of Turkish studies. This article focuses on the Türk Kültürünü Araştırma Enstitüsü (TKAE), founded in Ankara in 1961. Ostensibly, the TKAE was an academic institute, doing research on the Turkic world; however,…
Holocaust Education in Turkey
The article emphasizes on the challenges stemming from writing the history of a multicultural, multiethnic, and multireligious, post-imperial society from the perspective of a nation-state that strives for sweeping all differences under the carpet. It focuses on the complete absence of Holocaust education in Turkish public curricula. There are various challenges that future Holocaust educators do and may face in Turkey and the article strives to …
Nationalism and Islam in Cold War Turkey, 1944–69
Our current knowledge on the history of Turkish nationalism during the Cold War is a blend of facts and myths. One of those myths is the argument that the Turks developed a special relationship with Islam following their massive conversion in the eleventh century to the extent that religion has become the most important ingredient in Turkish national identity over time, even more pronounced than ethnic attributes. Secular visions of Turkish natio…
The Coming of an Ice Age? Turkish–Israeli Relations Since 2002
Turkish–Israeli relations, which had reached the level of strategic cooperation by the end of the 1990s, started to decline after 2000 and Turkey's approach to Israel has changed considerably as a result of huge transformations in international, regional, and Turkish domestic politics. The Israeli Operation Cast Lead in December 2008–January 2009 and the “One Minute” incident at Davos in January 2009, however, initiated a continuous crisis situat…
The Racist Critics of Atatürk and Kemalism, from the 1930s to the 1960s
This article examines racist attitudes toward Atatürk and Kemalism from the 1930s to the 1960s. Liberal, leftist and conservative-Islamist critics of republican Turkey’s founder and his policies have contributed to a widely shared image that, even if Kemalism was not essentially racist, the Kemalist approach to religious and ethnic minorities could hardly be described as egalitarian. Thus one is taken by surprise to uncover a parallel layer of vi…
Revisiting the language factor in Zionism
The role of language and linguistic-philological studies in the nationalist movements of the nineteenth century received much attention. The aim of this article is to focus on the language factor in Zionism and the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language in the Yishuv between 1904 and 1914. Founded in 1904, the Hebrew Language Council was expected to enhance the process of revival and, from the very beginning, an unmistakably nationalist attitude …
The First Episode of Language Reform in Republican Turkey
Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and the consolidation of the Kemalist regime in 1926, the President of the new republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk launched a reform process which aimed at changing Turkey's laws, administration, culture and, most significantly, its image. One facet of this process of transformation was the language reform that commenced with romanisation of the Turkish script in late 1928 and reached its …
Attempts at romanizing the Hebrew Script and their failure
While describing the difficulties he experienced in Mandatory Palestine, Arthur Koestler called attention to his struggle with the Hebrew alphabet and complained thus: 'I have spent on and off altogether some four years in Palestine and speak Hebrew fairly fluently, but am still incapable of reading a newspaper, to say nothing of books.The majority of new immigrants are in the same position.' 1 For Koestler, the Hebrew alphabet not only made life…
Turkish Linguists against the West
(2004). Turkish Linguists against the West: The Origins of Linguistic Nationalism in Ataturk's Turkey. Middle Eastern Studies: Vol. 40, No. 6, pp. 1-25
Turkish Linguists against the West
(2004). Turkish Linguists against the West: The Origins of Linguistic Nationalism in Ataturk's Turkey. Middle Eastern Studies: Vol. 40, No. 6, pp. 1-25
Nationalism and Islam in Cold War Turkey, 1944–69
Our current knowledge on the history of Turkish nationalism during the Cold War is a blend of facts and myths. One of those myths is the argument that the Turks developed a special relationship with Islam following their massive conversion in the eleventh century to the extent that religion has become the most important ingredient in Turkish national identity over time, even more pronounced than ethnic attributes. Secular visions of Turkish natio…
The Coming of an Ice Age? Turkish–Israeli Relations Since 2002
Turkish–Israeli relations, which had reached the level of strategic cooperation by the end of the 1990s, started to decline after 2000 and Turkey's approach to Israel has changed considerably as a result of huge transformations in international, regional, and Turkish domestic politics. The Israeli Operation Cast Lead in December 2008–January 2009 and the “One Minute” incident at Davos in January 2009, however, initiated a continuous crisis situat…
The Racist Critics of Atatürk and Kemalism, from the 1930s to the 1960s
This article examines racist attitudes toward Atatürk and Kemalism from the 1930s to the 1960s. Liberal, leftist and conservative-Islamist critics of republican Turkey’s founder and his policies have contributed to a widely shared image that, even if Kemalism was not essentially racist, the Kemalist approach to religious and ethnic minorities could hardly be described as egalitarian. Thus one is taken by surprise to uncover a parallel layer of vi…
In the Turkish Context, the Term Conservatism Creates More Problems of Categorization than It Solves
For the past ten years, your research interests shifted towards the study of what we call Turkish conservatives and conservative movements during the Cold War years. Why did you make this move? What got you interested in this new field of research?There is a long and a short answer to your question. But to cut the long story short, around 2007 and 2008 I was increasingly skeptical of the dominant narrative in academic circles at the time, the nar…
The First Episode of Language Reform in Republican Turkey
Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and the consolidation of the Kemalist regime in 1926, the President of the new republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk launched a reform process which aimed at changing Turkey's laws, administration, culture and, most significantly, its image. One facet of this process of transformation was the language reform that commenced with romanisation of the Turkish script in late 1928 and reached its …
Attempts at romanizing the Hebrew Script and their failure
While describing the difficulties he experienced in Mandatory Palestine, Arthur Koestler called attention to his struggle with the Hebrew alphabet and complained thus: 'I have spent on and off altogether some four years in Palestine and speak Hebrew fairly fluently, but am still incapable of reading a newspaper, to say nothing of books.The majority of new immigrants are in the same position.' 1 For Koestler, the Hebrew alphabet not only made life…
Post-Post-Kemalism
This article traces the origins of a particular paradigm, i.e. post-Kemalism, that dominated the study of modern Turkey and late Ottoman Empire from the 1980s to the 2010s. Post-Kemalist academia agreed on: 1) that almost all of Turkey's modern day problems can be traced back to mistaken policies of the period between 1908-1950, and 2) that Turkey could democratize only if a liberal left - Islamist - Kurdish alliance wins elections and displace t…
The Far Right, Labor Unions, and the Working Class in Turkey since the 1960s
This article tracks far-right attitudes and policies toward organized labor and the working class in Turkey since the 1960s. In particular, we attempt to explain why nationalist attitudes have remained unchanged over nearly six decades, whereas political Islamists have shifted to neoliberal policies since the 1990s under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In explaining Erdoğan’s neoliberalism, we highlight the working relationship between Is…
The Flagship Institution of Cold War Turcology
The study of the cultural Cold War, the untold story of how the USA and the USSR employed and often exploited the academia and the arts for war purposes, is now a particularly fruitful line of inquiry, but it has scarcely reached the field of Turkish studies. This article focuses on the Türk Kültürünü Araştırma Enstitüsü (TKAE), founded in Ankara in 1961. Ostensibly, the TKAE was an academic institute, doing research on the Turkic world; however,…
Revisiting the language factor in Zionism
The role of language and linguistic-philological studies in the nationalist movements of the nineteenth century received much attention. The aim of this article is to focus on the language factor in Zionism and the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language in the Yishuv between 1904 and 1914. Founded in 1904, the Hebrew Language Council was expected to enhance the process of revival and, from the very beginning, an unmistakably nationalist attitude …
Turkish Linguists against the West
(2004). Turkish Linguists against the West: The Origins of Linguistic Nationalism in Ataturk's Turkey. Middle Eastern Studies: Vol. 40, No. 6, pp. 1-25
Attempts at romanizing the Hebrew Script and their failure
While describing the difficulties he experienced in Mandatory Palestine, Arthur Koestler called attention to his struggle with the Hebrew alphabet and complained thus: 'I have spent on and off altogether some four years in Palestine and speak Hebrew fairly fluently, but am still incapable of reading a newspaper, to say nothing of books.The majority of new immigrants are in the same position.' 1 For Koestler, the Hebrew alphabet not only made life…
The First Episode of Language Reform in Republican Turkey
Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and the consolidation of the Kemalist regime in 1926, the President of the new republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk launched a reform process which aimed at changing Turkey's laws, administration, culture and, most significantly, its image. One facet of this process of transformation was the language reform that commenced with romanisation of the Turkish script in late 1928 and reached its …
Revisiting the language factor in Zionism
The role of language and linguistic-philological studies in the nationalist movements of the nineteenth century received much attention. The aim of this article is to focus on the language factor in Zionism and the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language in the Yishuv between 1904 and 1914. Founded in 1904, the Hebrew Language Council was expected to enhance the process of revival and, from the very beginning, an unmistakably nationalist attitude …
The Coming of an Ice Age? Turkish–Israeli Relations Since 2002
Turkish–Israeli relations, which had reached the level of strategic cooperation by the end of the 1990s, started to decline after 2000 and Turkey's approach to Israel has changed considerably as a result of huge transformations in international, regional, and Turkish domestic politics. The Israeli Operation Cast Lead in December 2008–January 2009 and the “One Minute” incident at Davos in January 2009, however, initiated a continuous crisis situat…
The Racist Critics of Atatürk and Kemalism, from the 1930s to the 1960s
This article examines racist attitudes toward Atatürk and Kemalism from the 1930s to the 1960s. Liberal, leftist and conservative-Islamist critics of republican Turkey’s founder and his policies have contributed to a widely shared image that, even if Kemalism was not essentially racist, the Kemalist approach to religious and ethnic minorities could hardly be described as egalitarian. Thus one is taken by surprise to uncover a parallel layer of vi…
Nationalism and Islam in Cold War Turkey, 1944–69
Our current knowledge on the history of Turkish nationalism during the Cold War is a blend of facts and myths. One of those myths is the argument that the Turks developed a special relationship with Islam following their massive conversion in the eleventh century to the extent that religion has become the most important ingredient in Turkish national identity over time, even more pronounced than ethnic attributes. Secular visions of Turkish natio…
Holocaust Education in Turkey
The article emphasizes on the challenges stemming from writing the history of a multicultural, multiethnic, and multireligious, post-imperial society from the perspective of a nation-state that strives for sweeping all differences under the carpet. It focuses on the complete absence of Holocaust education in Turkish public curricula. There are various challenges that future Holocaust educators do and may face in Turkey and the article strives to …
The Flagship Institution of Cold War Turcology
The study of the cultural Cold War, the untold story of how the USA and the USSR employed and often exploited the academia and the arts for war purposes, is now a particularly fruitful line of inquiry, but it has scarcely reached the field of Turkish studies. This article focuses on the Türk Kültürünü Araştırma Enstitüsü (TKAE), founded in Ankara in 1961. Ostensibly, the TKAE was an academic institute, doing research on the Turkic world; however,…
The Far Right, Labor Unions, and the Working Class in Turkey since the 1960s
This article tracks far-right attitudes and policies toward organized labor and the working class in Turkey since the 1960s. In particular, we attempt to explain why nationalist attitudes have remained unchanged over nearly six decades, whereas political Islamists have shifted to neoliberal policies since the 1990s under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In explaining Erdoğan’s neoliberalism, we highlight the working relationship between Is…
In the Turkish Context, the Term Conservatism Creates More Problems of Categorization than It Solves
For the past ten years, your research interests shifted towards the study of what we call Turkish conservatives and conservative movements during the Cold War years. Why did you make this move? What got you interested in this new field of research?There is a long and a short answer to your question. But to cut the long story short, around 2007 and 2008 I was increasingly skeptical of the dominant narrative in academic circles at the time, the nar…
Post-Post-Kemalism, One More Time
This article is an attempt at stocktaking five years after the publication of the 2015 article on post-Kemalism. It also responds to critics, who filled two consecutive issues of the journal Birikim, as part of a special dossier on the post-Kemalist paradigm
Post-Post-Kemalism
This article traces the origins of a particular paradigm, i.e. post-Kemalism, that dominated the study of modern Turkey and late Ottoman Empire from the 1980s to the 2010s. Post-Kemalist academia agreed on: 1) that almost all of Turkey's modern day problems can be traced back to mistaken policies of the period between 1908-1950, and 2) that Turkey could democratize only if a liberal left - Islamist - Kurdish alliance wins elections and displace t…
Introducing the Turkey Protest, Repression, and Pro-Government Rally Dataset (TPRPGRD)
The repression-protest nexus in authoritarian regimes has attracted scholarly attention of contention scholars for a long time. However, studies have generally overlooked pro-government actors’ role in contentious dynamics. This article introduces an original event dataset on protests, repression, and pro-government rallies in Turkey under the rule of the Justice and Development Party during a period in which authoritarianism has increased in int…
Language Policy and Planning
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) was an Ottoman military officer who led the Turkish war of independence against the entente powers in the aftermath of the Ottoman defeat in World War I.
Political science (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Turkey's Politics and Society (12 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Turkish (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies (7 works) · Law (7 works) · History (6 works)