Some while ago I mentioned on another thread about nationalities the distinction between Ottoman and Turk. I thought some people might be interested in a recent correspondence between myself and a (very appropriately named) Turkish colleague of mine which he is happy for me to share with you. I would be interested in any comments you have - especially from Turkish members of CBF.
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Hello Osman
I have started reading the novels of Barbara Nadel. She is an English writer but writes about a fictional police inspector in Istanbul. He has a sergeant who comes from a high class background as a member of what is described as an old Ottoman family. In one story there is a murder involving some of the sergeant's acquaintances with similar backgrounds. One still sees himself as an Ottoman and says "But today we are all supposed to be Turks - whatever that means".
This led me to think about Ataturk's famous dictum "Ne Mutlu Turkum Diyene" ["happy is the person who calls him/herself a Turk"]. I originally thought the point of this was that all people who lived in Turkey - Turkish, Kurdish, Jewish, Armenian, and so on - were now united as Turks. But reading Nadel makes me wonder whether is was just as much about drawing a line under Ottoman and replacing it with a Turkish identity.
Given your name I thought you might be a useful person to ask for views on this.
Cheers, Colwyn
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Hi Colwyn
Yes, I think you are right about your view. Ottoman Empire was never an empire built on any Turk identity, the Turks were a part of the many nations that lived under the umbrella. You can talk about some religious identities however. The Turks were even seen as lower class farmers. Even after the French revolution the empire itself did not have this though it was affected with the nationalistic movements that eventually led to the separation of the Greeks, Serbians, Bulgarians etc. Turkish identity was more expressed with the Young Turk movement which Ataturk was involved at the beginning but then he left himself apart because of some political disagreements.
So, I think the Ottoman family member´s quote can be read under this, he still seems himself as Ottoman and sees Turkness as a forced identity and maybe stresses his nobility.
Ataturk´s dictum can be read in two ways actually; he definitely wanted to form a nation state but as Turkey still involved all different people with different identities this was not that possible so this dictum was a way of achieving this. It would be better if he had said this as Ne Mutlu Turkiyeliyim Diyene (instead of Turk if he had used Turkey) so maybe we would not have some of the arguments around this.
Best wishes
Osman
