Post-Post-Kemalism: In Search of a New Paradigm

Abstract

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 the Kemalist elites. The post-Kemalist paradigm not only created a distorted version of modern Turkish history, but it also legitimized and facilitated the rise of AKP in Turkish politics. The article ends with an invitation to turn the spotlight on the Cold War period, the more likely source of democratic backsliding and far right authoritarianism.

Keywords

• Kemalism; post-Kemalism; post-post-Kemalism; Cold War; AKP; far right