The founding generations of the modern day Republic of Turkey, who predominantly shaped the national culture, institutions, politics and economy of the republic almost until 1950, grew up in the ‘twilight’ of the Ottoman Empire. Their formative experiences were shaped within the confines of a shrinking empire where rising nationalisms, incorporation into world markets and modern reforms caused ‘everything solid’ to ‘melt into air.’ This course takes the formation of a broadly defined group of intellectuals, the Young Turks, as a starting point and discusses how the ideas and actions of a selected group of influential figures, as ‘Unionists’ and later ‘Kemalistst’ shaped contemporary Turkey. The course relies heavily on the secondary literature in English and also on primary sources and ego documents about the individuals in question. Major topics in Turkish Studies, such as identity politics, the formation of Turkish nationalism, the new republic’s economic policies and the institutions are traced through the eyes of these individuals and their policies.
