Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The seeds of nationalism, which spread from its western European cradle, found fertile soil in the Ottoman empire. In a region where multi-ethnic, multi-cultural empires had prevailed since antiquity, identities and affiliations were developed on non-national lines; religion and locality remained the determining factors in the formation of collective identities. Nationalism was the intellectual force that challenged existing allegiances, identities and states, resulting in a radical reinterpretation of the ‘self’ and the ‘other’. Turkish nationalism was among the last to rise in the declining Ottoman empire of the late nineteenth century. The preponderance of Islamic identity and the privileged position that Sunni Muslims enjoyed had initially deterred the proliferation of nationalist ideas, which would be to the detriment of the cohesion of the multiethnic and multi-religious empire. Nonetheless, the rapid rise of nationalism within Ottoman Christian minorities, the formation of nation-states in former Ottoman provinces and imminent existential threat for the ailing empire resulted in the development of Turkish nationalism. Defensive in nature, Turkish nationalism soon succeeded in striking a chord among Ottoman Turkish intellectual and military elites. The formation of a Turkish nation-state was seen as the only desirable choice, given the seeming inevitability of the empire's ... log in or subscribe to read full text