Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Protest and social movements in the Turkish republic carry important continuities from the late Ottoman period. The reforms of the nineteenth century led to the development of a new group, the military bureaucracy, which became the central power in the administration of the Empire and later the Turkish republic. The reforms led also to the development of a duality between the center, represented by the reform-minded military bureaucracy, and the periphery, which continued to stick to traditional values and norms albeit making use of the social mobility the reforms provided. This duality continued to evolve during the Turkish republic. Protest movements continued the legacy of this duality to a great extent in challenging state ideology.Most analysts of Turkish politics underline the centrality of party politics. Almost all social movements are in time turned into political parties, or existing political parties take over the cause of the movements and voice protest through their channels in politics.The Turkish republic went through a consolidation process from 1923 to 1946, under singleparty rule. In this process, protests were often against the secular, western, Turkish nature of the republic. During the multi-party period challenges to state ideology continued along these lines, but class politics and class identity also developed, as well as ideological conflicts based on left-right ... log in or subscribe to read full text