LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

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Introduction

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Erdogan erases the memory of young Turks in an effort to revive the institution of the sultanate and rewrite history since the expulsion of Abdul Hamid II. 

The new Istanbul airport, new mosques and education reform reflect the determination of Erdogan and his party to introduce Ottoman symbols into the Turkish national agenda (national narrative) and public space, and to eliminate any traces of Kemal Ataturk and his legacy. 

During one of my trips to Turkey, I visited the Yildiz Palace in Istanbul, where the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Abd al-Hamid II, ruled and resided. In one of the premises of this palace, there was a Sultan's carriage, on which he passed through the streets of Istanbul, not far from the coast of the Bosporus. I imagined for a moment how the wheels of the carriage were rotating the timeline and describing a genre, with which we could understand and decrypt some of the problems, from our point of view, at the end of the second decade of the 21st century. 

Among the breathtaking beauty of the Bosporus, I was on the bus to the Ottoman archives at our new residence in the Kaitan area. The archive is located in a monumental building, and its catalogue is computerized and accessible to everyone. This modern archive paved the way for a new generation of scientists, both local and foreign, aiming to write the history of the Ottoman Empire from a postmodern perspective. 

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Erdogan’s domestic policies & Sultanism & eradication of Artaturk

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The Islamic Party (AKP), led by Erdogan, has been determined for two decades to bring the Ottoman attitude and symbols into the national narrative and present them for a public discussion in Turkey. This influence is reflected in various trappings in schools, mosques, monuments, bridges, trains, public parks, airports, etc. From a selfish Erdogan’s point of view, the role of this national narrative is to serve as an anchor for Ottoman national collective ways of existence and give legitimacy to the priorities and agenda of his government[1]. This narrative is derived from the Ottoman concepts about reality created after the Lausanne Agreement (July 1923) and the abolition of the “caliphate” (a few months later), for the first time in Muslim history. 

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These efforts of 'osmanification' are visible everywhere. The new airport in Istanbul, opened last year, considered as Erdogan's brilliant international venture. The new airport symbolizes the strength and possibilities of Turkey and represents Erdogan's ambitious vision of eradicating any sign of Kemal Ataturk. The elimination of the old airport in the Bosporus city symbolizes the aspiration to erase the name of the founder of the republic from history and exclude him from the public discourse. 

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The new airport, among other things, plays a very symbolic role in the Turkey's new policy. A magnificent mosque constructed at its entrance, and on the signboard at its gate, next to the portrait of the president, there is an inscription: “yeni türkiye'yiinşaediyoruz” (We are building a new Turkey). This monument marks the grand vision of revival of the sultanate spirit of the Ottoman house. 

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Symbolically the airport is defusing tensions between the two sides of "historical anachronism": secularists accusing Islamists of hoisting an Ottoman horse-drawn carriage into the postmodern standard, thereby expressing their concerns about the future of secularism, whose flames died down during the failed 2016 revolution. On the other side, the Muslim ruling party blames Kemalism (the teachings of Ataturk) for illusions and “hallucinations” that are driving Turkey and its assets into slavery. 

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Settling of scores with Ataturk is a complex procedure and it has been conducted within the framework of the law. One hundred years have not erased from the memory of Erdogan and his supporters the comprehensive revolution of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk against the Ottoman culture, for these reasons the Erdogan’s actions and measures might be called the “revolution of Ottomanization”.

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Ottomanization of the republic's institutions aimed to establish official nationalism – the “Erdoganism” policy of creating a single collective narrative throughout the republic. A narrative that most residents of Ankara and Istanbul do not approve judging by the recent municipal elections. Official nationalism embodied in the presidential language and in massive educational reform in both schools and universities. 

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This reform resembles the spirit of hadjis of 13th century, which the Ottoman sultans have always followed, rather than the ideas of Galatasaray Lisesi, a French school founded in Istanbul in 1868 with the aim of developing a secular content in the Turkish society. 

 

A serious and controversial issue is a construction of a mosque in Ceremonial Square (Taksim Square). Its spires soared the skyward in the early 2020 next to the National Monument in commemoration of founding of the republic in 1923. The mosque problem went beyond the city planning of Istanbul's rich minarets and goes deeper into the renewed competition for the control of public space. From practical and symbolic points of view, the dimensions of the Republic Monument are overshadowed by the spires of the new mosque, which every day dictate a new reality in the cultural landscape of the busy Al Astkalal Street. 

 

On 7 March 2019, Erdogan opened the Çamlıca Mosque, the largest mosque in Turkey, which can accommodate up to 60 thousand of believers. Four of its six minarets reach a height of 107.1 meters. These dimensions symbolize the victory of the Seljuks (ancestors of the Muslim Turks) over the Byzantines at the Battle of Menzikart in 1071. Turkish opposition parties criticized the largest mosque in the republic, while President Erdogan and his supporters celebrated an event, and many people considered it as a monumental achievement. Some people think that Recep Tayyip Erdogan designate the new mosque in Uskudar as the spot of his future tomb, which corresponds to the way and habits of the sultans during the blossoming of the empire. 

 

Sofia Temple

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It is also important to take into account the shift in Erdogan’s domestic and foreign policy towards Islamization: in July 2020[2], the court cancelled Ataturk's 1934 decree on the status of a museum for the legendary building of Aia-Sofia which was replaced by the mosque.

 

The conversion of the Sofia Temple has taken almost calmly, but it is possible that in the future tensions will arise between the governments of Erdogan and Orthodox Slavic states. For the latter party, the destruction of the historical mosaic of the Church of Constantinople in 1453 and the conversion of Church into a mosque did not go unnoticed. Many observers consider Erdogan's step as the last nail into the coffin of Ataturk's legacy. 

 

In sum, the year of 2023 will experience a dramatic intersection in Turkey's historical chronology. Presidential elections will take place in Turkey, one hundred years since the ratification of the Lausanne Agreement. Will the wave of modern Ottomanism increase and take root into the collective agenda, or will secularism be able to protect and preserve its legacy?

 

 

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[1] McKernan, B. (2019, March 11). From reformer to 'New Sultan': Erdoğan's populist Revolution. Retrieved December 21, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/11/from-reformer-to-new-sultan-erdogans-populist-evolution

 

[2] Ghosh, B. (2020). Erdogan Is Erasing Ataturk’s Stamp On Turkey. Retrieved December 20, 2020, from https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-07-13/erdogan-s-hagia-sophia-move-is-erasing-ataturk-s-stamp-on-turkey