A Conceptual History of Ulus in the Context of Nation-building and Language Policies in Turkey

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: İstanbul Şehir Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, History, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2017

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: ÜVEYS MÜCAHİT TURGUT

Danışman: Abdulhamit Kirmizi

Özet:

In this thesis, I examine the historical adventure of the concept of ulus, which came to be used as the counterpart of "nation" in the language reform process in Turkey in the 1930s, based on the theoretical approach to conceptual history pioneered by Reinhart Koselleck. The study examines Turkish political life and identity construction through conceptual history and language nationalism. In this thesis, I explain different types of language politics and their role in the process of nationalization in France, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire. I discuss the changing sense of identity during the Milli Mücadele period and the Republican period of Turkey, and the new Turkish identity that started to be produced at the end of the 1920s. I narrate the language reform process in parallel with the Turkish history thesis and discuss the new secular Turkish identity in the process of nationalization. I begin by offering a short conceptual history of the term millet, after which I explain the etymology of the term ulus, the use of the term until the 13th century, and the changing meaning of the term in the Ottoman world over time. In doing so, I draw from etymological dictionaries, epics, inscriptions, ancient Turkish works, works of the TDK (Turkish Language Association), and newspapers. I discuss the struggle between the use of the terms ulus, millet, and budun and the process whereby the former term came to dominate. I describe the use of the concept of ulus in different circles. I explain in detail and with examples that the difference between ulus and millet was the result of an ideological divide.