Book Presentation: Turkey, Kemalism and the Soviet Union

 

This book examines the Kemalist ideology of Turkey from two perspectives. It discusses major problems in the existing interpretations of the topic and how the incorporation of Soviet perspectives enriches the historiography and our understanding of that ideology. To address these questions, the book looks into the origins, evolution, and transformational phases of Kemalism between the 1920s and 1970s. The research also focuses on perspectives from abroad by observing how Republican Turkey and particularly its founding ideology were viewed and interpreted by Soviet observers. Paying more attention to the diplomatic, geopolitical, and economic complexities of Turkish-Soviet relations, scholars have rarely problematized those perceptions of Turkish ideological transformations. Looking at various phases of Soviet attitudes towards Kemalism and its manifestations through the lenses of Communist leaders, party functionaries, diplomats and scholars, the book illuminates the underlying dynamics of Soviet interpretations.

 

“Kemalist ideology and its interpretations have generally been viewed, interpreted, and reconstructed within the Westernization paradigm. Ter-Matevosyan’s sophisticated and far-reaching use of original material enables him to provide a multi-layered account of the half-century that he examines. This is a work of depth, narrative power, and substantive importance. It will remain the standard book on the subject for the foreseeable future.”

 

-Şükrü Hanioğlu, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Garrett Professor in Foreign Affairs, Princeton University, USA

 

“This is an important, very instructive and innovative study. Ter-Matevosyan succeeds in carefully exposing the dizzying metamorphoses of Kemalism whose early genesis the Soviet Union had more attentively followed than self-absorbed Western powers.”

 

-Hans-Lukas Kieser, Associate Professor, University of Newcastle, Australia and Adjunct professor, University of Zurich, Switzerland

 

 

Dr. Vahram Ter-Matevosyan is Associate Professor and Chair of the Political Science and International Affairs Program at the American University of Armenia. He is also Senior Researcher (former Chair) in the Turkish Studies Department at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.