Research Article

But History Refused to end: Turkish Writers and the False Promise of Globalism

Number: 89 April 30, 2026
TR EN

But History Refused to end: Turkish Writers and the False Promise of Globalism

Abstract

This article critically examines the comprehensive predictive failure of Turkish liberal and left-liberal writers who, during the 1990s and early 2000s, articulated confident expectations about the trajectory of globalization, the obsolescence of the nation-state, and the inevitable decline of nationalism. Drawing on a theoretical framework that conceptualizes Globalism as the meaning system of the globalization era, this study analyzes primary source material from prominent Turkish authors including Mehmet Altan, Murat Belge, Tanıl Bora, Taner Akçam, Baskın Oran, Çağlar Keyder, Haldun Gülalp, Hatice Yaşar, and Bülent Peker, alongside translated theoretical contributions published in Turkish venues. The article demonstrates that these writers operated within the Globalist meaning system, treating globalization as irreversible historical necessity, nation-states as destined for obsolescence, and nationalism as an anachronistic pathology. Their ideas were largely adaptations of the dominant liberal cosmopolitan thought circulating in Western academic and policy circles. Through systematic textual analysis, the article exposes how their core predictions have been contradicted by subsequent developments: the emergence of deglobalization, the resurgence of sovereigntist politics, the persistence of nationalism, and Türkiye's own trajectory away from the liberal-cosmopolitan horizon they anticipated. This represents a total structural failure at the level of historical diagnosis, revealing the limitations of Globalism as an analytical and predictive framework.

Keywords

References

  1. Akçam, T. (1992, January-February). Avrupa merkezli tarih anlayışı ve azınlıklar sorunu. Birikim, 33-34, 85-90.
  2. Akçam, T. (1995, March-April). Hızla Türkleşiyoruz. Birikim, 71-72, 17-28.
  3. Altan, A. (1995, April 17). Atakürt. Milliyet, p.4.
  4. Altan, M. (1993, March 12). Avrupalılığı artık red mi ediyoruz? Sabah, p.26.
  5. Altan, M. (2001). Birinci Cumhuriyet üzerine notlar. Birey Yayıncılık.
  6. Altan, M. (2002). Hiçbir şey değişmiyorsa: on yıl önce on yıl sonra 1991 yazıları. Can Yayınları.
  7. Altan, M. (2011). Muş'ta Meryem olmak. Etkileşim Yayınları.
  8. Altan, M. (2011). Küresel vicdan. Timaş Yayınları.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Political Science (Other), Globalisation, Politics in International Relations

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

April 30, 2026

Submission Date

February 1, 2026

Acceptance Date

April 29, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Number: 89

APA
Kılıç, S., & Okur, M. A. (2026). But History Refused to end: Turkish Writers and the False Promise of Globalism. Dumlupınar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 89, 281-296. https://doi.org/10.51290/dpusbe.1879126
AMA
1.Kılıç S, Okur MA. But History Refused to end: Turkish Writers and the False Promise of Globalism. Dumlupınar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi. 2026;(89):281-296. doi:10.51290/dpusbe.1879126
Chicago
Kılıç, Sena, and Mehmet Akif Okur. 2026. “But History Refused to End: Turkish Writers and the False Promise of Globalism”. Dumlupınar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, nos. 89: 281-96. https://doi.org/10.51290/dpusbe.1879126.
EndNote
Kılıç S, Okur MA (April 1, 2026) But History Refused to end: Turkish Writers and the False Promise of Globalism. Dumlupınar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 89 281–296.
IEEE
[1]S. Kılıç and M. A. Okur, “But History Refused to end: Turkish Writers and the False Promise of Globalism”, Dumlupınar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, no. 89, pp. 281–296, Apr. 2026, doi: 10.51290/dpusbe.1879126.
ISNAD
Kılıç, Sena - Okur, Mehmet Akif. “But History Refused to End: Turkish Writers and the False Promise of Globalism”. Dumlupınar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi. 89 (April 1, 2026): 281-296. https://doi.org/10.51290/dpusbe.1879126.
JAMA
1.Kılıç S, Okur MA. But History Refused to end: Turkish Writers and the False Promise of Globalism. Dumlupınar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi. 2026;:281–296.
MLA
Kılıç, Sena, and Mehmet Akif Okur. “But History Refused to End: Turkish Writers and the False Promise of Globalism”. Dumlupınar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, no. 89, Apr. 2026, pp. 281-96, doi:10.51290/dpusbe.1879126.
Vancouver
1.Sena Kılıç, Mehmet Akif Okur. But History Refused to end: Turkish Writers and the False Promise of Globalism. Dumlupınar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi. 2026 Apr. 1;(89):281-96. doi:10.51290/dpusbe.1879126