Alarmism and State-Society Interplay in the Turkish National Identity: The Case of Belen, Hatay

Yıl 2022, Cilt 42 • Ek Sayı 1 • Aralık 2022, 25 - 50, 31.12.2022

Alaattin Oğuz

Öz

The narratives of a collective ethno-historical past form the institutional basis for modern nations and function as a powerful operational component. The mechanisms of these narratives validate the authenticity of a nation’s traditions and generate meaning, norms, and values on a larger scale. Adherence to a shared past is a fundamental requirement of being a group, as adopting non-cultural patterns of thought and behavior is ultimately considered a sign of alienation and moral degradation from one’s group. For this reason, pre-modern ethnic history and shared memories have become the cornerstone of modern nations. Defining people’s efforts to preserve their cultural values and to isolate the “degenerate” elements (i.e., sharply distinguishing local and foreign) as solely a sign of fear offers an incomplete perspective. Therefore, when the national subjects these days experience a high level of political tension, their sensitivity to their identity and the privileges given to it increases, and they emphasize social harmony as a flexible justification. The vigilance of Turkish nationalism in daily life and social practices has led to the naturalization of national identity narratives, and this has facilitated the cyclical construction of links with historical references.

Anahtar Kelimeler

National identity, Nationalism, Perception of threat, Refugees, Ethnic-core

Türk Milli Kimliğinde Alarmizm ve Devlet-Toplum Etkileşimi: Hatay-Belen Örneği

Öz

Modern milletler için kurumsal bir temel oluşturan etno-tarihsel ve kolektif geçmiş anlatıları aynı zamanda güçlü bir eylemsel bileşen olma işlevi görmektedir. Bu anlatıların oluşturduğu mekanizmalar, bir milletin geleneğinin özgünlüğünün doğrulanmasının ve daha geniş ölçekte anlam, norm ve değerler üretiminin imkanını sağlar. Kültür dışı düşünce ve davranış kalıplarını benimsemek, kişinin kendi ait olduğu gruptan yabancılaşmasının ve ahlaki çöküşünün bir işareti olarak görüldüğünden, ortak bir geçmişe bağlılık, grup olmanın temel bir gerekliliği olarak addedilir. Bu nedenle modern öncesi etnik tarih ve ortak hatıralar modern milletlerin mihenk taşı haline gelmiştir. İnsanların kültürel olarak kendi değerlerini korumak ve “dejenere” unsurları yok etmek için, yani bu iki cepheyi birbirinden keskince ayırmak için gösterdikleri çabaların basitçe öteki hakkında bir korku işareti olarak tanımlanması yeterli değildir. Dolayısıyla günümüzde milli kimliğin taşıyıcı özneleri yüksek düzeyde siyasi gerilim yaşadıklarında, kimliğe ve ona verilen ayrıcalıklara karşı duyarlılık düzeyleri artmakta ve yumuşak bir gerekçelendirmeyle sosyal uyuma vurgu yapmaktadırlar. Türk milliyetçiliğinin gündelik hayatta ve sosyal pratiklerdeki müteyakkız hali, milli kimlik anlatılarının doğallaşmasına yol açmakta, bu da döngüsel olarak tarihsel referanslarla bağlantıların inşa edilmesini kolaylaştırmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Milli Kimlik, Milliyetçilik, Tehdit algısı, Mülteciler, Etnik-çekirdek, National identity, Nationalism, Perception of threat, Refugees, Ethnic-core

Kaynakça

• Billig, M. (1995). Banal nationalism. Sage. google scholar
• Brubaker, R. (1996). Nationalism reframed: Nationhood and national question in the New Europe. Cambridge University Press. google scholar
• Brubaker, R. (2004). Ethnicity without groups. Harvard University Press. google scholar
• Brubaker, R., Feischmidt, M., Fox, J., & Grancea, L. (2006) Nationalist politics and everyday ethnicity in a Transylvanian town. Princeton University Press. google scholar
• Brubaker, R., & Cooper, F. (2000). Beyond ‘identity’. Theory and Society, 29(1), 1-47. google scholar
• Denzin, N.K., & Lincoln, Y. (2000). Handbook of qualitative research. Sage. google scholar
• Dressler, M. (2005). Inventing orthodoxy: Competing claims for authority and legitimacy in the Ottoman-safevid conflict. In H. Karateke & M. Reinkowski (Eds.), Legitimizing the order: The Ottoman rhetoric of state power (Ottoman Empire and Its Heritage). Brill. google scholar
• Durkheim, E. (1986). Political obligation, moral duty and punishment. In A. Giddens (Ed.), Durkheim on politics and the state. Stanford University Press. google scholar
• Durkheim, E. (2013). The division of labour in society. Palgrave Macmillan. google scholar
• Edensor, T. (2002). National identity, popular culture and everyday life. Berg Publications. google scholar
• Fox, J. E., & Miller-Idriss, C. (2008). Everyday Nationhood. Ethnicities, 8(4), 536-576. google scholar
• Gellner, E. (1997), The Turkish option in comparative perspective. In S. Bozdoğan & R. Kasaba (Eds.), Rethinking modernity and national identity in Turkey. University of Washington Press. google scholar
• Greenfeld, L., & Wu, Z. (2020). Nationalism: The modern motive-force. In T. Janoski, C. D. Leon, J. Misra & I. W. Martin (Eds.), The new handbook of political sociology. Cambridge University Press. google scholar
• Halaçoğlu, Y. (1994). Derbend. Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi içinde (c. 9, s. 162-164). İstanbul. google scholar
• Hearn, J., & Antonsich, M. (2018). Theoretical and methodological considerations for the study of banal and everyday nationalism. Nations and Nationalism, 24(3), 594-605. google scholar
• Hutchinson, J. (1994). Cultural Nationalism and Moral Regeneration. In J. Hutchinson & A. Smith (Eds.), Nationalism. Oxford University Press. google scholar
• Hutchinson, J. (2005). Nations and zones of conflict. Sage. google scholar
• Karpat, K. (1985). Ottoman population, 1830-1914: Demographic and social characteristics. University of Wisconsin Press. google scholar
• Kasaba, R. (2006). Dreams of empire, dreams of nations. In J. Esherick, H. Kayalı & E. V. Young (Eds.) Empire to nation: Historical perspectives on the making of the modern world. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. google scholar
• Kirk, J., & Miller, M. (1986). Reliability and validity in qualitative research. Sage Publications. google scholar
• Krstic, T. (2011). Contested conversions to Islam: Narratives of religious change in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire. Stanford University Press. google scholar
• Krstic, T. (2019). State and religion: ‘Sunnitization’ and ‘confessionalism’ in Suleyman’s time. In P. Fodor (Ed.), The battle for Central Europe. Brill. google scholar
• Malesevic, S. (2019). Grounded nationalism. Cambridge University Press. google scholar
• Meeker, M. (2007). The disorders of an order: State and society in Ottoman and Turkish Trabzon. google scholar In K. Benda-Beckmann & F. Pirie (Eds.), Order and disorder: Anthropological perspectives. Berghahn Books. google scholar Orhonlu, C. (1990). Osmanlı İmparatorluğunda Derbend Teşkilatı. Eren Yayıncılık. google scholar
• Raphael, K. (2011). Muslim fortresses in the levant: Between crusaders and mongols. Routledge. google scholar
• Skey, M., & Antonsich, M. (2017). Everyday nationhood: Theorising culture, identity and belonging after banal nationalism. Palgrave Mcmillan. google scholar
• Smith, A. (1986). Ethnic origins of nations. Blackwell. google scholar
• Smith, A. (1991). National identity. Penguin Books. google scholar
• Smith, A. (1995). Nations and nationalism in a global era. Polity Press. google scholar
• Smith, A. (1996) History and modernity: Reflection on the theory of modernity. In J. Hall & I. Jarvie (Eds.), The cocial philosophy of Ernest Gellner. Rodopi. google scholar
• Smith, A. (1998). Nationalism and modernism: A critical survey of recent theories of nations and nationalism. Routledge. google scholar
• Smith, A. (1999). Myths and memories of the bation. Oxford University Press. google scholar
• Smith, A. (2001). Nationalism. Polity Press. google scholar
• Smith, A. (2003). Chosen peoples. Oxford University Press. google scholar
• Stewart, A. (1998). The ethnographer’s method. Sage Publications. google scholar
• Van Ginderachter & Beyen, M. (2012). Nationhood from below: Europe in the long nineteenth century. Palgrave Macmillan. google scholar
• Wimmer, A. (2004). Nationalist exclusion and ethnic conflict: Shadows of modernity. Cambridge University Press. google scholar