On Bülent Ecevit and the Ottoman-Republican Contention: a Kemalist Hardliner or a Mediator?

Abstract

Turkey’s political structure was built on what remained of the Ottoman Empire, not on its ruins. For this reason, it was unlikely that political polarization would be immune to rival attitudes towards the Ottoman past. On the one hand, following the War of Independence the Kemalist revolutionaries carefully detached the new state from the Ottoman legacy. On the other hand, their more conservative allies, the opposition group in the First Grand National Assembly, and religious power centres within society seemed discontent with the new regime’s orientation. Therefore, a positive and sometimes nostalgic approach to Ottoman history has been an important reference point for the conservatives who are more distant from Kemalism and the counter-revolutionary dissidents. This article discusses Bülent Ecevit’s position on the antagonism between Kemalist and conservative readings of Ottoman history as the third chair of the chp and the pioneer of Turkey’s Social Democratic movement.