Rescuing Ottoman History from the Turks

Abstract

History in Turkey has always been the prey of political and ideological pressures emanating from the state and government. For decades, most of this political ‘monitoring’ was dominated by the Kemalist view of history, which often bypassed or marginalized the Ottoman past. However, the last three decades or so have witnessed a gradual but radical shift, and Ottoman history has made a comeback, to the point of warranting the use of the term ‘neo-Ottomanist’ to describe governmental policies under the Justice and Development Party (akp). This qualitative change has been further enhanced by a quantitative one, concerning an unprecedented echoing of the new government- and state-sponsored grand narrative by the media and popular culture, leading to a serious and threatening siege of the discipline from non-academic circles. The time has come for the discipline to reflect on this phenomenon and evaluate its dangers and damages.