Celal Nuri: young Turk modernizer and Muslim nationalist

Abstract

second step or level one should also recognize a civilizational perspective and standpoint. From the very beginning, American enterprise concentrated not on narrow American interests but conveying Western values and perceptions to a Muslim country. Thus the social scientists, economists, businesspeople, and politicians who cooperated with the Rockefeller or Ford Foundations were not mere agents of American interests in Turkey but the agents of Westernization. However, this level of analysis is also not adequate. In the third level, especially revealed in the activities of John Marshall, the American endeavor had a two-sided dimension. American bureaucrats dealing with Turkey seemed to regard Turkey as a social and political experiment. Turkey with its particular history and distinct way of modernization became an important case to develop and understand. The USA on its part was trying to be a modern empire, and thus the achievements and failures of Ottomans and Turkey’s transition to a modern-Westernized republic stood as an interesting process that might shed light on the USA’s own goals and experiences. Learning about Turkish case this became important, necessitating both finding and investing in top scholars to study Turkish development. This process, however, became two-sided, as the desire of these new scholars coincided with the desire of American bureaucrats. This reciprocity brought out some complex results that no one could easily predict. Erken’s book is an important and valuable contribution, especially to understand American assumptions and intentions in dealing with Turkey. However, the question how Turkish scholars and bureaucrats received the American enterprise in Turkey is still open to research.