From the Bare and Arid Hills to Anatolia, the Loveable and Beautiful: Kemalist Project of 'National Modernity' in Anatolian Countryside

In: Middle Eastern studies, Band 48, Heft 6, S. 903-926

Abstract

This article discusses how the discourse of 'Anatolia, the loveable and beautiful' was developed after the retreat of the Ottomans from the Balkans and how Anatolia emerged as the construction site of the Kemalist project of 'national modernity' and 'Anatolian enlightenment'. Based on a meticulous reading of the ethnographies, histories and monographs on Anatolian cities and regions published between 1923 and 1950 as well as the journals of the local branches of People's Houses, the article demonstrates how the regime attempted to establish its legitimacy by incorporating the local elements into the 'grand national narrative' and nationalizing the Anatolian countryside. Adapted from the source document.