Nationalism and Non-Muslim Minorities in Turkey, 1915 - 1950 - Society and Politics

Ayhan Aktar has been working on anti-minority policies in modern Turkey since 1991. In the Ottoman Empire's final decade (in 1906), non-Muslims constituted 20% of the population; by 1927, they were reduced to 2.5% and, nowadays, they make up less than 0.02% of the population of Modern Turkey. Armenians were subjected to deportations (1915), Greeks were 'exchanged' (1922-1924) and Jews were forced to migrate abroad (after 1945). Like many other nation states in the Near East, Turkey has been able to homogenize its population on religious grounds. This books is a collection of Aktar's articles about this transformation. Aktar says that the reason behind his broad approach is also related to nationalist historiographies: "For instance, a scholar conducting research on the Jewish community during the republican period could easily come to the conclusion that only Jews were discriminated against by the Turkish state. However, this is only partially true! All non-Muslim minorities were discriminated against and their stories cannot be understood unless the Turkish state and its policies are placed at center stage. Utilizing diplomatic correspondence in the British and US National Archives has enabled me to understand anti-minority policies as a whole and to treat the subject within a totality."This book will interest scholars and students of nationalism, minority studies and Turkish history and politics. CONTENTSAcknowledgementsChapter 1. Debating the Armenian Massacres in the Last Ottoman Parliament, November - December 1918Chapter 2. Organizing The Deportations and Massacres: Ottoman Bureaucracy and the Cup, 1915 - 1918Chapter 3. Homogenizing the Nation, Turkifying the Economy: The Turkish Experience of Population Exchange ReconsideredChapter 4. Conversion of a 'Country' into a 'Fatherland': The Case of Turkification Examined, 1923-1934Chapter 5. "Turkification" Policies in the Early Republican EraChapter 6. "Tax Me to the End of My Life!" Anatomy of Anti-Minority Tax Legislation, (1942 - 3) Chapter 7. Turkish Attitudes vis à vis The Zionist Project by Ayhan Aktar and Soli ÖzelChapter 8. Economic Nationalism in Turkey: The Formative Years, 1912 - 1925