Latest Book:The Young Turk Legacy and Nation Building: From the Ottoman Empire to Atatürk’s Turkey (Library of Modern Middle East Studies)

The grand narrative of The Young Turk Legacy and Nation Building is that of the important continuity of the late Ottoman Empire with the Republic of Turkey that was founded in 1923. Erik Jan Zürcher shows that Kemal’s “ideological toolkit,” which included positivism, militarism, nationalism and a state-centred globe look at, was shared by many other Young Turks. Authoritarian rule, a a single-celebration state, a legal framework based on European concepts, sophisticated European-fashion bureaucracy, financial administration, military and academic reforms and state-management of Islam, can all be identified in the late Ottoman Empire, as can policies of demographic engineering. The e-book focuses on the attempts of the Younger Turks to conserve their empire by means of pressured modernization as well as on the attempts of their Kemalist successors to create a sturdy nationwide state. The 10 years of almost continuous warfare, ethnic conflict and compelled migration among 1911 and 1922 forms the background to these attempts and accordingly occupies a central placement in this volume.

This is a effective historical past reflecting and contributing to the newest study from a top historian of modern day Turkey. It is important for all visitors intrigued in the background of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, and for an knowing of a key player in the politics of the Middle East and Europe.