"Fleeing heir of the Kemalists". A Picture of a Revolutionary Entourage in the Face of the Challenges and Threats Tugging Contemporary Anatolia

In: Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska. Sectio M, Balcaniensis et Carpathiensis, Volume 8, p. 203-236

Abstract

The article attempts to carry out a comparative analysis of the 20th-century socio-political conditions and their influences that contemporarily shape the implementation of the provisions of the Kemalist ideology in the Republic of Turkey. Based on the six-pillar principles of Kemalism, the author examines their actual participation in creating the foundations of democracy. The article presents the elementary phases of creating historical myths and characterizes the policy pursued in this area. In particular, the occurrence of antagonisms and the revolutionary entourage of modern Anatolia are explored. The existence of a "parallel state", military coups, as well as the widespread infiltration of Fethullah Gülen's supporters into state structures are distinguished. The author searches for connections between the creation of the "desirable citizen" model and civil disobedience initiatives. The evolution of party systems attempts to revive the intact legacy of Mustafa Kemal and the case of progressing conservatism in the light of Kemalism are issues to which an important place is also devoted in the article. It boils down to showing the evolution of swinging motion in the Turkish understanding of democracy.