The torn republic : Turkey's search for civilizational identity / M. Hakan Yavuz

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yavuz, M. Hakan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Turkey--Politics and government--1909-.

Turkey.

Turkey--Foreign relations--20th century.

Turkey--Foreign relations--21st century.

Turkey--Civilization--20th century.

Turkey--Civilization--21st century.

Politics and government.

Diplomatic relations.

Civilization.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2026]

Summary:

"The Torn Republic provides a comprehensive reinterpretation of modern Turkey’s political trajectory, connecting history, memory, and identity to explain the country’s ongoing turmoil and shifting foreign policy. The book begins with the traumas of Ottoman collapse, the Treaty of Sèvres, and the War of Independence, showing how humiliation and rebirth produced a securitized national culture obsessed with survival. Atatürk’s reforms sought to “civilize” society through Westernization and secularism, even as Kurdish and Islamist resistances preserved suppressed memories and grievances. During the Cold War, Turkey’s Western integration deepened security dependence but also blended Islam and nationalism into a new mix. The Cyprus crisis, Kurdish uprisings, and Armenian terrorism revived old fears of division. Turgut Özal’s neoliberal reforms in the 1980s opened new opportunities for conservative groups, while his active foreign policy sparked a neo-Ottoman vision. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan transformed these legacies into a neo-patrimonial order. Initially deploying Europeanization to weaken military tutelage, Erdoğan later embraced Islamization and neo-Ottomanism, interpreting the Arab Spring as a civilizational opening. The Gezi protests, corruption scandals, the failed Kurdish peace process, and the 2016 coup attempt turned foreign policy into a survival strategy. Military interventions, transactional deals, and volatile ties with the West all became instruments of regime consolidation. The Torn Republic portrays Turkey not as a settled regional power but as a liminal state, oscillating between East and West, secularism and Islam, nation and empire—where foreign policy mirrors unresolved traumas and identity struggles"-- Oxford Academic

The Torn Republic provides a comprehensive reinterpretation of modern Turkey's political trajectory, connecting history, memory, and identity to explain the country's ongoing turmoil and shifting foreign policy. The book begins with the traumas of Ottoman collapse, the Treaty of S?evres, and the War of Independence, showing how humiliation and rebirth produced a securitized national culture obsessed with survival

Contents:

Introduction : theorizing the torn republic : identity and foreign policy

The trauma and the rebirth

The formation of the national security culture

Foundations of Turkish foreign policy

Turkey’s foreign policy in the cold war era

The cold war legacy : the fusion of Islam and nationalism

The Cyprus operation and the return of the ghosts of Sèvres

Özal’s worldview and the Turkish-Islamic synthesis

Özal’s adventurous foreign policy

The coalition governments and the February 28 coup

Europeanization and its impacts (2002-2010)

Islamization of foreign policy and neo-Ottomanism

The Gezi demonstrations and the fear of survival

Neo-patrimonial foreign policy and the question of beka

Strategic autonomy or authoritarian symbiosis?

Conclusion : between memory, identity, and foreign policy

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from home page (Oxford Academic, viewed June 25, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Yavuz, M. Hakan Torn republic

ISBN:

9780197848302

0197848303

OCLC:

1587399780

Publisher Number:

CIPO000385273

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license