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The Turkish government’s video commemoration of the 1453 Ottoman conquest of Constantinople exemplifies the dialogue between the neo-Ottoman project and Ottomania as described by Murat Ergin and Yağmur Karakaya. The video reflects the “nationalistic, solemn and masculine inclinations” of neo-Ottomanism.[1] The dramatic production, in the style of an action movie, is reverent of militaristic masculinity. The narrator’s proclamation that Sultan Mehmet II “inspired the valiants after [him]” in tandem with clips of President Erdoğan is an attempt to associate the heroism, acclaim and nostalgia felt toward the Ottoman Empire with Erdoğan. He is a modern iteration of the legends of the Ottoman past.[2] The decision of the Turkish government to commemorate the 565th anniversary of the conquest with a video comparable to popular Ottomania media is notable. The video demonstrates how Ottomania manifests through “a decentralised but integrated network of images, symbols, and items”.[3] While it draws on Ottomania, it is a construction of ‘proper history’ rather than Ottomania media like The Magnificent Century, critiqued as false history by the government.[4] The video articulates the tensions surrounding Ottoman history and nostalgia for the government. Through representing and commemorating particular elements of Ottoman history, the government is simultaneously capitalising on Ottomania and trying to preserve and promote a strict, neo-Ottoman historical agenda.[5]

Word count: 211

[1] Murat Ergin and Yağmur Karakaya, “Between Neo-Ottomanism and Ottomania: Navigating State-Led and Popular Cultural Representations of the Past,” New Perspectives on Turkey 56 (2017): 36, https://doi.org/10.1017/npt.2017.4.
[2] Government of the Republic of Türkiye, “Resurrection of Ottoman Empire: The Fall of Constantinople,” YouTube, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_yiJxSbSTI.
[3] Murat Ergin and Yağmur Karakaya, “Between Neo-Ottomanism and Ottomania: Navigating State-Led and Popular Cultural Representations of the Past,” New Perspectives on Turkey 56 (2017): 40, https://doi.org/10.1017/npt.2017.4.
[4] Ibid., 42.
[5] Government of the Republic of Türkiye, “Resurrection of Ottoman Empire: The Fall of Constantinople,” YouTube, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_yiJxSbSTI.

Bibliography

Ergin, Murat, and Yağmur Karakaya. “Between Neo-Ottomanism and Ottomania: Navigating State-Led and Popular Cultural Representations of the Past.” New Perspectives on Turkey 56 (2017): 36–42. https://doi.org/10.1017/npt.2017.4.

Government of the Republic of Türkiye. “Resurrection of Ottoman Empire: The Fall of Constantinople.” YouTube, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_yiJxSbSTI.

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RESURRECTION OF OTTOMAN EMPIRE - THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE [ENGLISH SUBTITLES]

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The TikTok by gay Turkish man and social media influencer, Efe, echoes the sentiments of the parents in Benim çocuğum. Throughout the film, the parents note that effeminate gay men and transgender women experience particularly high rates of violence.[1] Efe lip-syncs to the lyrics “if I die tonight, I’ma make it look pretty”, from a popular song by queer group Coco & Clair Clair.[2] Efe’s literal interpretation of the lyrics is accompanied by Turkish and English comments urging Efe to stay safe and despairing over homophobia in Turkey.[3] Efe’s decision to wear makeup, like the decision of the children in Benim çocuğum to wear particular clothing and hairstyles, is to ‘out’ oneself as queer.[4] Turkish society is depicted in the film as having rigid and prescriptive gender roles centred on heteronormativity, cisnormativity, and the nuclear family.[5] To be publicly queer is thus seen as to be living in defiance to and threatening Turkish societal norms.[6] An analysis of the film and the TikTok reveals that the decision to be openly queer is often a dangerous one. The refusal to conform or disappear from the Turkish public eye is an act of resistance under a country and government that is regularly hostile to those who challenge its prized constructions of gender and sexuality.

Word count: 212

[1] Benim Çocuğum, Documentary (Surela Film Production, 2013).
[2] Coco & Clair Clair, Pretty (Atlanta, Georgia: NoFace Records, 2020).
[3] @efethedemiurge, “Me When I Go out with Makeup as a Gay Male in Turkey,” Video, TikTok, 2021.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Benim Çocuğum, Documentary (Surela Film Production, 2013).
[6] Ibid.

Bibliography

@efethedemiurge. “Me When I Go out with Makeup as a Gay Male in Turkey.” Video. TikTok, 2021.

Benim Çocuğum. Documentary. Surela Film Production, 2013.

Coco & Clair Clair. Pretty. Atlanta, Georgia: NoFace Records, 2020.

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An analysis of Karademir Hazır’s article and Betül Altinova in The New York Times photo-essay reveals comparable understandings of women’s fashion as it relates to religion and modernity. Betül’s description of how she “tie[s] up [her] hijab differently based on what [she] is wearing” and matches its colour with her western-style outfits illustrates Karademir Hazır’s analysis of the rise of the Islamic consumption market.[1] As veiling has become more fashionable, Betül is empowered to “mark [her] identity in consistency with the particulars of fine urban taste”.[2] Betül’s choice to “tie the hijab tight to prevent it from being the main element of [her] outfit” is interesting in the context of the Islamic culture industry.[3] Karademir Hazır’s interview analysis describes how “the new pious female embodiment styles” enable women to differentiate themselves from other Muslim identities.[4] Muslim identities that are considered conservative, traditional or rural are further marginalised by being incompatible with fashionable veiling aesthetics.[5] If Betül considers it fashionable to match the colour, style and prominence of her hijab with her outfit, it would be interesting to know if she considers the inverse unfashionable, and why. As Karademir Hazır argues, the fashionable blurring of Islamic-secular and East-West dichotomies evident in Betül’s clothing is reflective of Turkish modernisation — including its exclusion of those who cannot or will not conform with it.[6]

Word count: 220

[1] Betül Altinova, Cosmopolitan Style in Turkey, interview by Lauren Fleishman and Elizabeth Bristow, The New York Times, November 13, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/style/cosmopolitan-style-in-turkey.html.
[2] Irmak Karademir Hazır, “Wearing Class: A Study on Clothes, Bodies and Emotions in Turkey,” Journal of Consumer Culture 17, no. 2 (July 2017): 418, https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540516631152.
[3] Betül Altinova, Cosmopolitan Style in Turkey, interview by Lauren Fleishman and Elizabeth Bristow, The New York Times, November 13, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/style/cosmopolitan-style-in-turkey.html.
[4] Irmak Karademir Hazır, “Wearing Class: A Study on Clothes, Bodies and Emotions in Turkey,” Journal of Consumer Culture 17, no. 2 (July 2017): 428, https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540516631152.
[5] Ibid., 425.
[6] Ibid., 417.

Bibliography

Altinova Betül. Cosmopolitan Style in Turkey. Interview by Lauren Fleishman and Elizabeth Bristow. The New York Times, November 13, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/style/cosmopolitan-style-in-turkey.html.

Karademir Hazır, Irmak. “Wearing Class: A Study on Clothes, Bodies and Emotions in Turkey.” Journal of Consumer Culture 17, no. 2 (July 2017): 417–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540516631152.

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The interview with Filiz Ayla makes strikingly similar findings to that of Tahire Erman’s qualitative interview analysis published some 20 years prior. Chain migration continues to characterise rural-to-urban migration. Ayla’s characterisation of internal migrants as uncertain and insecure without “their social protection networks” lends itself to Erman’s findings.[1] Erman argues that internal migrants tend to respond to this insecurity “by clinging together with their hemsehris and kin”.[2] Both pieces emphasise the tendency for some internal migrants to “otherise” themselves.[3] Erman quotes an interviewee — “we cannot live a free life like urbanites. We are conservative in our looks, in our behaviour” — sentiment that indicates a dichotomy of internal migrants and urbanites.[4]Ayla argues that this self-isolation and stronghold on traditions results from a perceived need to “protect and maintain their identity” in the new place.[5] While Ayla shares a similar perspective on Turkey’s internal migrants, her analysis generalises internal migrants and assumes that the behaviour she describes is undesirable and damaging.[6] Both pieces discuss ‘integration’ in detail, but what is left purposefully unclear by Erman, and unsaid by Ayla, is what internal migrants are ‘integrating to’. An analysis of both pieces suggests that the rapid changes to Turkish society mean that defining integration into urban life is no longer possible — if it ever was.

Word count: 213

[1] Filiz Ayla, Feelings of insecurity “a main problem among Turkish kids,” interview by Barçın Yinanç, Hurriyet Daily News, November 19, 2018, https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/feelings-of-insecurity-a-main-problem-among-turkish-kids-138980.
[2] Tahire Erman, “Becoming ‘Urban’ or Remaining ‘Rural’: The Views of Turkish Rural-To-Urban Migrants on the ‘Integration’ Question,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 30, no. 4 (November 1998): 556, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020743800052557.
[3] Filiz Ayla, Feelings of insecurity “a main problem among Turkish kids,” interview by Barçın Yinanç, Hurriyet Daily News, November 19, 2018, https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/feelings-of-insecurity-a-main-problem-among-turkish-kids-138980.
[4] Tahire Erman, “Becoming ‘Urban’ or Remaining ‘Rural’: The Views of Turkish Rural-To-Urban Migrants on the ‘Integration’ Question,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 30, no. 4 (November 1998): 548, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020743800052557.
[5] Filiz Ayla, Feelings of insecurity “a main problem among Turkish kids,” interview by Barçın Yinanç, Hurriyet Daily News, November 19, 2018, https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/feelings-of-insecurity-a-main-problem-among-turkish-kids-138980.
[6] Ibid.

Bibliography

Ayla, Filiz . Feelings of insecurity “a main problem among Turkish kids.” Interview by Barçın Yinanç. Hurriyet Daily News, November 19, 2018. https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/feelings-of-insecurity-a-main-problem-among-turkish-kids-138980.

Erman, Tahire. “Becoming ‘Urban’ or Remaining ‘Rural’: The Views of Turkish Rural-To-Urban Migrants on the ‘Integration’ Question.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 30, no. 4 (November 1998): 548–56. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020743800052557.

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The continuous internal migration Turkey has experienced ever the course of the past decades is taking a toll on families and children, especially by creating feelings of insecurity, according to an NGO representative. "Being in the midst of uncertainty creates a feeling of insecurity," said Filiz Ayla, the general director of the Blue Pen Association (Mavi Kalem), which is an organization that promotes social solidarity. She added that this increases the number of children at risk. The same phenomenon is valid for Syrian refugee children, Ayla told Hürriyet Daily News ahead of Universal Children's Day on Nov. 20.
How was your association born?
Mavi Kalem came to being during the Marmara earthquake in 1999. We were a group of volunteers working in harmony and we decided to continue working, establishing Mavi Kalem in 2000 with three major target groups: Children, women and families affected by disasters and emergencies.

We started as an organization completely made up of volunteers but in 2005, we decided to become an institution. We were providing health scanning work in the Balat region and realized that children needed assistance. Since children were unable to receive educational support from their families, we decided to provide that support. In the beginning, it was difficult to convince families in 2002. We started with a handful of children but in a few weeks' time, the number rose to 75. In these past few years, with the arrival of Syrian refugees, our works targeting Syrian children have increased as well.
Let's talk about your observations.
We have conducted our program on children for 12 years. We have helped them with their homework by supporting them in courses they have difficulty in, like mathematics. In the summertime, we organized social activities. Some of the children we have worked with have gone to university.

For instance, one of them is now working as our administrative director. We have witnessed several changes in their lives. Upon their first arrival, when we used to ask them what they want to be in the future, their answers would be limited to "soldier, police or teacher." Later, as they have come to interact with our volunteers from different walks of life, their answers have diversified to include "engineer and architect, etc."
How would you define Balat as a region?
It receives intensive internal migration. Being displaced is an important cause of concern in children's lives. There is a new place, a new need to become socialized again. There are different families coming from very different regions in Turkey and settling in different neighborhoods.

Those coming from the Black Sea settle in one neighborhood, those coming from Siirt in another, for instance. This has created a framework for serious discrimination, lasting until the arrival of Syrians. All have taken a different stance when Syrians came.
Turkey has witnessed continuous waves of migration in the course of these past decades. One can assume that a very serious number of children have been affected by this internal migration. What do you think are the most important problems in terms of these children?
The loss of the feeling of security. This is something that we witness not only in children but also in families. Being in the midst of uncertainty creates a feeling of insecurity. This is more so with children.

Their social protection networks have been disrupted. Aunt Ayşe, Uncle Mehmet next door, the small shopkeeper in the corner; they have all kept an eye on the children in the neighborhood, looking over them, protecting them. Once they change neighborhoods, they are foreigners until they become settled in the new location. Until then, the social protection network does not work for them, increasing their feelings of anxiety.
What are the consequences on society of the feeling of insecurity among children?
One of our projects is to support children under risk. They have adaptation problems to social spaces. They become more open to join illegal groups, gangs. They become more prone to criminal activities.
They come to a neighborhood where everyone is an internal migrant, so they have a common point. Why don't they feel secure in this type of mosaic?
That is because it is not a mosaic. They have a perception that otherizes one another.

I have seen a similar approach in the first generation of families that went to Germany. They close themselves off and remain isolated. They start having a strong feeling of protecting themselves. So you end up having people applying for a job without feeling the need to learn German.

I see similar trends in internal migration. While living in their city of origin, they might not be that attached to the traditional attitudes of that city. Once they leave that city and come to a place where there are multiple differences, they hang to their traditional practices in order to protect and maintain their identity.

We are working with Syrian girls and have programs on health and body. A couple of mothers came and said, "We do not want our daughters to learn this. We do not want our girls to be like Turkish girls." So they put a boundary. You can see the same pattern in internal migration; this (program on health and body for girls) is a problematic heading, for Kurdish groups or groups from the Black Sea region, for instance.
Since you have been here for the past 17 years, tell us what has changed and what has remained unchanged in terms of situation of children?
There are actually no extraordinary changes in terms of the problems. The low risks, remaining outside of the educational system, the obligation of taking care of siblings at home, as well as high risks, like cases of abuse that we have seen in the past, remain the same today as well. These risks are also the same for Syrian children. But there is a change in general in the society. The society has become more conservative in the course of these past 16 years; at least this is my personal observation. When I say conservative, I do not mean in terms of religion. I mean in terms of closing themselves off and differentiating themselves from others.

In the course of the first 14 years, we have come across only one or two mothers in this region who have said, "I do not want my child to work in the same class with 'them.'" But lately, there are too many mothers who say they do not want their children to be in the same group with Syrian children. The rise in religious references in the educational system has started to affect their perspectives. In the past, they used to be more curious. Now, I have a feeling they are less curious.
How do you relate this to religion?
Religious references give the answer to all. It does not leave room for questioning. Therefore, it affects their interest to science, curiosity to life and to their planning towards the future. In the past, we could easily attract them to our efforts by triggering their curiosity. They could easily become excited to join us. This has become more difficult.
WHO IS FİLİZ AYLA?
Filiz Ayla is the founding member, general director and chair of Mavi Kalem, an organization that promotes social solidarity.

In 1987, she graduated from the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine and in the same year she became a member of the Turkish Medical Association.

Ayla received a certificate on family planning from the Health Ministry in 1993 and a certificate on occupational medicine from the Turkish Medical Association. She has worked as a freelance medical doctor and trainer.

She has coordinated several projects. Among them are the needs assessment of Syrian families living in refugee camps in Hatay and Gaziantep, a project consulting the pre-assessment of needs for disaster victims of the Van-Erciş earthquake, installation of a consultancy unit for disaster victims in Van and a computer training project for youth who were victims of the earthquake in Düzce.

Barçın Yinanç, Education,

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Feelings of insecurity 'a main problem among Turkish kids'

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As Turkey has experienced continuous internal migration in the last decades, Turkish children are suffering from feelings of insecurity, says a leading NGO representative. 'Changes in environment create uncertainty that leads to a lack of feeling secure,' Filiz Ayla of the Blue Pen Association says.

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This counterargument by an anonymous Turk exemplifies Baris Ünlü’s arguments about Turkishness. The commentor’s disparaging comments about Kurds illustrates the relationship between their Turkish ethnicity and their privileged ways of “not seeing, not hearing, not feeling and not knowing”.[1] The commentator argues that Kurds migrate from Kurdish-majority areas because they refuse to “live with their culture”.[2] Rather than acknowledge the systemic oppression and governments policies of economic and geographical disparity, the commentor only chooses to ‘see’ Kurds’ inferiority and primitivity. The commentor’s incest rate whataboutism in retort to the rewriting of history textbooks exemplifies Ünlü’s argument that Turks use “strategies of escape [to] protect the individual from feeling potentially dangerous moral emotions”.[3] An analysis of this comment is highly relevant and supportive of Ünlü’s piece because the commentor responds to the epistemological challenge in the way that Ünlü suggests is common of Turks. The commentor maintains their active ignorance by drawing on “the abstract universalisms of major ideologies in Turkey”.[4] The commentor can blame and dismiss the Kurds’ oppression on Kurds’ apparent Islamism, extremism, and feudalism.[5] They are therefore able to avoid engaging with their privilege, forging Kurdish solidarity or any other upheaval to their “treasured narrative of official ideology and to the knowledge repertoire of Turkishness”.[6]

Word count: 207

[1] Barış Ünlü, “The Kurdish Struggle and the Crisis of the Turkishness Contract,” Philosophy & Social Criticism 42, no. 4-5 (2016): 398, https://doi-org.virtual.anu.edu.au/10.1177/0191453715625715.
[2] u/Business_Speed1658, “Question about Kurdish People in Turkey,” Reddit (blog), January 20, 2023, https://www.reddit.com/r/Turkey/comments/10gur5x/question_about_kurdish_people_in_turkey/.
[3] Barış Ünlü, “The Kurdish Struggle and the Crisis of the Turkishness Contract,” Philosophy & Social Criticism 42, no. 4-5 (2016): 400, https://doi-org.virtual.anu.edu.au/10.1177/0191453715625715.
[4] Ibid.
[5] u/Business_Speed1658, “Question about Kurdish People in Turkey,” Reddit (blog), January 20, 2023, https://www.reddit.com/r/Turkey/comments/10gur5x/question_about_kurdish_people_in_turkey/.
[6] Barış Ünlü, “The Kurdish Struggle and the Crisis of the Turkishness Contract,” Philosophy & Social Criticism 42, no. 4-5 (2016): 403, https://doi-org.virtual.anu.edu.au/10.1177/0191453715625715.

Bibliography

u/Business_Speed1658. “Question about Kurdish People in Turkey.” Reddit (blog), January 20, 2023. https://www.reddit.com/r/Turkey/comments/10gur5x/question_about_kurdish_people_in_turkey/.

Ünlü, Barış. “The Kurdish Struggle and the Crisis of the Turkishness Contract.” Philosophy & Social Criticism 42, no. 4-5 (2016): 398–403. https://doi-org.virtual.anu.edu.au/10.1177/0191453715625715.