Customer Reviews (4)

Statistics gone crazy
I'm afraid I have to disagree with the other reviewers here who had nothing but great things to say about this book. It is really little more than a recitation of statistics, and lots of them. There is some analysis, but overall I found it to be a rather bland and uninspiring look into Turkish life. As a resource for statistics on just about anything you can imagine, this book is truly a gold mine, but it reads like an almanac or a CIA World Factbook report. I was really hoping for something more engrossing than this.

Everyone who plans to visit Turkey needs this book.
Turkey is an undiscovered jewel for many Americans. I have had the opportunity to lead groups to Turkey several times and to travel in all parts of the country on my own. Dr. Ergener has served as our guide several times. I have always encouraged the group members to buy his book because it provides the information one needs when traveling in Turkey. Now that the book is available on Amazon.com, I will be able to have tour members secure the book prior to the tour.

About Turkey
In these times of world tension and great misunderstanding about people of the Middle East, Dr. Ergener's book educated me about the culture and people of Turkey.I recommend this book to anyone who plans to travel to Turkey.But on a wider scope, I wish that all Americans could read "About Turkey" to increase their awareness about this wonderful country.I made a trip there last year and found that the people were warm and friendly, and that Turkey should be on everyone's travel list.I never realized just how much Turkey's history has impacted the rest of the world.Dr. Ergener's book addresses everything from Turkey's religions, to its history, to current-day politics and world affairs."About Turkey" is a wonderful, educational, timely read.

About Turkey - A Gem
If you want to know about Turkey this gem is the place to begin your journey. Dr. Ergener's clear and concise presentation spared me countless hours of research. He provides a broad perspective and insight into the character and concerns of modern Turkish society and the wondrously colorful mosaic that is Turkey. After reading this informative book I was well prepared to settle comfortably and quickly into my new neighborhood in the delightful old city of Istanbul.
Thank you Dr. Ergener. ... Read more

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One of the most important developments of the past decade, for both the Middle East and neighboring regions, is the emergence of Turkey as a regional power. Several factors account for Turkey's transformation: more prosperity, a stronger military, weaker neighbors, and a broadening of foreign policy priorities that has seen Ankara build up its ties with the Turkish states of the former Soviet Union and, dramatically, with Israel.

Turkey's policies toward neighboring regions also have an important impact on U.S. policy. Indeed, Turkey has been central to countless U.S. policy initiatives over the past decade. In addition to the Gulf war and Operation Northern Watch, Washington and Ankara have been partners in NATO, the Middle East peace process, Bosnia, Kosovo, energy transport plans in Azerbaijan and Central Asia, and counter-terrorism efforts. Richard Holbrooke once aptly remarked that Turkey "stands at the crossroads of almost every issue of importance to the United States in the Eurasian continent."

As the only Muslim-majority state in the Western alliance and the only Western ally in the Islamic Conference Organization, Turkey is a "pivotal state" par excellence. This book of essays by regional experts, covering the kaleidoscopic concerns of Turkish foreign policy, will enlighten U.S. foreign-policy students, scholars, aficionados, and professionals alike about one of the world’s most strategically located nations and most important emerging powers. ... Read more

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The emergence of an Islamist movement and the startling buoyancy of Islamic political parties in Turkey--a model of secular modernization, a cosmopolitan frontier, and NATO ally--has puzzled Western observers. As the appeal of the Islamist Welfare Party spread through Turkish society, including the middle class, in the 1990s, the party won numerous local elections and became one of the largest parties represented in parliament, even holding the prime ministership in 1996 and 1997. Welfare was formally banned and closed in 1998, and its successor, Virtue, was banned in 2001, for allegedly posing a threat to the state, but the Islamist movement continues to grow in popularity.

Jenny White has produced an ethnography of contemporary Istanbul that charts the success of Islamist mobilization through the eyes of ordinary people. Drawing on neighborhood interviews gathered over twenty years of fieldwork, she focuses intently on the genesis and continuing appeal of Islamic politics in the fabric of Turkish society and among mobilizing and mobilized elites, women, and educated populations.

White shows how everyday concerns and interpersonal relations, rather than Islamic dogma, helped Welfare gain access to community networks, building on continuing face-to-face relationships by way of interactions with constituents through trusted neighbors. She argues that Islamic political networks are based on cultural understandings of relationships, duties, and trust. She also illustrates how Islamic activists have sustained cohesion despite contradictory agendas and beliefs, and how civic organizations, through local relationships, have ensured the autonomy of these networks from the national political organizations in whose service they appear to act.

To illuminate the local culture of Istanbul, White has interviewed residents, activists, party officials, and municipal administrators and participated in their activities. She draws on rich experiences and research made possible by years of firsthand observation in the streets and homes of Umraniye, a large neighborhood that grew in tandem with Turkey’s modernization in the late 20th century. This book will appeal to anthropologists, sociologists, historians, and analysts of Islamic and Middle Eastern politics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A needed look into an important country and movement
This is an important book for anyone interested in Turkey or the Islamist movement in general.Turkey is one of the most important nations in the world today as it stands with one foot in Europe and the other in the Middle East, and it also stands as a potential bellwether state for whether or not the Islamist movement can integrate successfully into a representative political system.Jenny White's research goes a long way in providing readers with a glimpse into how this country, as well as the various movements within it, operates.

This book discusses the political movements inside of Turkey using "vernacular politics" as a term to denote how these movements do not fit into what would be considered normal categories when speaking of politics or civil society.The term is used to emphasize that this Islamist movement crosses normal lines.Groups like the Welfare party and its successor the Virtue party are not strictly political parties, but instead they are a hybridization of politics, civic organizations, foundations and community associations and groups.This is why the author suggests the need for the new term to denote this brand of politics.

What the author does well is to show just how amorphous this Islamist movement is.It is not a top down political party like we see in the West.The organization springs from the grassroots community and then finds its expression in the leadership.This amorphous structure is its strength as well as a potential weakness.Its strength lies in its ability to endure.Since the movement is not simply political, but instead has its roots in the community as well, this makes the movement impossible to stamp out, which is why the movement has been able to survive the government's banning of the political parties.At the same time this type of organization has strength as long as it is able to be all things to all of its constituencies at the same time.This is easy to do through civic organizations that root themselves in individual communities and tend to those needs, but this gets much more difficult politically when that group gets into power.At that point each individual community will look to see that the political leadership is listening to its own voice.

Here in lies one problem with this book; its age is a hinderance.While this book shows the beginnings of this movement, ten years have passed which has seen enormous change in Turkey.The hope is for a new edition that considers the changes that have taken place, and incorporates those changes into a new chapters that shows how this edition was the wellspring for what is happening now.

This book is not simply about the Islamist movement though.The author does an excellent job discussing the secularist parties as well.What is interesting is seeing the author juxtapose the two vastly different political groups, and it is this juxtaposition which gives such great insights into why the Islamist groups do such a great job organizing compared to the secular parties.What becomes obvious is the top down approach by those parties who have support as moderate political groups does not cut it in poorer working class areas such as Umraniye.The Islamist groups are organic whereas the secular groups seem foriegn.

This book is very important for anyone trying to understand the Islamist movement.Of course one needs to be cautious when trying to generalize a local movement, but this book shows the great appeal that an organic Islamist movement can have, and how easily it can move through neighborhoods and through people's everyday lives.The question is will these movements become an integral and important part of the political systems in countries like Turkey, or will they attempt to dominate and subjugate the democratic system.These movements actually have an enormous potential to actually stabalize democratic institutions in countries like Turkey.This book will further your understanding of these movements as well as this important country.I highly recommend this book. ... Read more

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2007 Choice Outstanding Academic Title

In October 2005, the European Union officially began accession negotiations with Ankara, making Turkey the first predominantly Muslim country to become a candidate for membership. Turkey is an historic crossroads, poised between Europe and Asia, Islam and Christianity, and is the fulcrum upon which great civilizations have turned.

In this authoritative history, Sina Aksin, one of Turkey's most prominent historians, traces the roots of the Turkish Republic to the Ottoman Empire. Turkey, from Empire to Revolutionary Republic treats the period before, during, and after World War I , encompassing the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of Atatürk. The book closes with three chapters on the 1980s, the 1990s, and the new millennium, concluding with the question of EU accession, and will attract particular attention for the sophisticated Turkish view it provides of the contemporary period.

Unlike most histories of modern Turkey available to Western readers, this clear and compelling work offers the unique perspective of a native Turk. This sweeping narrative will be essential reading as Turkey takes its place on the world stage.

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Turkey is the first modern secular state in a predominantly Islamic Middle East. In this major textbook, Feroz Ahmad provides a thorough examination of the political, social and economic processes which led to the formation of a new Turkey.

After a chapter on "the Ottoman Legacy", the book covers the period since the revolution of 1908 and the development of the new Turkey. Successive chapters chart the progress through the single-party regime set up by Ataturk (1923-1945), the multi-party period (1945-1960) and the three military interventions of 1960, 1971 and 1980. The book ends in 1989 with the election of Turgat Ozal as president. In contrast to most current analyses of modern Turkey, the author emphasises the socio-economic changes rather than continuities as the motor of politics.

Customer Reviews (1)

all about the short history of turkey
what was interesting in reading the book "THE MAKING OF MODERN TURKEY" was that the bookilluminate the role of turkish army in the establishment of Turkey and as well as in her developmentprocess. Mr.Ahmad in the first pages of the book gives the role of the Turkish armythroughout the whole history and he tries to show that the military inturkish case inevitably had to be involved in governmental affairs. this isbecause of the fact that army in all post-colonial states- though Turkey isnot postcolonial- constitutes a layer of modernized elites. after readingthis book once again I concluded that why bureaucracy and military in thirdworld cuonrtries are relatively more powerful than democratic institutions.especially the role of turkish army for the interruption of democraticprocess can not be reputable fact. the turkish army has interfered threetimes -1960, 1971,1990- since the foundation of the republic. the mainreason for these interruption for Mr. Ahmad is that army lost its elitistposition vis-a-vis the indigeneous groups gradually taking the leadingposition in society. for securing its position according to Mr. ahmad armyintevened political life. ... Read more

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Approaches little-studied aspects of Turkish national identity from unique and revealing angles, offering a variety of new insights into how history has informed—and created—modern Turkey.

Turkish society is frequently accused of having amnesia. It has been said that there is no social memory in Turkey before Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded modern Turkey after World War I. Indeed, in 1923, the newly founded Turkish Republic committed to a modernist future by erasing the memory of its Ottoman past. Now, almost eighty years after the establishment of the Republic, the grandchildren of the founders have a different relationship with history. New generations make every effort to remember, record, and reconcile earlier periods. The multiple, personalized representations of the past which they have recovered allow contemporary Turkish citizens to create alternative identities for themselves and their communities. Unlike its futuristic and homogenizing character at the turn of the twentieth century, Turkish nationalism today uses memories to generate varied narratives for the nation and its minority groups.

Contributors to this volume come from such diverse disciplines as anthropology, comparative literature, and sociology, but they share a common understanding of contemporary Turkey and how its different representations of the past have become metaphors through which individuals and groups define their cultural identity and political position. They explore the ways people challenge, reaffirm, or transform the concepts of history, nation, homeland, and "Republic" through acts of memory- effectively demonstrating that memory can be both the basis of cultural reproduction and a form of resistance. The introduction of comparative material to other societies is rare and adds an important new dimension to the analyses. ... Read more

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A timely book that analyzes the formation of Kurdish national identity from the late Imperial period to the present.

In tracing the evolution of Kurdish nationalism, Denise Natali shows that, contrary to popular theories, there is nothing natural or fixed about Kurdish identity or the configuration that Kurdish nationalism assumes. Rather, Kurdish nationalism has been shaped by the development of nation-states in the region. Although Kurdish communities have maintained some shared sense of Kurdishness, Kurdayeti (the mobilization of Kurdish identity) is interwoven with a much larger series of identities within the "political space" of each Kurdish group. Different notions of inclusion and exclusion have modified the political and cultural opportunities of Kurds to express their ethnic identities, and opening the possibility of assuming alternative identities over time.

With this book Natali makes a significant contribution to theoretical, empirical, and policy-based scholarship on the Middle East, the plight of the Kurds, ethnonationalism, and ethnopolitical conflict. Hers is the first comparative work to examine Kurdish nationalism as a function of diverse political spaces. As a vital addition to the literature in the field, this book will supplant a number of standard texts on the Kurds. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A People without a State inspire an Author with Scholarly Insight


The Kurds and the State is a scholarly book about the development of Kurdish national identity in three states in which the majority of the Kurdish population is located; Iraq, Turkey, and Iran.Its main contribution is to the theory of ethnonationalism, taking a middle ground between primordialist and constructive approaches and showing that ethnonational identity is shaped and reshaped by political processes in different contexts over time.It is a major contribution to the literature on Kurdish politics and society, and the bibliography reveals the author's mastery of the subject matter. It is no surprise therefore, that the Kurds and the State has been recently awarded the 2007 Choice Magazine Award for Outstanding Academic Titles.

It is also not surprising that this book would antagonize. While Natali refuses the typical victimization of the Kurds argument, she argues through comparative histories that policies, particularly the radical and violent ones by the Turkish state, have created violent and reactionary Kurdish nationalism in Turkey.

It is necessary in this context to consider Michael Rubin's critique of Natali's book. Rubin claims that The Kurds and the State ignores the fact many Kurds attained high level posts in the Turkish government and throws in Turkey's second president Ismet Inönü as an example. There are two problems with this issue. First, the claim that Inönü was an ethnic Kurd is a highly controversial one. There are many claims pointing to the opposite direction - that he came from a Balkan family who had been converted to Islam to serve the Ottoman State. Rubin needs to be more careful in consulting his undisclosed sources, which probably are unaware that not everyone born in Malatya (Inönü's hometown) or Bitlis (Inönü's genealogical hometown according to some controversial sources) is a Kurd. Secondly, if it were true that Inönü was an ethnic Kurd, this would not weaken but on the contrary fortify Natali's argument. It has been a systematic policy of the Turkish State to force the Kurds to deny their ethnic identity, not only in attaining high-level posts but even for their survival during most of modern history. If he was an ethnic Kurd, Inönü is a good example of how a Kurd overacts his compulsory role of denial. There is not sufficient space to quote Inönü's rich repertoire of insults with violent implications against the Kurds; however, I have chosen a few among them to give an idea about the man we are talking about here.

Inönü was a passionate advocate of inappropriate violence during the quelling of the Sheikh Said rebellion of 1925. In the aftermath of the rebellion he had following to say: "We must Turkify the inhabitants of our country at any price and we will annihilate those who oppose the Turks or le turquisme". The implication of this statement was not only an immense bloodbath in Kurdistan but it also marked the beginning of the Turkish State's policy of systematic denial and assimilation. Inönü was also the architect of the 1938 Dersim operation. His 1935 `East' report analyses the ethnic composition of each Kurdish province in detail and proposes plans for Turkification, which involve forcible population resettlements. His report argues that these measures were necessary to prevent the formation of `the real, horrific Kurdistan'. The major implication of this report was Turkish Army's 1938 Dersim operation, which resulted in the indiscriminate annihilation of at least 10 per cent of the regional population, sufficient to be called an ethnocide.

It is true, therefore, as Rubin argues, that many Kurds attained high-level posts, but he fails to mention the price they had to pay for this: the denial of their identity and in many cases (like Inönü's if we are to rely on Rubin's sources) to turn violently against their own people. Consequently, Natali's argument remains a sound one: Kurds could not attain high-level posts by revealing their Kurdish ethnic identity.Only by becoming Turkish, or claiming they were Turkish, could a Kurd attain professional success.

Rubin's verdict on Natali's bibliography is simply unfair, since her work is sourced in primary resources from Kurdistan and in five languages. Rubin's objection to Natali's references on the Armenian (Dadrian) and Iranian (Najmabadi) scholars is also rather curious, since firstly, the Kurds and the State's argument does not rely uncritically on these sources and secondly, an Armenian or Farsi scholar never deserves to be discriminated against a Turkish, French, British or American scholar on the basis of her/his ethnic identity (Every scholar is to a certain degree a `polemicist' and certainly has a `political prism').


Contrary to Rubin's claims, Natali specifically addresses the effects of Kemalist secularizing reforms on Kurdish tribes (pp. 79-84), revealing how the trajectory of Kurdish nationalism in Turkey became Islamized. For example, she maintains that the leader of the most important Kurdish uprising, Shaikh Said, did not call just for Kurdish nationalism (Kurdayeti, which Rubin misspells), but an Islamic state of which Kurdish nationalism is a part.

Natali's grasp of history is also accurate, which is the source of another baseless criticism that Rubin challenges her with: Kurdish borders were not determined, as he proclaims, in the sixteenth century but by the 1639 Kasr-i Sirin Treaty. In fact, even this statement can be disputed, knowing that the Turkish-Iranian border has changed several times since that date, the latest amendment being as recent as 1931.

In sum, The Kurds and the State, through its analytic and informative richness, refreshes and improves our knowledge and understanding of the Kurdish question, a major Middle Eastern and global concern of our time.

The Kurds and the State
In The Kurds and the State, derived from her University of Pennsylvania doctoral dissertation, political scientist Natali explores how Kurdish nationalism developed in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. She does this with the opacity and jargon of an academic: "This book explains why Kudayetî, or Kurdish national identity, becomes ethnicized and the similarities and variations in its manifestation across space and time."

Beyond style, her comparative approach has value. The Kurds are not monolithic, linguistically or politically, though too many works treat them as such; to this, The Kurds and the State is an important exception. Natali avoids contemporary Kurdish narratives of victimization. Kurdish complaints that European powers divided Kurdistan do not hold up to historical fact: the border between what is now Turkey and Iran, for example, dates from the sixteenth century. Nor does she make the mistake of many contemporary authors and instant experts, retroactively extending Kurdish nationalism. She explains how Kurdish nationalism grew in early twentieth century Anatolia with the coming of European consuls and intra-communal tensions. In contrast, Kurdish nationalism took longer to develop in polyglot Iran, perhaps because there Sunni versus Shi`ite sectarian practice rather than ethnicity determined the degree to which Kurds could integrate.

Natali's overviews and comparisons are thought-provoking. She juxtaposes the growth of Kurdish participation in the political process in Turkey with an increasingly stilted process in Iraq and notes how Ankara's embrace of the Kurds and their socioeconomic and political diversification undermined any unitary sense of Kurdish identity in Turkey. Her examination of Turkish strategies to undercut Kurdistan Workers Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, PKK) terrorism in the 1980s is also useful even if she remains critical of Ankara's refusal to "de-ethnicize the notion of Turkish citizenship." In these ways, The Kurds and the State advances the staid and often simplified historiography that marks Kurdish studies.

But Natali's work is weakened by several problems, starting with her unsure grasp of history. She amplifies, for example, the efficiency of Ottoman state control and discounts the efficiency of Iranian bureaucracy. While inefficient and weak by Western standards, nineteenth century Iran was organized enough to defeat incursions by Ottoman Kurdish tribal chiefs along its periphery. Natali appears unaware that published collections of Iranian diplomatic correspondence are replete with reports and discussions telegraphed from the front. She is also prone to exaggeration. If "early republican Turkey removed all opportunities for the Kurds," how did İsmet İnönü, an ethnic Kurd, succeed Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkey's founding father?

More serious is the incompleteness of Natali's discussion of the Atatürk religious reforms. She fails to address head-on the impact of his abolishment of the caliphate, the source of a great deal of tension among Turkey's Kurdish tribes for whom religious traditionalism trumped nationalism as the impetus for struggle with the nascent Turkish republic. Her bibliographical judgment is questionable, citing, for example, Armenian polemicist Vahakn Dadrian (whose name she misspells).

Discussion of the Kurds of modern Iran falls short and that of Syria is nonexistent. Natali parses secondary sources, many out-of-date, for mention of Kurds and appears unaware that some authors upon whose work she relies, including Afsaneh Najmabadi (whose name she also misspells), approach Iranian historiography through a political prism that ends up skewing her narrative. It is unfortunate that The Kurds and the State falls short, for a more careful and complete comparative examination of Kurdish society would contribute much.

Michael Rubin
Middle East Quarterly
Winter 2007

A close scrutiny of the evolution of Kurdish nationalism
The Kurds And The State: Evolving National Identity In Iraq, Turkey And Iran is a close scrutiny of the evolution of Kurdish nationalism, particularly with regard to how the development of nation-states has affected it. Written by a professor and research team member with thirteen years of experience studying Kurdish politics and identity inside and beyond Iraq, The Kurds And The State examines Iraq's transitions first to a colonial state, then to an independent republican state; Turkey's transitions first to an independent republican state then to a quasi-democracy; and Iran's transition first to a constitutional monarchy then to an Islamic republic. The Kurds And The State approach modern history not only in scholarly and philosophical terms, but also hard and fast practical terms, drawing upon both case histories and political science principles to reveal what is required for successful conflict-resolution strategies, particularly in volatile circumstances. A balanced, serious-minded, realistically grounded study and an absolute must-read for anyone seeking to understand Kurdish community, national identity, and possible nonviolent pathways to future conflict resolution.
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This digital document is an article from Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs, published by Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs on January 4, 2010. The length of the article is 8928 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: European Union enlargement: a status report on Turkey's accession negotiations.(Congressional Research Service)(Report)
Author: Vincent Morelli
Publication: Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs (Report)
Date: January 4, 2010
Publisher: Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs
Page: NA

Article Type: Report

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Instructive lessons in the realities of local governmentin Turkey. ... Read more