BALKAN WARS AND THE RISE OF TURKISH NATIONALISM

Abstract

The formulation of Turkish nationhood centred around the motherland, Islam andblood formula was tried by Young Ottoman firstly and later by Young Turks. The throughout the 19th century, Ottoman ruling class was engaged in countering supremacy of European countries and northern neighbour, Russia. Nevertheless they aimed to restore Ottoman army and consolidate the "state power" with imposing institutional and political reforms. A group known as the Young Ottoman,was formed consisting of intellectuals concerned about the disintegration of Empire. The famous writer, Namik Kemal who was to be an inspiration for later generation of Turkish nationalist, popularized the notion of motherland with using nationalistic terms. In the reign of Abdulhamit II, Young Turks who organized against the Sultan, continued to promote Ottomanism. At the end of the 19th century there were four main ideological attempts focused on maintaining integrity of Ottoman state and its in definite future. Unlike Islamism, Ottomanism and Westernism; Turkish nationalism became the most popular and applicable one among the others because of the distinctive marks of Balkan Wars (1913-14) and war time atmosphere. In this paper I aim to analyse the process that indicates therise of Turkish nationalism among the others regarding with the texts from the nationalist periodicals both for adults and children, especially from Turk Yurdu Dergisi [Homeland Magazine] and prominent issues on the agenda of nationalists.