Sacrificial Festivals in Early Republican Istanbul (1923-1938)

This study aims to determine how the secular policies of modernising Türkiye had an impact on the Feast of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) and to explain the public nature of the Feast of Sacrifice in the Early Republican Era. What kind of an approach the state had towards religious festivals and which policies it adopted with regard to Feast of Sacrifice is one of the main issues we will address. On the other hand, how Feast of Sacrifice was observed by the public during this period and to what extent it determined the appearance of the city are among the other issues we will examine. The period between 1923 and 1938 under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, when the most radical reforms of the Republican Era were made and the official ideology was shaped, constitutes the scope of the study. Being both the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the largest city of the modern Republic, Feast of Sacrifice, which is the subject of the study, has been analysed in the city of Istanbul in order to provide a wider sample. However, examples from Ankara, the new capital city, are also given from time to time in order to give the opportunity to compare the traditional and modern practices regarding the Feast of Sacrifice. Newspapers and magazines published in Istanbul constituted our main source while analysing the subject. In addition, documents in the Ottoman and Republican Archives were also utilised. In Istanbul of the Early Republican Era, Feast of Sacrifice celebrations partially continued the traditional forms of celebration embedded in the urban culture, but also underwent some transformations. In this framework, the first fifteen years of the Republic of Turkey represented a transitional period in terms of Feast of Sacrifice. In this period, religion still retained a certain degree of determining power in the public sphere, but state policies have always tended to reduce this determining power.