A critical threshold of situating Europe in the Turkish political life: The era between 1960-1980

The relationship between the Ottoman Empire and the West had a long history. The Ottomans turned their direction to the West since their inception. The West which had been an enemy until the eighteen century became a model. Taking the West as a model for development is called westernisation. Westernisation is in fact a modernisation movement, and shared by ideologies ranging from pan-Islamism and pan-Ottomanism to Westernism and pan-Turkism.The main objective of these ideologies was to save the empire. But all these ideologies were superseded by the republican ideology with the foundation of the Republic. The republicanism too looked toward the West but its westernism has a dichotomous character. To republicans the West represented both civilisation and imperialism at the same time.Relatively liberal environment of the era between 1960-1980 saw the revival of westernisation debate inherited from the Ottoman Empire. Another characteristic of the era was the rise of ideological division between the right and the left. However, the westernisation problematic was a contentious issue both within the left and the right.Therefore the issue needs to be examined at economic, political and cultural levels. From this perspective, it appears that the perception of the West in political ideologies between 1960-1980 was quite diversified from those of the early Republican period. From then on the attitude toward the West has become a distinctive element of political ideologies.