The relationship between Turkish nationalism and conservatism in the foundation period of the republic

The modernization efforts and processes that began in the Ottoman Empire caused great social changes due to the events that took place in many parts of the empire. This situation has been interpreted in different ways in different intellectual circles, usually as a result of efforts to save the "state". In parallel with this process, the ideologies of Ottomanism, Islamism and, finally, Turkism were wanted to dominate. It can be said that many events, both historical and political, were in close contact with each other during the disintegration of the empire. Kemalism is positioned as the dominant ideology in the Republic of Turkey, which is based on the political, cultural, social and organizational foundations of the empire. However, it seems that Kemalist ideology uses nationalism as an instrumental tool. Considering the heritage taken from the empire and the history of the staff who founded the republic, there is a social construction that this staff performs for the people with the understanding of the people. Kemalists, aware of the functional and instrumental role of nationalism in the process of nation-building, used the same method. So; the meaning that nationalism has found with the traditional-modern distinction in the process of development in the West is not seen outside of Turkish nationalism with the adjective "conservative modern", but rather internal to it. In this study, the main goal is to reveal the Turkish nationalism used in the nation-building process in the establishment of the republic in the context of nationalism-conservatism with the dynamics of the period. For this purpose, content analysis and critical literature review of qualitative research methods are carried out; he will try to study it with historical comparison and descriptive techniques from available sources. This study reveals that instead of positioning Turkish nationalism as a modern style of nationalism, which is the basis of the Republic of Turkey established in 1923, it can be considered as a conservative modern understanding of nationalism.