Anatolianism movement in the context of identity and politics

Anatolianism movement is one of the less studied topics in the literature, even though it initiated a significant identity debate in the history of the Turkish political thought. This study aims to explore the basic premises of Anatolianism movement in contrast with three popular ideologies of the Second Constitutional Era during the last stage of the Ottoman Empire, namely the Ottomanism, Islamism, and Turkism-Turanism. The study also aims to discuss main constituents of the ?Anatolian identity formulated by the Anatolianism movement. Applying critical, historical and comparative methods, this dissertation analyzes the discourse of, and different perspectives within, the Anatolianism movement from the early 1920s to the late 1950s. Such motives used in the formation of ?Anatolian? identity as the myth of common history, nationalism, identity, geography, homeland, peasantry will be brought forward to understand the aspirations and alternatives proposed by the Anatolianism movement as part of a national identity formation process. The analysis will take the political, social, economic and cultural dynamics of different periods into consideration in order to grip the interaction between ideas and realities. The study will also put forward the critique raised by the Anatolianism movement against Ottomanism, Islamism and Turkism-Turanism in order to comprehend its interaction with these movements. In this regard, this study argues that the Anatolianism movement lacks a clearly defined ideological framework of its own, and that it, albeit critical of, indeed relies on the basic premises of Ottomanism, Islamism and Turkism-Turanism, and thus an analysis on Anatolianism movement cannot be made without taking into consideration the premises of these three ideologies.