His masterpiece titled “Turkey: A Modern History” (1993, Revised second edition 2004), with translations, besides Turkish, into Dutch, Greek and Hebrew, is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of Turkish modernization since the end of the 18th century. His other works include “The Unionist Factor: 1905 - 26” (1983), “The Progressive Party: 1924 - 25” (1991), “Workers and Working Class in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic” co-authored by Donald Quateart (1995), “Arming the State: Military Conscription in the Middle East and Central Asia: 1775 - 1925” (1999), “Identity Politics in Central Asia and the Muslim World” (2001) co-authored by Willem van Schendel and “Men of Order: Authoritarian Modernization under Atatürk and Reza Shah” (2004) co-authored by Touraj Atabaki. The report titled “The European Union, Turkey, and Islam” written by Zürcher and a number of Dutch scholars for the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (Amsterdam University Press, 2004) is undoubtedly a great source for those who want to understand the basics of contemporary Turkish society and politics.
In 2005 Professor Zürcher received the Medal of High Distinction from the Turkish Foreign Ministry, a rarely awarded honor in recognition of his academic research and publications in the field of Turkish history, and in particular for his work contesting misconceptions and prejudices about Turkey. This was a true surprise for his friends, and I suspect for him too, since Zürcher isn’t at all known for interpretations of Turkish political history in line with official Turkish views. To the contrary, it is his critical stance which makes his work most valuable to readers and scholars.
Turkey’s best-selling daily newspaper Zaman, Today’s Zaman’s sister paper in Turkish, recently published a long interview with Zürcher, in which he makes many noteworthy observations about the current state of Turkish politics. I hope that this interview will be published in Today’s Zaman, too. Here I would like to draw attention to some of his observations.
Zürcher comments that if the late İsmet İnönü had not decided on a transition to multi-party politics at the end of World War II, Turkey may have become another Spain or Portugal, remaining under an authoritarian regime until the 1970s, and that with the transition to democracy in the 1970s, all the remnants of the Kemalist regime would have been erased. Kemalists who continually lament about an early transition to multi-party rule may be taken aback by these remarks.
Zürcher says he has never taken seriously the allegations that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has a hidden agenda to eventually introduce an Islamist regime in Turkey. “There are small groups in Turkey who would like to exploit religion, but the Turkish people are not that naive. The fears of Kemalists have always been exaggerated.” Zürcher notes that he, like his Turkish friends, would vote for the AKP if he was a Turkish citizen, since the AKP is playing a very important role in the democratization of the country. The AKP, however, is a conservative party with very conservative views on, for example, individualism and women’s and gay rights. He would like to see a liberal left party established to represent the “millions of educated and progressive people who are committed to liberal and universal values.” Some readers may find him too optimistic about “the millions” he talks about.
Zürcher states that it is the EU and not Turkey which is mainly responsible for the current difficulties in the relationship between the two. But he is certain that Turkey will eventually join the EU because this is not only in the interest of Turkey but also the EU. The current problems, he says, are partly due to prejudices about Islam and ignorance about Turkey among Europeans. But if it is ever to become influential in the Middle East and Central Asia, the EU cannot do without Turkey. He says the EU must think abut its future and bring Turkey in. I truly wish there was an opportunity for Nicolas Sarkozy to meet and discuss Turkey with Zürcher.
Happy New Year to all.
