Turkish Neo-nationalism. In Edie Lanphar and Phil Fitzsimmons (Ed.) Connectivity Across Borders, Boundaries and Bodies: International and Interdisciplinary Perspective

Abstract

Important rallies took place in the spring of 2007; these meetings were held in important cities of Turkey, Ankara, Istanbul, Manisa, Çanakkale, İzmir and Samsun. These meetings were headed and organized by the Ataturkist Thought Organization. General Şener Eruygur, retired High Commander of Gendarme, was the head of this organization at that time. He was later accused of attempting a coup d’état against the party in the Office, the Justice and Development Party. These rallies were held during the debates about presidential elections. It is important to mention the slogans of these rallies developed a sense of connectivity. ‘Turkey is secular and will remain secular’ was the most popular one. ‘We do not want an imam as a president’ was the other famous slogan. In the Istanbul rally, the famous slogan was that ‘we demand neither sharia nor a coup, but a totally independent Turkey.’ It should be noted that the other important slogan was ‘neither the EU, nor the USA, but a fully independent Turkey’. In this chapter, the Republican meetings and their impacts on social connectivity as well as Social diversification will be presented. Millions were participated to these rallies and early elections were held afterwards. This chapter will highlight important political issues of Turkish society as religion, secularism and neo-nationalism.