Fall 2017 JPI

In all of the aforementioned accounts, we come across a spontaneous form of racism, which
is auto-referential in the way that it frames Turks as an “honorable” people who have fought for their
land, and hetero-referential in framing Syrians as “cowards” who chose to escape from warfare. This
is a form of racism that erupted due to the increase of immigrants in Turkey, simultaneously with
many other forms of racism in every country that has been affected by the Syrian refugee crisis.
Yet, it is actually the word crisis that problematizes it all. As mentioned before, Syrians were
not a group that were primarily targeted with hate speech in Turkey prior to 2014. 34 However, as
Etienne Balibar suggests, the hate speech had roots in the country already. The formation of the
Turkish national identity relies on the people’s ability to fight. Narratives of never having been
colonized and always fighting back have been continuously utilized in politics and in daily life. In
schools, every pupil is taught that Turks are a “military nation.” The term, coined by Ayse Gul Altinay
refers to the continuous reproduction of equation citizenship with being the nation’s soldier. The
Turkish military is deemed synonymous with the Turkish national identity. 35
Although the overwhelming power of the military, which was present for the most part of
Turkey’s history, 36 has been diminished by the JDP government, this certainly does not mean that the
“military nation” is also in decay. Narratives of heroism and martyrdom are used widely in the public
discourse, reproducing the myth. The nation is built around being a “military nation”—the most
important cultural, social and political characteristic 37 that forms the imagined community. Sayings like
“Every Turk is born a soldier” are great representations of the general mindset of Turkish
nationalism. 38 Turkey’s “revolution from above” made sure that the military occupied center stage in
the development of a national identity. Starting with the War of Independence, militarism has been a
strong feature of Turkish politics.
However, it is not confined to politics. It also intervenes in daily life. Every male Turkish
citizen faces compulsory conscription. History and social studies lessons in public schools are taught
very militaristically, constantly emphasizing the importance of the army in the establishment of the
country. Furthermore, there are compulsory National Security lessons at the high school level, which
are taught by military officers, who expect a soldierly attitude during class. This means military salutes
at the beginning and the end and a strict form of lecture where the students rarely speak. 39 This is the
national identity that Balibar speaks of in the context of the emergence of crisis racism, which is
generally independent from class and status identities. 40 Turkishness is defined by military heroism, it
has continuously been defined by it since 1923. It is a much stronger narrative than “Turkish
hospitality,” as the Syrian case illustrates.
The military nation myth is so normalized that it is difficult to pinpoint it, especially as a local
who was raised within the educational system and community, but its sudden eruptions as forms of
hate speech and racism gives a hint of what the essence of the Turkish national project is. And this
essence lies in the roots of what brought all voting bases together in the highly polarized Turkish
context. It is in the essence of Turkishness to fight. Welcoming people who “did not fight” and
“escaped” into the Turkish nation instead, means an intervention to the essence, which helps to
34 Arslan, Ensari and Tekin. Medyada Nefret Söylemi.
35 Altınay, The Myth of the Military Nation, 24.
36 Ahmad, Feroz, The Making of Modern Turkey. London: Routledge, 1993.
37 Altınay, The Myth of the Military Nation: Militarism, Gender, and Education in Turkey, 29-31.
38 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1991.
39 Altınay, The Myth of the Military Nation: Militarism, Gender, and Education in Turkey, 161.
40 Balibar. Race, Nation, Class. 219.
JPI Fall 2017, pg. 26