After the publication of the Lausanne Project’s last podcast with Erik-Jan Zürcher, İlker Aytürk discussed on Twitter why he disagreed with some of the arguments postulated by the Dutch historian. İlker acknowledges Zürcher as one of the post-Kemalist scholars whose work in the 1970s and 80s played a crucial role in unravelling official historiography. In İlker’s view, however, these post-Kemalists struggle to explain present-day political complications, including the authoritarian turn(s) in Turkey.

In this podcast (recorded on 15 April 2022) Ozan Ozavci invited İlker to develop his critique of Zürcher’s arguments at greater length. The two talked about the politicised nature of Turkish historiography, post-Kemalism and post-post-Kemalism. İlker contends that today’s political culture in Turkey transcends the familiar Kemalist/Islamist dichotomy. It’s time to ask new questions and come up with new answers. Studying the post-1945 history of Turkey and wider world is fundamental to this project.

Episode 14 – Contesting Post-Kemalism

Podcasts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.

Further reading

For İlker Aytürk’s recent publications in Turkish, see:

“Post-post-Kemalizm: Yeni Bir Paradigmayı Beklerken,” Birikim 319 (Nov. 2015): 34-48.

“Post-Kemalizm Nedir? Post-Kemalist Kimdir? Bir Tanım Denemesi, Varlık (Feb., 2019): 4-7.

“Bir Defa Daha Post-post-Kemalizm: Eleştiriler, Cevaplar, Düşünceler”, Birikim 374/375 (June-July 2020): 101-119.