Kemalist policy towards the outside Turks

Abstract

The peculiar adventure of the notion of Outside Turks began with the territorial shrinking of the Ottoman Empire and the remaining Turkish-speaking communities left outside of this empire before and after its collapse. In the twentieth century, the Ottomans had a history of acting as “protectors” of Muslim communities after territory had been lost to newly independent states. Yet, it was only towards and during World War I that the Ottoman Empire and the intellectual circles within the Empire embarked on political programmes and manifestations aimed at liberating the Turkic communities from imperial domination and creating a bridge between Turkish-speaking communities living inside and outside the country (Landau 1995: 29) . Nonetheless, the losses resulting from WWI and the de facto collapse of the Ottoman Empire created novel circumstances under which the “inside” and “outside” demarcation with regard to Turkish-speaking communities was solidified. Ultimately the National Pact of 1920 reified...