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Genesis: Historical research
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Publications of Gegհamyan Varuzhan Gegհam
Genesis: Historical research, 2017-4
Gegհamyan V.G. - To serve the Chief: The Role of Turkish Literature in the Representation of Power During the Presidency of I. Inonu (1938-1950) pp. 38-55

DOI:
10.7256/2409-868X.2017.4.22574

Abstract: After the declaration of the Republic of Turkey former unionists became Kemalists and started the implementation of many modenizational reforms. Though republican government was paying huge attention to the transformation of the society, the results were not the ones anticipated. Westernization touched only small part of the population. Meanwhile, the traditional Turkish society continued to live according to pre-republican socio-cultural settings. In this condition government transformed into an authoritarian regime. Until 1945 Turkish authoritarianism (with clear tendencies towards totalitarianism) stressed the role of the leader of the country. First two presidents - Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Ismet İnönü – created personality cults in order to make the authoritarian system to work. The construction of the cult was part of communication between state and society. It was implemented through different mediums. One of them was literature. Verbal fabrication of the sacrality of president was a strong way to translate images of power to the masses. “National Chief” Inonu often used this for his cult. Literature mixed Western political art with Turkic/Islamic traditional iconography, which provided more inclusivity and publicity. Using the example of literature in service of National Chief as an illustration of construction of charismatic leadership in authoritarian regimes of non-western societies, this paper demonstrates some of its main features and evaluation. This is extremely important to understand modern day authoritarian tendencies in Turkey and wider Middle East, which use these mechanisms in a way, they did during authoritarian modernization in 20th century. We provided translations of the original literary works, accompanied with more large background.
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