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| The '''Citizen speak Turkish!''' (Turkish: Vatandaş Türkçe konuş!) campaign was an initiative created by law students but sponsored by the Turkish government which aimed to put pressure on non-Turkish speakers to speak Turkish in public |
The '''Citizen speak Turkish!''' (Turkish: Vatandaş Türkçe konuş!) campaign was an initiative created by law students but sponsored by the Turkish government which aimed to put pressure on non-Turkish speakers to speak Turkish in public<ref name="Turkey beyond nationalism: towards post-nationalist identities">{{cite book|last=Kieser|first=ed. by Hans-Lukas|title=Turkey beyond nationalism: towards post-nationalist identities|year=2006|publisher=Tauris|location=London |isbn=9781845111410|pages=256|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=VKVSHjjUT2UC|edition=|accessdate=7 January 2013|page=45}}</ref><ref name="Grammatology and literary modernity in Turkey">{{cite book|last=Ertürk|first=Nergis|title=Grammatology and literary modernity in Turkey|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, UK|isbn=9780199746682}}</ref><ref name="Citizenship and Minorities: A Historical Overview of Turkey’s Jewish Minority">{{cite journal|last=Toktas|first=Sule|title=Citizenship and Minorities: A Historical Overview of Turkey’s Jewish Minority|journal=Journal of Historical Sociology|year=2005|volume=18|issue=4|url=http://www.academia.edu/761586/Citizenship_and_minorities_a_historical_overview_of_Turkeys_Jewish_minority|accessdate=7 January 2013}}</ref><ref name="Tormented by history: nationalism in Greece and Turkey">{{cite book|last=Sofos|first=Umut Özkırımlı & Spyros A.|title=Tormented by history: nationalism in Greece and Turkey|year=2008|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|isbn=9780231700528|accessdate=8 January 2013|page=167}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=editor|first=Sibel Bozdoǧan, Gülru Necipoğlu, editors ; Julia Bailey, managing|title=Muqarnas : an annual on the visual culture of the Islamic world.|year=2007|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=9789004163201}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Aslan|first=Senem|title="Citizen, Speak Turkish!": A Nation in the Making|journal=Nationalism and Ethnic Politics|year=2007|month=April|volume=13|issue=2|pages=245-272|accessdate=8 January 2013|publisher=Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Suny|first=edited by Ronald Grigor|title=A question of genocide : Armenians and Turks at the end of the Ottoman Empire|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=9780195393743|coauthors=Goçek,, Fatma Müge; Naimark, Norman M.}}</ref> in the 1930s. In some municipalities, fines were given to those speaking in any language other than Turkish.<ref name="Tormented by history: nationalism in Greece and Turkey" /><ref name="Otuzlarda Türk Milliyetçiliğinde Irk, Dil ve Etnisite">{{cite book|last=Soner|first=Çağaptay|title=Otuzlarda Türk Milliyetçiliğinde Irk, Dil ve Etnisite|year=2006|location=Istanbul|accessdate=8 January 2013|page=25-26|language=Turkish}}</ref><ref name="Cumhuriyet yıllarında Türkiye Yahudleri bir türkleştirme serüveni ; (1923 - 1945)">{{cite book|last=Bali|first=Rifat N.|title=Cumhuriyet yıllarında Türkiye Yahudileri bir türkleştirme serüveni ; (1923 - 1945)|year=1999|publisher=İletişim|location=İstanbul|isbn=9789754707632|pages=604|edition=7. bs.|accessdate=8 January 2013|page=137-147|language=Turkish}}</ref><ref name=Citizenship>{{cite book|last=İnce|first=Başak|title=Citizenship and identity in Turkey : from Atatürk's republic to the present day|publisher=I.B. Tauris|location=London|isbn=9781780760261|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Ydpiawe35DwC&pg|accessdate=8 January 2013|page=61}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Clark|first=Bruce|title=Twice a stranger : the mass expulsion that forged modern Greece and Turkey|year=2006|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge (Massachusetts)|isbn=9780674023680}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=(eds.)|first=Ferhad Ibrahim|title=The Kurdish conflict in Turkey : obstacles and chances for peace and democracy|year=2000|publisher=Lit |location=Münster|isbn=9780312236298}}</ref> The campaign movement is considered significant contributor to Turkey's sociopolitical process of ].<ref name="Cumhuriyet yıllarında Türkiye Yahudleri bir türkleştirme serüveni ; (1923 - 1945)" /><ref name="Turkey beyond nationalism: towards post-nationalist identities" /><ref name="Grammatology and literary modernity in Turkey" /> | ||
| ==Political Background== | ==Political Background== | ||
Revision as of 21:03, 8 January 2013
The Citizen speak Turkish! (Turkish: Vatandaş Türkçe konuş!) campaign was an initiative created by law students but sponsored by the Turkish government which aimed to put pressure on non-Turkish speakers to speak Turkish in public in the 1930s. In some municipalities, fines were given to those speaking in any language other than Turkish. The campaign movement is considered significant contributor to Turkey's sociopolitical process of Turkification.
Political Background
Nationalism and secularism were one of the founding principals of the Turkish Republic. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the leader of the early years of the Republic, aimed to create a nation state (Turkish: Ulus) from the Turkish remnants of the Ottoman Empire. Kemalist ideology defines the "Turkish People" as "those who protect and promote the moral, spiritual, cultural and humanistic values of the Turkish Nation." Kemalist criteria for national identity or simply being a Turk also refers to a shared language. In 1931 in a speech in Adana, Ataturk was quoted during a speech as saying:
One of the most obvious, precious qualities of a nation is language. A person who says he belongs to the Turkish nation should in the first place and under all circumstances speak Turkish. It is not possible to believe a person's claims that he belongs to the Turkish nation and to Turkish culture if he does not speak Turkish.
— Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Many Turkish politicians and intellectuals believed that in order to attain full rights as a Turkish citizen, one must learn and speak Turkish. One such intellect, Hamdullah Suphi Tanrıöver, believed especially that minorities could not be accepted as citizens of Turkey if they did not speak Turkish or accepted Turkish culture. Consequently, non-Turkish languages taught in minority schools were becoming less common. In 1935 Prime Minister Ismet Inonu was quoted during a speech at the Republican Party's fourth congress by saying, "We will not remain silent. All citizens who live with us must speak Turkish!"
The campaign went beyond the measures of mere policy of speaking Turkish, to an outright prevention and prohibition of any other language.
"Citizen Speak Turkish!" Campaign
On January 13, 1928, the student union at the Darülfünun Law School in Istanbul started a campaign with the objective of preventing the use of languages other than Turkish to be used in public. Signs were held by campaign organizers that proclaimed, "We cannot call Turk to those who do not speak Turkish". Some campaigners also chanted, "Speak Turkish or leave the country!". Members of campaigners placed posters throughout Turkey proclaiming "Citizen speak Turkish!" and the message further spread into the mass media, press, and political circles throughout the country.
Some Turks started court cases against minority members who spoke a language other than Turkish under charges of violating Article 159 (now Article 301) for "insulting Turkishness" as a legal justification.
In the 1960s, the movement saw its revival as posters and signs were placed and hung throughout the country.
Government Sponsorship
Prior to the launch of the "Citizen Speak Turkish!" campaign, many initiatives were already taken by the government of Turkey to make Turkish the sole language of the public. In 1924 during a session of the Turkish National Assembly, a law was proposed to make Turkish a compulsory language and refusing to speak it resulted in a fine. Meanwhile, as the debates in the National Assembly were ongoing, the municipal government of Bursa took the first initiative, and began to impose fines to those who spoke a non-Turkish language in public areas. This was followed by Balikesir and Bergama in 1927.
After the launch of the "Citizen Speak Turkish!" campaign of 1928, arrests were being made all throughout the country with full support of the government who encouraged provincial governors 'to incorporate Turks with foreign dialects into the Turkish community by making Turkish their mother tongue'. In 1933 in the town of Mersin, British citizens who were speaking French were reportedly attacked in public. It was later reported that hundreds were being arrested for speaking Turkish in public. In a specific case, a M. Chalfoun and a certain Jewish merchant were arrested for speaking Arabic and French to a merchant in town. The accused were released only after the mayor of Mersin pardoned them after visiting them in prison.
New laws were being promulgated throughout the country. In 1936, the municipal governments of Tekirdag, Luleburgaz, and Edirne passed decrees to fine those who spoke non-Turkish languages in public. Soon thereafter, cities and towns such as Diyarbakır, Adana, Ankara, and Kırklareli followed suit.
See Also
References
- ^ Kieser, ed. by Hans-Lukas (2006). Turkey beyond nationalism: towards post-nationalist identities ( ed.). London : Tauris. p. 45. ISBN 9781845111410. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help); More than one of|pages=and|page=specified (help) - ^ Ertürk, Nergis. Grammatology and literary modernity in Turkey. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199746682.
- Toktas, Sule (2005). "Citizenship and Minorities: A Historical Overview of Turkey's Jewish Minority". Journal of Historical Sociology. 18 (4). Retrieved 7 January 2013.
- ^ Sofos, Umut Özkırımlı & Spyros A. (2008). Tormented by history: nationalism in Greece and Turkey. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 167. ISBN 9780231700528.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - editor, Sibel Bozdoǧan, Gülru Necipoğlu, editors ; Julia Bailey, managing (2007). Muqarnas : an annual on the visual culture of the Islamic world. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004163201.
{{cite book}}:|last=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Aslan, Senem (2007). ""Citizen, Speak Turkish!": A Nation in the Making". Nationalism and Ethnic Politics. 13 (2). Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group: 245–272.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - Suny, edited by Ronald Grigor. A question of genocide : Armenians and Turks at the end of the Ottoman Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195393743.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Soner, Çağaptay (2006). Otuzlarda Türk Milliyetçiliğinde Irk, Dil ve Etnisite (in Turkish). Istanbul. p. 25-26.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Bali, Rifat N. (1999). Cumhuriyet yıllarında Türkiye Yahudileri bir türkleştirme serüveni ; (1923 - 1945) (in Turkish) (7. bs. ed.). İstanbul: İletişim. p. 137-147. ISBN 9789754707632.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); More than one of|pages=and|page=specified (help) - ^ İnce, Başak. Citizenship and identity in Turkey : from Atatürk's republic to the present day. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 61. ISBN 9781780760261. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
- Clark, Bruce (2006). Twice a stranger : the mass expulsion that forged modern Greece and Turkey. Cambridge (Massachusetts): Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674023680.
- (eds.), Ferhad Ibrahim (2000). The Kurdish conflict in Turkey : obstacles and chances for peace and democracy. Münster: Lit ISBN 9780312236298.
{{cite book}}:|last=has generic name (help) - Findley, Carter Vaughn (2010). Turkey, Islam, nationalism, and modernity : a history, 1789-2007. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300152609.
- Republic Of Turkey Ministry Of National Education. "Turkish National Education System". T.C. Government. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
- Kieser, ed. by Hans-Lukas (2006). Turkey beyond nationalism : towards post-nationalist identities ( ed.). London : Tauris. p. 44. ISBN 9781845111410. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help) - ^ Citizenship in a global world : European questions and Turkish experiences (1. publ. ed.). London : Routledge. 2005. p. 299. ISBN 9780415354561. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help);|first=missing|last=(help) - Sezer, Ayten (1999). Atatürk döneminde yabancı okullar (1923 - 1938) (in Turkish). Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi. ISBN 9789751611024.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Cagaptay, Soner (2006). Islam, Secularism, and Nationalism in Modern Turkey : who is a Turk? (. ed.). London : Routledge. ISBN 9780415384582.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Türkiye'nin 'Öz Dil' Zorbalığı Serüveni". Haksoz Haber (in Turkish). Retrieved 8 January 2013.
- Galanti, A. (2000) Vatandaş Türkçe Konuş Yahut Türkçe'nin Ta'mimi Meselesi: Tarihi, İçtimai, Siyasi (Turkish)
- Istanbul, many worlds. L'Association Méditerranéens, 1997.
{{cite book}}:|first=missing|last=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Peroomian, Rubina (2008). And those who continued living in Turkey after 1915 : the metamorphosis of the post-genocide Armenian identity as reflected in artistic literature. Yerevan: Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. ISBN 9789994196326.