The emergence of Turkism in Azerbaijani literature occurred after the rise of literary Turkism in Ottoman Turkey, where it first developed and flourished. Although ideas of Turkification or a return to Turkism, as proposed by Ottoman thinkers, writers, and educators, initially sparked debate, over time these ideas evolved into an ideology and eventually a well-established concept. Unlike political Turkism, literary Turkism gained widespread acceptance among the people through the works of writers and poets, who awakened national feelings and patriotism. (...) The ideas of literary Turkism gradually transcended Ottoman Turkey’s borders, spreading into the Azerbaijani literary environment and influencing Azerbaijani writers and poets. In Azerbaijan, people discussed these ideas, which piqued their interest through newspapers, magazines, and books published in Istanbul. Azerbaijani writers and thinkers, inspired by these ideas, promoted them in their writings and sought to make them widespread. Even earlier, Mirza Fatali Akhundov, by creating works in his native language, laid the foundation for Turkism in terms of writing and language, albeit indirectly. After him, Hasan bey Zardabi, Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu, and especially Ali bey Huseynzadeh, contributed significantly to this movement through their writings. This paper explores the emergence, development, and dissemination of literary Turkism in Azerbaijan. (shrink)

Ali Bey Huseynzade, one of the prominent representatives of Azerbaijan's literary, cultural, social-political, and philosophical thought in the 20th century, was the first publisher of the political-Turkism movement in Azerbaijan. He was a distinguished political figure, talented scientist, thinker, and publicist, and holds a unique place in the history of the Azerbaijani people. Over time, there is an increasing need to deeply comprehend and study the magnificent artistic works created by Ali Bey Huseynzade. Throughout his life, Huseynzade dedicated his prolific (...) writing to the research and promotion of pan-Turkish spiritual values, fighting with all the strength of his brilliant talent for the progress of the Turkic people. He played an important role in the formation of the theoretical-philosophical foundations of the Azerbaijani national idea, striving for reforms in public and cultural life and artistic consciousness through his rich creative output. With his famous "Threefold Formula"-"Turkification, Islamization, Modernization" - he contributed to the formation of the ideology of Azerbaijanism. He advocated for the necessity of abandoning sectarian divisions and uniting all Muslims under the umbrella of a single religion-Islam. In his article titled "What is Young Turkism?", he explained the essence of the Turkish reform movement and expressed his views in many articles published in newspapers and magazines, arguing that Ottoman Turkish should become the common language of all Turks. Having spent more than 30 years of his life in exile, Ali Bey’s complex and turbulent life path was marked by political and cultural struggles aimed at the unity and wholeness of the Turkic world. The article emphasizes the significance of national-democratic values, highly relevant today, and their reflection in Azerbaijani philosophy and social-political thought. It also highlights the necessity of the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic as the first historical embodiment of the national-democratic statehood ideology, which began in the early 20th century. Ali Bey Huseynzade’s multifaceted activities and his intellectual contributions, not only for Azerbaijani Turks but for the entire Turkic world, affirm the relevance of the subject as he remains a valuable thinker on a broader scale. (shrink)

Turkish modernization relied on the western social sciences and humanities not only as an abstract and distant model, but also in the form of close encounters and interactions with western refugee scholars. This article examines the activities of western intellectuals and experts who visited Turkey in the early republican era (1923—50), especially focusing on a group of émigré scholars who were employed in Turkey after the university reform of 1933. While European and North American social scientists were drawn to meticulous (...) comparisons of `East' and `West' in this period, elites in the former component of this comparative dichotomy were seeking creative ways to turn this taxonomy to their advantage. In the Turkish case, the project of adopting modernity contained universalistic aspects intended to function for particular local needs. A body of racial, historical and linguistic theories attempted to create and sustain a nationally homogeneous society while, at the same time, emphasizing the contributions of Turkishness to western and modern history. Republican scholars tried to establish the Turkish origins of western civilization with the help of western social sciences in general and of western émigré scholars in particular. In the process of facilitating the local efforts to import western modernity into the specificity of Turkishness, refugee scholars encountered contradictory demands and employed different strategies to respond to these demands. (shrink)

Cet article retrace le succès précoce d’une artiste grecque ottomane, Eleni Iliadis, dans le monde artistique d’Istanbul pendant la Première Guerre mondiale et son éviction de l’histoire de l’art turque après la fondation de la République en 1923. En s’inspirant des nouvelles approches féministes de l’histoire de l’art, cet article rend visible l’histoire cachée d’Iliadis : son éducation artistique à Munich, les expositions auxquelles elle participe, les récompenses et le patronage de l’État qu’elle reçoit pendant la guerre à Istanbul, en (...) particulier pour sa peinture récemment redécouverte, Le Joueur de Guitare. J’examine les politiques genrées d’éducation artistique, de production et de réception dans le monde de l’art des débuts des années 1920 et analyse en quoi l’identité d’Iliadis en tant qu’artiste femme et non-musulmane a représenté un défi pour la nouvelle histoire nationale de l’art turque, dominée par les hommes, qui l’a finalement éradiquée de la mémoire culturelle. (shrink)