A Hundred Years Of Republican Turkey

On October 29, 2023, the Republic of Turkey commemorates its centenary. This is the occasion for the publication of A Hundred Years of Republican Turkey: A History in a Hundred Fragments, edited by Alp Yenen and Erik-Jan Zürcher. This book explores Turkey’s past century marked by political changes, cultural shifts, and societal transformations. The mosaic-like structure of the book affords an insight into a hundred key moments in this fascinating trajectory of the people of Turkey.

At a time when Turkey faces radical political, social, and economic transformations, this book critically re-examines Turkey’s history. While deconstructing received narratives, it offers fresh and nuanced interpretations, acknowledging the successes and the struggles that shaped Turkey’s politics, society, and culture until today. During this event, Alp Yenen and Erik-Jan Zürcher will introduce the volume and exchange view on the content with Enno Maessen and Zeynep Kaşlı, after which the floor will be open for a discussion with the audience. Moderation: Beste Isleyen.

About the speakers

Enno Maessen is an urban historian, working on Turkey, Southeastern Europe and diasporas of Turkey. He is based at the Department of History and Art History of Utrecht University and is the coordinator of the Turkey Studies Network in the Low Countries.

Alp Yenen is Assistant Professor for Modern Turkish History and Culture at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies. He is specialized on the history of the modern Middle East in the twentieth century. He is interested in transitional periods, transnational relations, and transgressive politics. He has recently published the co-edited volume Age of Rogues: Rebels, Revolutionaries, and Racketeers at the Frontiers of Empires (Edinburgh University Press, 2021). His articles have appeared in journals such as Comparative Studies in Society and History, Contemporary European History, Behemoth – A Journal on Civilisation and Middle Eastern Studies.

Erik-Jan Zürcher is emeritus professor of Turkish Studies at Leiden University. He is primarily interested in the period of transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey and in the role of the Young Turk generation/movement in this process. He studies the emergence of modern Turkey by linking the processes of forced migration, war, imperial legacies, and nation building.

Zeynep Kaşlı is an Assistant Professor in Migration and Development at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), part of Erasmus University Rotterdam. She is an interdisciplinary scholar specialized in state-society relations with a regional focus on Turkey, Europe, and the Middle East. Her work appeared in journals such as Political Geography, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Alternatives: Global, Local, Political.

Beste İşleyen (moderator) is Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. Her research focusses on border security, territoriality and technology in European security. Her research examines the daily governance of migration and borders in Turkey. İşleyen’s work has appeared in, among others, European Journal of International Relations, International Political Sociology, International Studies Quarterly, Political Geography and Security Dialogue.