This chapter challenges the dominant trend in the literature on Turkish political history that associates anti-Westernism primarily with Islamic-oriented and conservative movements. It argues that anti-Westernism has been a broader political trajectory, resonating across diverse ideological positions. Focusing on the democratic socialist left of the 1960s, with a special emphasis on the Yön weekly published between 1961 and 1967, the chapter examines how anti-Western discourses played a key role in the historical construction of left-oriented political identities and discourses in Turkish political history. A comprehensive archival reading of Yön yields two main findings. First, beyond the familiar framing of leftist anti-Westernism in terms of development, dependency, imperialism, and capitalism, the democratic socialist left also engaged the ‘Western question’ in civilisational and cultural terms. Second, while the left’s critiques of the West drew on cultural, identitarian, and civilisational language, these discourses were distinct from the Islamic-oriented critiques prevalent in the same and later periods. By foregrounding these overlooked dimensions of leftist anti-Westernism, the chapter contributes to a more nuanced understanding of Turkish political thought, demonstrating that civilisational critiques of the West were not exclusive to religious or conservative actors.