Introduction by the Editors
摘要
In its first hundred years, the Republic of Turkey has not only failed to address its longstanding issues but has also faced new social, political, economic, and cultural challenges. Acknowledging both continuities and changes between the “old” and “new” Turkey, this book seeks to provide an alternative interpretation of the republic’s first century, focusing on overlooked and marginalised perspectives. Adopting a thematic rather than chronological approach, the book is divided into four sections, each addressing different facets of the republic’s foundational problems. In the first part, we search for an answer to a very central question: who owns the Republic of Turkey? Part II focuses on understanding how we remember the past and how this changing memory regime(s) shape (re-)imagining the future by exploring how memory is remembered, fractured, and included in the claims for transitional justice and within various social and political movements. Part III centres on resistance, exploring a range of examples, from physical spaces of political and social activism to digital struggles. Part IV focuses on the key structural problems of the republic. These interconnected chapters offer insight into how these unresolved issues will continue to shape Turkey's trajectory in its second century. As such, the issues highlighted and emphasised in this book represent only a fraction of a much longer list that needs to be tackled, not only in the context of the past but also in relation to ongoing realities.