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Citizen, speak Turkish!

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Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Reforms

Kemalism

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's signature

TheCitizen, speak Turkish!(Turkish:Vatandaş, Türkçe konuş!) campaign was a Turkish government-funded initiative created by law students which aimed to put pressure on non-Turkish speakers to speakTurkishin public[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]in the 1930s and onwards. In some municipalities, fines were given to those speaking in any language other than Turkish.[4][8][9][10][11][12]The campaign has been considered by some authors as a significant contribution to Turkey's sociopolitical process ofTurkification.[1][2][9]

Political background

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During theOttoman Empirein 1911, theCommittee of Union and Progressdecided to employ theTurkish languagein all the schools of the Empire, with the aim to denationalize all the non-Turkish communities and instill patriotism amongTurks.[13]The reformation of the state schooling system and of language by the compulsory use of demotic Turkish aimed for the linguistic homogenization of society.[14]The standardization of the Turkish language aimed to sever the link with the Ottoman language and past in order to create a new sense of Turkish nationhood.

When theTurkish Republicwas founded, nationalism and secularism were two of the founding principals.[15]Mustafa Kemal Atatürk,the leader of the early years of the Republic, aimed to create anation state(Turkish:ulus) from the Turkish remnants of the Ottoman Empire.Kemalistideology defines the "Turkish People" as "those who protect and promote the moral, spiritual, cultural and humanistic values of the Turkish Nation."[16]Kemalist criteria for nationalidentityor simply being a Turk also refers to a sharedlanguage.In 1931 in a speech inAdana,Atatürk was quoted during a speech as saying:[17]

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
Hamdullah Suphi Tanrıöverbelieved that minorities could not be accepted as citizens of Turkey if they did not speak Turkish or accepted Turkish culture.[10]

Many Turkish politicians and intellectuals believed that in order to attain full rights as a Turkish citizen, one must learn and speak Turkish.[18]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.[10]Consequently, non-Turkish languages taught in minority schools were becoming less common, whereas in May 1923, the Turkish Ministry of Education made the teaching of the Turkish language, history, and geography compulsory in all non-Muslim schools.[19][20]These subjects had to be taught in Turkish by "pure Turks" appointed by the Ministry.[21]The "pure Turk" teachers received a salary set by the Ministry which was substantially higher than regular teachers, resulting in a heavy financial burden for minority schools.[21]

In 1935, during a speech at theRepublican People's Party's fourth congress, Prime Ministerİsmet İnönüwas quoted as saying, "We will not remain silent. All citizens who live with us must speak Turkish!"[22]

The campaign went beyond the measures of mere policy of speaking Turkish, to an outright prevention and prohibition of any other language.[1][2][9][10]

"Citizen, speak Turkish!" campaign

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Cumhuriyetnewspaper reporting local authorities of theGönendistrict ofBalıkesirto impose fines against speaking in any language other than Turkish in public, 21 May 1936

On 13 January 1928, the student union at theDarülfünun(Istanbul University) Law School inIstanbulstarted a campaign with the objective of preventing the use of languages other than Turkish to be used in public.[2][10][23]Signs were held by campaign organizers that proclaimed, "We cannot call Turk to those who do not speak Turkish".[9][10]Some campaigners also chanted, "Speak Turkish or leave the country!".[10]

The campaigners placed posters in the major cities of the country with the slogan "Citizen, speak Turkish!" and the message further spread into the mass media, press, and political circles throughout the country.[10][24]Signs in theaters, restaurants, hotels, and ferries urged everyone to speak Turkish and many people were harassed in public or criminalized for using a language other than Turkish.[25]

Citizens found to be using a language other than Turkish may sometimes have been charged with violating Article 159 (now defunct) of the Turkish penal code for "insulting Turkishness" as a legal justification.[18]

In the 1960s, the movement saw its revival as posters and signs were placed and hung throughout the country.[26][27]

Government sponsorship

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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 theTurkish National Assembly,a law was proposed to make Turkish a compulsory language and refusing to speak it resulted in a fine.[9][10]Meanwhile, as the debates in the National Assembly were ongoing, the municipal government ofBursatook the first initiative and began to impose fines to those who spoke a non-Turkish language in public areas.[9][10]This was followed by the cities ofBalıkesirandBergamain 1927.[9][10]

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'.[4]In 1933, in the town ofMersin,British citizens, speaking French, were reportedly attacked in public. It was later reported that hundreds were being arrested for speaking languages other than Turkish in public.[22]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 ofMersinpardoned them after visiting them in prison.[22]

New laws were being promulgated throughout the country. In 1936, the municipal governments ofTekirdağ,Lüleburgaz,andEdirnepassed decrees to fine those who spoke non-Turkish languages in public.[22][23]Soon thereafter, cities and towns such asDiyarbakır,Adana,Ankara,andKırklarelifollowed suit.[23]

Reactions

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Protests and deliberate usage of languages other than Turkish occurred as, at the time, many minorities had difficulty adjusting to an environment in which they were to exclusively use Turkish in public. Turkish fluency was particularly low in Jewish people, who hadJudaeo-Spanish(Ladino) as a native language.[28]

See also

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Further reading

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References

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  1. ^abcKieser, Hans-Lukas, ed. (2006).Turkey beyond nationalism: towards post-nationalist identities([Online-Ausg.] ed.). London [u.a.]: Tauris. p. 45.ISBN9781845111410.Retrieved7 January2013.
  2. ^abcdErtürk, Nergis (19 October 2011).Grammatology and literary modernity in Turkey.Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.ISBN9780199746682.
  3. ^Toktas, Sule (2005)."Citizenship and Minorities: A Historical Overview of Turkey's Jewish Minority".Journal of Historical Sociology.18(4): 394–429.doi:10.1111/j.1467-6443.2005.00262.x.S2CID59138386.Retrieved7 January2013.
  4. ^abcSofos, Umut Özkırımlı; Spyros A. (2008).Tormented by history: nationalism in Greece and Turkey.New York: Columbia University Press. p. 167.ISBN9780231700528.
  5. ^Bozdoǧan, Sibel; Gülru Necipoğlu; Julia Bailey, eds. (2007).Muqarnas: an annual on the visual culture of the Islamic world.Leiden: Brill.ISBN9789004163201.
  6. ^Aslan, Senem (April 2007). ""Citizen, Speak Turkish!": A Nation in the Making ".Nationalism and Ethnic Politics.13(2). Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group: 245–272.doi:10.1080/13537110701293500.S2CID144367148.
  7. ^Goçek, Fatma Müge; Naimark, Norman M. (23 February 2011). Suny, Ronald Grigor (ed.).A question of genocide: Armenians and Turks at the end of the Ottoman Empire.Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN9780195393743.
  8. ^Soner, Çağaptay (2006).Otuzlarda Türk Milliyetçiliğinde Irk, Dil ve Etnisite(in Turkish). Istanbul. pp. 25–26.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. ^abcdefgBali, Rifat N. (1999).Cumhuriyet yıllarında Türkiye Yahudileri bir türkleştirme serüveni; (1923 - 1945)(in Turkish) (7 ed.). İstanbul: İletişim. pp. 137–147.ISBN9789754707632.
  10. ^abcdefghijkİnce, Başak (15 June 2012).Citizenship and identity in Turkey: from Atatürk's republic to the present day.London: I.B. Tauris. p. 61.ISBN9781780760261.Retrieved8 January2013.
  11. ^Clark, Bruce (2006).Twice a stranger: the mass expulsion that forged modern Greece and Turkey.Cambridge (Massachusetts): Harvard University Press.ISBN9780674023680.
  12. ^Ferhad Ibrahim, ed. (2000).The Kurdish conflict in Turkey: obstacles and chances for peace and democracy.Münster: Lit [u.a.]ISBN9780312236298.
  13. ^Gocek, Fatma Muge. 2002. ‘The decline of the Ottoman empire and the emergence of Greek Armenian, Turkish, and Arab nationalisms’ in F. M. Gocek (ed.), Social Constructions of Nationalism: in the Middle East. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 15–83.
  14. ^Göl, A. (2005). Imagining the Turkish nation through 'othering' Armenians. Nations and Nationalism. 11(1), pp.121-139
  15. ^Findley, Carter Vaughn (2010).Turkey, Islam, nationalism, and modernity: a history, 1789-2007.New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.ISBN9780300152609.
  16. ^Republic Of Turkey Ministry Of National Education."Turkish National Education System".T.C. Government. Archived fromthe originalon 12 June 2002.Retrieved20 February2008.
  17. ^Kieser, Hans-Lukas, ed. (2006).Turkey beyond nationalism: towards post-nationalist identities([Online-Ausg.] ed.). London [u.a.]: Tauris. p. 44.ISBN9781845111410.Retrieved8 January2013.
  18. ^abE. Fuat Keyman, ed. (2005).Citizenship in a global world: European questions and Turkish experiences(1st publ. ed.). London [u.a.]: Routledge. p. 299.ISBN9780415354561.Retrieved8 January2013.
  19. ^Sezer, Ayten (1999).Atatürk döneminde yabancı okullar (1923 - 1938)(in Turkish). Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi.ISBN9789751611024.
  20. ^Rodrigue, Aron (2003).Jews and Muslims: images of Sephardi and eastern Jewries in modern times.Seattle, WA [u.a.]: Univ. of Washington Press.ISBN0295983140.
  21. ^abPaz, M. (2011). STATES AND NETWORKS IN THE FORMATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. American University International Law Review, 26(5), 1241-1313.
  22. ^abcdCagaptay, Soner (2006).Islam, Secularism, and Nationalism in Modern Turkey: who is a Turk?([Repr.]. ed.). London [u.a.]: Routledge.ISBN9780415384582.
  23. ^abc"Türkiye'nin 'Öz Dil' Zorbalığı Serüveni".Haksoz Haber(in Turkish).Retrieved8 January2013.
  24. ^Galanti, A. (2000) Vatandaş Türkçe Konuş Yahut Türkçe'nin Ta'mimi Meselesi: Tarihi, İçtimai, Siyasi (Turkish)
  25. ^Ekmekcioglu, Lerna (2010).Improvising Turkishness: Being Armenian in post-Ottoman Istanbul (1918-1933).Ann Arbor.ISBN9781124044422.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  26. ^Antonia Susan Byatt; Edouard Roditi; Murat Belge; Işık Şimşek, Association Méditerranéens.Istanbul, many worlds.L'Association Méditerranéens, 1997.
  27. ^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.ISBN9789994196326.
  28. ^Zetler, Reyhan (2014)."Turkish Jews between 1923 and 1933 – What Did the Turkish Policy between 1923 and 1933 Mean for the Turkish Jews?"(PDF).Bulletin der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Judaistische Forschung(23): 28 (PDF p. 16/28).OCLC865002828.
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