Anti-Imperialism and Kemalism: discussions on “Liquidation of Europacentrisme” and Adaptive reformism in the Single Party Era

Abstract

The intellectual history of the single-party era has been mostly studied by focusing on debates over economic policies. This article focuses on an under-studied debate. By analyzing Celâl Nuri’s Turkish Revolution (1926) and Şevket Süreyya’s Kadro articles, it discusses different imaginations of modernity conceived by different Kemalist intellectuals. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Kemalist intellectuals encountered a series of theoretical questions. The basic question was about the basis of modernization project in a non-Western society. By revisiting Celâl Nuri, who was in favor of an unconditional and comprehensive Westernization and Şevket Süreyya, who was in favor of an authentic modernization project, this article analyzes this intra-Kemalist debate. © 2014, International Relations Council of Turkey. All rights reserved.