The “Turkish Ideology”: From Abdul Hamid II to Erdogan’s Turkey

Abstract

This article examines the long-term continuity of what may be called the “Turkish ideology” from the Hamidian period to Erdogan’s Turkey, arguing that beyond changes in regimes, elites, and political vocabularies, a durable ideological and institutional matrix has structured state violence and perceptions of internal enemies. By tracing the internal transmissions between Hamidianism, Unionism, Kemalism, and contemporary nationalist-Islamism, the article highlights the persistence of a state-centered worldview shaped by social Darwinist assumptions, racialized conceptions of nationhood, and the logic of raison d’état. Through a comparative reading of 1914-1915 and 2014-2015, it demonstrates how similar mechanisms of exclusion, coercion, and enemy construction were mobilized against Armenians and later against Kurds. The study further questions the analytical adequacy of concepts such as “late Ottoman Empire” and “Neo-Ottomanism,” suggesting instead that the continuity lies less in imperial restoration than in the enduring ideological foundations of Turkish state praxis.