Government’s Role in Cultural Dissemination in Turkey, During Mustafa Kemal’s Era

تاریخ و فرهنگ

Article 4, Volume 56, Issue 1 - Serial Number 112, September 2024, Pages 99-125   

Document Type: Promotional article

DOI: 10.22067/jhistory.2024.87537.1299

Author

Mohammad Hasan Mahdavi^*

PhD Graduate, Higher Education Complex of History, Sīra, and Islamic Civilization, Al-Mustafa International University, Ghazni, Afghanistan

Abstract

Cultural influence is a natural and to some extent inevitable phenomenon. It is often a process that comes as a result of proximity and expansion of communications. The expansion of Western culture through this process can be witnessed in contemporary Islamic world, including in Ottoman Turkey. With Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938 A.D.) rising to power in Turkey, a phenomenon is encountered in which the government itself seeks to accelerate cultural dissemination through planning and particular directives. This can be referred to as directive dissemination. Although this phenomenon is more or less present in the entire Islamic world, it is pioneered in Turkey during Atatürk’s reign, where all aspects of traditional-Islamic culture underwent significant changes. Atatürk successfully brought about relatively significant transformations, particularly in the fields of modern education, literature, arts, and communications. These changes are studied in the present research through the descriptive-analytical method. Unlike in other places where directive dissemination led to failure, in the case of Turkey, due to its proximity to the West and existing political grounds, it achieved relative success. Mustafa Kemal’s efforts in this regard, although often positive and in line with the demands of the time, also caused significant cultural damage, because they were merely imitations and were rooted in a sense of alienation. Hence, they cannot be considered purely reformist movements aimed at improving the culture of Islamic society.

Keywords

cultural dissemination; cultural transformation; Turkey; Mustafa Kemal

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