Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey

Turkey, write journalists Nicole and Hugh Pope in this well-made narrative history, is a land that defies easy categorization, a melange of elements "European, Western, Eastern, Islamic, fascistic, anarchic" that has always been something of an enigma to outsiders. After decades of stagnation, it is now emerging as a nation of central importance in Eurasian geopolitics, as it was in the days of the Ottoman Empire. The authors describe the growth of the modern Turkish state in the aftermath of World War I, when that empire, defeated by the Allied powers, splintered into some 30 independent states. Led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his so-called Young Turks, the postwar state sought to curb the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, to introduce some measure of democracy into a formerly autocratic system, and to secure a place for Turkey in the constellation of world powers. They were only partly successful; Atatürk, the authors contend, "led Turkey on the path of Westernization, but left it stranded half-way to full democratization because, deep down, he was not a democrat." Now, after years of military rule, the Turkish government is making efforts both to continue that democratization and to secure influence among the emerging Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union. The nation, the authors write, is now the arena of conflict between left and right, fundamentalist and secularist, nationalist and cosmopolitan: it stands at a crossroads both political and historical. Westerners, they suggest, would do well to pay closer attention to Turkish affairs, and their book is a fine contribution toward that end. --Gregory McNamee