ABSTRACT
Turkey’s transition from a pluralistic empire to a unitary nation state was protracted and violent. Geopolitical and ideological shifts, which had been unleashing waves of ethno-religious violence and population movements starting from mid-nineteenth century, culminated in the mass atrocities and population purges during and after World War I as the Ottoman Empire collapsed. These developments profoundly transformed the demographic makeup of both modern-day Turkey and neighboring post-Ottoman successor states. While Turkey’s surviving non-Muslims either concentrated in cities like Istanbul, which retained a small but critical mass, or left for the country, several Muslims from the newly independent Ottoman domains resettled in Turkey. This chapter focuses on how these events reshaped not just Turkey’s polity but also its cultural landscapes.
