ABSTRACT
In this interview, Meral Ugur-Cinar tackles the relationship between populism and memory. She explains that in populist interpretations of the past, we are told the story of a people moving through history, with the leaders of today conducting struggles against alien or hostile groups in ways that rhyme with the past. First, she focuses on Turkey, where she argues that in the government’s political agenda, the Ottoman past is tied to contemporary politics and Erdoğan is presented as the one who fulfils the destiny of the people. Then she considers Austria, where the Freedom Party (FPÖ) draws on the repertoire of the 1848 revolutions to show its dedication to the struggle for freedom, and uses the Turkish sieges of Vienna to divide genuine Austrians from internal and external enemies and to present itself as the sole embodiment of people’s interests.
