ABSTRACT
Countries like Turkey experienced the massive debt crisis that in the 1980s put a decisive end to the period of national development. World-historical developments and nation-state formation, large-scale political alignments, and decisive events that punctuate eras of relative stability play defining roles. The national identity that was tailored carefully to create a rootless Republican citizenry with allegiance only to the state is expanding to include within its folds not only religion and diverse ethnicities, but also the Ottoman past. Hegemonic decline, the failure of Europe to pursue a separate identity, the closure of western civilization along a religious definition, and the implosion of the EU project have all contributed to Turkey's turn toward other directions. Without the rejection by Europe, without the rift that counterposed the Christian West against the Islamic other, there could be no such rethinking of history and identity.
