ABSTRACT
The modern history of the Turks is a process of entering into the new temporality of the modern Western world. It is a temporality characterized by constant change and never-ending experience of qualitative newness in diverse spheres of life. In the conventional Turkish view, ‘Turkish Westernization’ follows the tracks of this new temporality though it is delayed and lags back. The beginning dates back to the second half of the eighteenth century when the sultans supported initiatives for military renewal by emulating the Western military organization and technology. These early attempts culminate in the declaration of the ‘Tanzimat’ (Reordering) Charter (1839), starting a reform process in administration, law and education partly modelling Western modernity. This process leads to a duality between Western concepts like liberty, representation and rights, and traditional Ottoman conceptions and institutions like şeriat and saltanat. The ‘Republican revolution’ aims to displace the duality through ‘completing’ the ‘fluctuating’ attempts of Westernization.
