The Critique of Eurocentrism, The Dislocation of Kemalism and Opening up New Political Spaces After the 1980s

Authors : Ali Kaya

Pages : 997-1008

Doi:10.33709/ictimaiyat.1764838

View : 51 | Download : 491

Publication Date : 2025-11-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :In this article, I examine the relationship between the fall of Kemalism and the rise of critical thinking about Orientalism and Eurocentrism after the 1980s in Türkiye. I argue that this critical thinking along with the development of a postcolonial perspective has had a substantial impact on the questioning of fundamental Kemalist ideas. The main assertions of Kemalism are westernization, laicite, and the construction of a historical narrative on pre-Islamic Turkishness that ignores the Seljuk and Ottoman periods. In this sense, the critical approaches and post-colonial studies have primarily challenged the most vital tenet of Kemalism, which is the reduction of modernity exclusively to the western experience. The critique has demonstrated the possibility of non-western modernities, and the importance of non-western agency in the formation of their peculiarities. By questioning total westernization and challenging the idea that modernity is identical to western experience, it has led to the weakening of Kemalist laicite and historiography; consequently, two significant events have taken place. These are the emergence of “civil” Kemalism and the rise of Islamism. These two events have made visible the contingent and political nature of Kemalism, thus undermining its claim as a “scientific, neutral and objective” project.
Keywords : Avrupamerkezcilik, Post-kolonyalizm, Kemalizm, İslamcılık, Batı-dışı Modernlik

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