Debating Turkish Modernity: Civilization, Nationalism, and the EEC

Debating Turkish Modernity describes the opening act of Turkey’s half century bid to join the European Community. Between 1959 and 1980, Turks from all walks of life weighed in on their prospective integration into Europe. This book details how these Turks made sense of the project of European Unification and how they spoke about it. It argues that Turkey’s EEC debates, by resurrecting past questions over Turkey’s relationship to Europe, became the principle forum where Turks of the Second Republic defined who they were, where they came from, and where they were going.

Mehmet Döşemeci is currently an Assistant Professor of History at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh. He received his PhD in History from Columbia University, New York. Döşemeci served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the International Network to Expand Regional and Collaborative Teaching (INTERACT) program at Columbia University in 2011, and as a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in 2010. He has received grants from the Fulbright IIE Program and from the Middle East Studies Summer Fellowship at Columbia University. His work has been published in Contemporary European History, South European Society and Politics, the European Review of History, South East European and Middle East Studies, and the EUI Review.