On 29 October 2023, the Republic of Turkey will celebrate its centenary - and the journalist Çiğdem Akyol uses this occasion to reflect on the history of Turkey to the present day.
When the republic was established in 1923, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk separated religion from the state, but his reforms were carried out in an autocratic manner. Since then, Turkey has been plagued by conflicts between the left and the right, democrats and authoritarians, Kemalists and conservatives. Later came military putsches, years of terror, and the rise of the Islamist Party and of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Çiğdem Akyol's account of the history of the Turkish republic is exciting and full of empathy for the country where her family has its roots. Drawing on conversations and eyewitness reports, she also describes the everyday life of the people and her view of her homeland. Consequently, there are some surprising answers to many questions: Which consequences of the radical break with the Ottaman heritage are still in evidence today? What does Atatürk's national state mean today? Why has the conflict between the Kurdish population and Ankara not ended up until now? And who is profiting from changes occurring under Erdoğan's rule?
This is a multifaceted portrait of a country situated between Asia and Europe, between democracy and autocracy, containing many quotes from Turkish people on the situation in their country, including the journalists Bülent Mumay and Can Dündar, the feminist Büşra Cebeci, and the former Foreign Minister Yaşar Yakış.
