From Empire to Republic. Essays on the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey Vol.1-2

İki ciltlik takım,
Cilt 1 292 s, Cilt 2 348 s, İngilizce.

In these two volumes, Feroz Ahmad focuses on a crucial period of Turkish modernisation; from Young Turks to Turkish Republic and the relationship between the Committee of Union and Progress and Modern Turkey. He traces the works of generations of reformers; engineers of a new social structure, as well as events that shaped the modernisation path. These articles especially deal with the period since the 1908 revolution, examining the process by which the new Turkey was formed. Ahmad also underlines the crises of legitimacy that characterized much of the period.

Articles in two volumes are compiled thematically. First volume deals with the “ideas” of modernisation which spans the period of Young Turk Revolution to Kemalist Movement. That volume also elaborates various subjects such as unionist relations with minorities, the social and economic policy of the Young Turks and the political economy of Kemalism. Second volume discusses events of the period and comments from important figures such as Trotsky. This volume also contains articles on development of working-class consciousness, postage stamps that reflect ideology in the late Ottoman Empire and Ottoman perception of the capitulations. These two volumes also shed the light on problems of contemporary Turkey.

Feroz Ahmad’s works on Second Constitutional Monarchy and Modern Turkey are well-known. He is an important historian who observes and evaluates political structure of East; from Muslim India to Turkey. In these volumes, he evaluates the problems of Turkey in the last century and discusses with Turkologists and Turkish intellectuals. These articles are written in various times and compiled in a specific context. İlber Ortaylı