Benefitting from the ambiguity: the issue of the ‘Turkishness’ of the Jewish minority in the first decade of the Turkish Republic

Abstract

This article attempts to contextualize the situation of the Jewish community recognized as a minority group in the Treaty of Lausanne within a wider framework of Turkish nationalism during the first decade of the Republic. It will claim that the ruling elite of the Republic concurrently defined ‘Turkishness’ on inclusive and exclusive terms. While in theory, Turkish nationalism was a ‘civic’ nationalism defining ‘Turkishness’ based on citizenship, when it came to practice, all citizens of the Republic were not privy to this identity; some of them, especially Jews, were expected to prove their loyalty in order to become equal members of the nation. This article claims that the contradictory attitude of the ruling elite – keeping the definition of ‘Turkishness’ ambiguous – had the purpose of constructing a cohesive and homogenous national community. In line with this ambiguous definition of ‘Turkishness’, the ruling elite developed an ambivalent attitude towards non-Muslim minorities and their place in the nation and the Jews of Turkey were affected the most by this precarious attitude.