Turkey, towards Cultural Reconfiguration

The continuation of the Arab Spring revived Turkey’s traditional ambitions. Today Turkey, which is Sunni-Muslim, has the opportunity to re-control its old Arab colonies. This Turkish re-control can take any form of political alliance between the Muslim Middle East countries with Istanbul being the center of this new alliance.This Turkish ambition may be realized through strengthening the Muslim Brotherhood Movements (MBM) in the different Arab countries.

Cultural Reconfiguration and Revivalism of Islam of Modern Turkey

However, in recent history Turkish politics has been subject to vast changes in its make-up. Since the 1980 military intervention, and perhaps even earlier, the subject of religious revivalism has been in the forefront of the Kemalist republic. While many countries in the Middle East have witnessed religious upheaval in recent past.A new middle class became visible after the 1980’s, accepting the ethical standards and cultural values of the traditional order but also adopted the rational business rules and the profit motive of the capitalist market system.  The new Turkish Islamic middle middle, and upper middle classes are very good examples of capitalistic spirit both as believers and entrepreneurs.

Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk the founder of the Turkish Republic and it's first President, is the national hero of Turkey. He has founded the modern Turkish Republic out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire; which was in recession period and came to known as the "the sick man of Europe" at the end of the 18th century. He created a secular state understanding which is unique among Islamic countries. His modern perspective created a new country and a nation with great new visions and aims to achieve ahead. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk differed from the dictators of his age in two significant respects.

Modernization of Turkey under Ottoman Era

Mahmud started the modernization of Turkey by paving the way for the Edict of Tanzimat 1839 which instituted European-style clothing, uniforms, weapons, architecture, education, legislation, banking, institutional organization, agricultural and industrial innovations, new technologies in transport and communications, and land reform. During the Tanzimat period from Arabic tanzīm, meaning "organization" the government's series of constitutional reforms led to a fairly modern conscripted army, banking system reforms, the decriminalisation of homosexuality, the replacement of religious law with secular law and guilds with modern factories. In 1856, the Hatt-Humayan promised equality for all Ottoman citizens regardless of their ethnicity and religious confession; which thus widened the scope of the 1839 Hatt-e Gulhane. Overall, the Tanzimat reforms had far-reaching effects.

Modernization and Cultural Reconfiguration: Cultural Features of Turkey under Ottoman Empire

The political and geographical entity governed by the Muslim Ottoman Turks and Their Empire was centered in present-day Turkey, and extended its influence into southeastern Europe as well as the Middle East. Europe was only temporarily able to resist their advance. The turning point came at the Battle of Varna in 1444 when a European coalition army failed to stop the Turkish advance. Only Constantinople remained in Byzantine hands and its conquest in 1453 seemed inevitable after Varna. The Turks subsequently established an empire in Anatolia and southeastern Europe which lasted until the early twentieth century. Although the Ottoman Empire is not considered a European kingdom per se, Ottoman expansion had a profound impact on a continent already stunned by the calamities of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and the Ottoman Turks must, therefore, be considered in any study of Europe in the late Middle Ages.