The “Anti-Nationalist” Liberation of Turkish Historiography

This study examines the distinct approaches to the Byzantine legacy in Turkish historiography offered by three leading Turkish historians: Fuat Köprülü, Ömer Lütfi Barkan and Halil Inalcik, protagonists of three distinct eras of republican/nationalist Turkish historiography, as well as the most significant (in their historical scholarship and in their creation of master narratives) historians of the nation-state. An analysis of their contributions to the subject of the Byzantine legacy works to highlight the ways in which our defensive nationalist historiography has been imagined, as well as the role of our geographical and cultural ancestor within that imagination. This book analyzes the recognitions of this legacy--as well as the lack thereof--, while seeking to situate the different attitudes towards Byzantium within their real and ideological contexts. While all three historians remain prisoners of the nation-state, unable to free themselves from the narrow boundaries of its nationalist ideologies and agendas, the “anti-nationalist liberation” remains a challenge for all Turkish and non-Turkish historians working on the Ottoman Empire or modern Turkey to respond to even today.