The ideology and textbooks : "Turkish Republic history of renovation and Ataturkism" textbooks (1980-1990)

This study aims to analyze the specific understanding of history in the 1980s in Turkey. It is argued that this particular historical understanding is ideologically shaped by Kemalism and Turkish-Islamic Synthesis discourse. These two contradictory and complementary views exist together in the "Turkish Republic History of Renovation and Ataturkism" textbooks, which are used as a tool to convey the regime's ideological stance to the high-school students. In this context, these textbooks are examined in terms of their contents with regard to an identity formation characterized by nationalist, statist, religious but secular values.