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

Abstract

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.