Narratives of the ideal Turk image in Turkish collective memory: an analysis of TV dramas “Payitaht: Abdülhamid II” and “Mehmetçik Kût-ül Amâre”

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the construction of the ideal Turk images by the television dramas Payitaht: Abdülhamid II and Mehmetçik Kût-ül Amâre in relation to the production of collective memory. They are examined within the framework of JDP s nationalism project, in particular the similarities and differences of the JDP s ideal image from the initial concept of ideal citizen constructed during the years of the early Republic. The aim of this thesis is to show what kind of an ideal citizen the JDP government constructs and implies it through revisiting the existing elements of the ideal citizen which exists in Turkish collective memory in relation to their nationalism project. The characteristics of the represented ideal image is analyzed based on the four most repeated notions in both series. The ideal Turk s understanding of what their national duties are, their relationship withIslam, the West and the internal others have been determined as categories of analysis.After that, the changes and continuities between this narration and the official narration that is constructed during the first years of the new Republic is acknowledged with relation to the present government s doctrine.