The modern republic of Turkey may believe its borders were historically fixed, but Benjamin C Fortna’s The Shortest History of Turkey shows that the country is a palimpsest of cultural, political, and religious developments. From what defines someone as a “Turk” to how its borders have been contested in the past, the book attempts to tell the nation’s story concisely and effectively. It’s often believed that Turkey has been subject to riveting historical and political changes but has remained constant and has kept its essence. Fortna looks at this particular belief through a critical lens even as he keeps Turks at the core.
Placing contemporary politics under President Erdoğan at the centre, the author presents the direct connection between the government and the governed. The decision to call the country “Turkey” or “Türkiye” then is the entry point to questions about representation, legitimacy, and cultural inheritance. Viewed from this perspective, the seemingly harmless shift reflects a deeper anxiety about how the country is perceived by the West.
One of the strong points of this book is the focus on the structural remnants of the Ottoman Empire that have been carried forward into the Turkish republic. While modern Turkey emerged from the Empire, it is also the result of a rebellion against it. Some rulers like Erdogan have attempted to fit the republic into the older history of this traditional Turkic state but the early Kemalists tried to entirely separate the republic from its Ottoman and Islamic roots. Fortna dissects both these narratives, revealing ideological underpinnings that cannot be ignored. While the founders of the republic drove the narrative of a forward-looking, assimilative, and secular state, Erdogan aims to rekindle a deeper civilizational thread. These differing visions of Turkey reveal a nation that’s complex at its core.
The Ottoman Empire is often perceived as being congruent with orthodox Islamic values. However, it was actually a dynamic, absorptive, and blended society with influences from Central Asia, Byzantium, Persia, the Arab world, and Europe. “Ottoman Fusion” led to the vast array of mixed and hybrid architecture, literature, and societal norms. The Ottoman Turkish language with its Turkish grammatical base enriched by Arabic and Persian itself became a symbol of this synthesis. Moreover, the land was populated by Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Kurds, Albanians and Bosnians, among many others – a strong marker that “pluralism” had arrived in Turkey much earlier and was one of its strongest suits. Over the years, however, the people and culture succumbed to homogenising nationalist “grand narratives” which resulted in forced migrations, conversions, and the suppression of minorities. Fortna believes recent attempts to straighten and simplify the nation’s history will never be successful. The lingering traces of a shared Anatolian past, the hidden ancestries including the Armenian strain, and Kurdish names of places, can be physically erased but their memory will remain and speak for itself.
The author also dissects the contradictions of Kemalism and political Islam. Kemalism presented itself as modernizing but carried traces of authoritarianism. Similarly, the Justice and Development Party, which claimed to fight against authoritarianism, ended up being charged with cronyism and with valuing their ideology more than the interests of the people. This was exemplified by the 2023 earthquake, which revealed immense government failure and media control. It was the opposite of what were supposed to be the ideals of modern Turkey.
Today, Turkey is mired in conflicts between centralisation and regional autonomy, Islam and secularism, pluralism and homogenisation. But it is also true that the country has always dealt with such contradictions. Unbiased and critical, this book recognises that this pattern also explains the contemporary political situation.
In this compacted history of a nation, certain events foreground themselves while others don’t. The form and the complex language used might drive away readers who are unfamiliar with the subject. However, for those eager to know more about Turkey, this thought-provoking narrative reveals a nation that’s not a monolith, but a contested site of political and regional debates. In sum, The Shortest History of Turkey is an ideal entry point for readers looking for a critical lens on Ottoman legacy, Kemalist transformation, and Erdogan-era politics.
Saleem Rashid Shah is an independent writer and a book critic based in Kashmir.
