Naming and Nation-building in Turkey : The 1934 Surname Law

"This book examines how the Turkish Surname Law of 1934 was adopted and reframed in diverse social contexts at a time of top down nationalism. Through historical ethnography, the author explores the genesis of the law, its drafting in parliament, the Turkish Language Reform, and its reception. The project draws from an oral historical narrative, official parliamentary and registry documents, and popular media."-- Back cover Guide to Spelling and Pronunciation and Special Characters 5 Acknowledgments 6 Contents 10 List of Figures 12 Chapter 1: Introduction: Surnames and the Construction of Turkish Citizens 14 Kemalist Reforms and Critical Perspectives 17 The Surname Law in Scholarship 20 Ottoman and Turkish Cultures of Names and Titles 22 Ottoman Naming 24 Registration of Citizens from Ottoman to Republic 25 Names and the Law 25 Interpreting Names: Names as Historical and Ethnographic Sources 29 Surname Law in Recent Research 31 Organization of the Book 32 My Study and Methods 34 Conclusion 35 Bibliography 38 Chapter 2: Intellectual Precursors and Cultural Context: Turkology, Language Reform, and Surnames 43 Turks, Islam, and Osmanlıca 44 Turkology and the Discovery of the Turkic Golden Age 47 Ziya Gökalp, Turkish Families, and Names as Solidarity Tools 51 Language Reform, Pre- and Post-1930 53 The Elusive Modern: Form and Content in Portrayals of Social Change in the 1930s 61 Caricature in Turkey and the Middle East 63 Bibliography 72 Chapter 3: Making, Disseminating, and Enforcing the Law 75 Names in the Civil Code 76 Early Circulars and Draft Laws and the Role of Islam in Naming 76 Making the Law 81 Rationales: Catching Up, Restoring, and Cries of the Children 81 Naming the Surname 81 Did the Turks Have Surnames Before 1934? 84 Restrictions and Un-Naming 86 Tribal Entities and the Resettlement Law 90 The Matter of Ugly or Grandiose Names 90 Shedding of Titles and the Revelation of Authenticity (Images 3.2 and 3.3) 91 The Law on Apellations 91 A Deep and Forward Revolutionary Matter: Enforcing the Surname Law 99 The Ceremony of Name-Taking Among RPP Elite 100 Bibliography 104 Chapter 4: Generating Surnames in Theory and Practice: Surnames Booklets and Registry Documents 106 Proliferation of Onomastic Stock: Surname Booklets 106 The Population Office and Population Officials in Documents 114 Privilege and Varieties of Choice 118 Greek, Armenian, and Jewish Names in Registries 119 Bibliography 126 Chapter 5: The Social Life of the State’s Fantasy 127 Seeking Out the National Past at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century 127 Interview Contexts 128 Reported Rationales for the Law 130 Choosing a Name from the Books 133 Historicity and Its Aural Burdens 135 Unaccompanied Minors 136 Immediate Circumstance as Baptismal Event 138 Surnames as Cultural Texts: The Matter of Hazelnuts 140 Substituting “Surnames for Surnames” 142 Bestowal as Baptismal Event 145 Nicknames, Surnames and Breaking the Speech Chain 146 How to Forget a Nickname 147 Division of Names and Families 148 Tribes 149 Bibliography 151 Chapter 6: The Burden of Minority Names 152 Non-Muslims as Dhimma and Millet Members 153 Great Power Protection and Nationalism 154 Tanzimat and the Minorities 154 The First World War and the Turkish War of Independence 155 Minorities and the Surname Law 157 We Could Have Been a Village: Armenian Memories 159 The Lightness of Divan, the Heaviness of the -Yan 159 Anatolia and Armenian Absence 160 Goldberg/Altındağ: Turkey’s Jews and Translated Identity 163 Turkey’s Jews and Their Relationship to the State 165 Bibliography 171 Chapter 7: Turkish Surnames and Their Critics Since 1934 172 Critics from the Conservative Right 172 Name Changes Post 1930s 176 Names as Sites of Contestation in Turkey Today 178 Bibliography 182 Chapter 8: The Legacy of the Surname Law and Defensive Nationalism in the Twenty-­First Century 183 Bibliography 189 Appendix A: Soy Adı Kanunu (The Surname Law) 191 Appendix B: Soy adı nizamnamesi (The Surname Regulation)1 194 Section I: Special Judgments 194 Section II: The Surname 195 Section III: The Right and Duty to Choose the Surname 196 Bibliography 199 Index 217 Front Matter ....Pages i-xiv Introduction: Surnames and the Construction of Turkish Citizens (Meltem Türköz)....Pages 1-29 Intellectual Precursors and Cultural Context: Turkology, Language Reform, and Surnames (Meltem Türköz)....Pages 31-62 Making, Disseminating, and Enforcing the Law (Meltem Türköz)....Pages 63-93 Generating Surnames in Theory and Practice: Surnames Booklets and Registry Documents (Meltem Türköz)....Pages 95-115 The Social Life of the State’s Fantasy (Meltem Türköz)....Pages 117-141 The Burden of Minority Names (Meltem Türköz)....Pages 143-162 Turkish Surnames and Their Critics Since 1934 (Meltem Türköz)....Pages 163-173 The Legacy of the Surname Law and Defensive Nationalism in the Twenty-First Century (Meltem Türköz)....Pages 175-182 Back Matter ....Pages 183-213