BİR ULUS İNŞA ETMEK: TÜRK TARİH YAZIM BİLİMİNDE BALKAN BÖLGESİNİN YERİ
Forging A Nation: The Role of The Balkans in Turkish Historiography

Summary/Abstract: In Turkish historiography the aspect of ‘nation’ is closely tied to geography. This is not different with other nations. However, one important aspect is that Turkish historiography implements a western concept of ‘the geographical nation’ while the Turkish culture differs in some ways from the western one. The western civilizations are defined by peasants that mostly stayed on one location which made a geographical form of ‘nation’ much more suitable for them. Turkey is found by nomadic horsemen who were never situated on one location but focused on rapid migration. These migrating Turkish tribes crossed continents, from Asia to Europe and even (North) Africa.Therefore, it is not surprising to see that Turkish historiography had to emphasize and leave out certain parts of its history in order to create a geographical focus with only one region. This was especially the case when the Balkans were left out of major historical events in Turkish historiography and replaced by Anatolian events. The focus on pre-Turkish civilizations in Anatolia, like the Sumerians and Hittites, instead of Turkish tribes in the Balkans (for instance the Peçeneks) seems to fit in this picture. This paper will look into this emphasis and neglect in Turkish historiography

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