Turkey Blog #4. Cultural Imperialism and the Ottoman Empire

Turkey Blog #4. Cultural Imperialism and the Ottoman Empire

Dictionary.com defines Cultural Imperialism as “The imposition of a foreign viewpoint or civilization on a people.” If one looks into Turkey’s past they will find that cultural imperialism has played an important role for the country and its relationships with its surrounding neighbors.
Turkey and cultural imperialism is much less prevalent now than it was one hundred years ago before World War 1. One hundred years ago the Ottoman Empire existed where Turkey and a handful of other countries do today. The Ottoman Empire included parts of Italy, Greece, Iraq, and Syria. But on August 10th 1920 a peace treaty was established called Treaty of Sevres, this broke up the Ottoman Empire into multiple countries but the new country of Turkey retained Istanbul.

(Figure 1­ The spread of the Ottoman Empire)

The after effects of imperialism when the Ottoman Empire broke down help us understand the relationship Turkey has with the surrounding countries. Islands between Greece and Turkey, along with a few countries in the Middle East (Iraq and Syria) were particularly affected. After the Treaty of Sevres, another treaty would arise in a few years called the Treaty of Lausanne. This new treaty allowed Turkey to gain eastern Thrace, Several Aegean islands, the strip along Syrian border, and zone of the straits. This resulted in political controversy over the portions of Greece the Ottoman Empire previously controlled.

Figure 2.­ Breakdown of the Ottoman Empire 1920.

Turkey’s culture has been affected by the imperialism of the Ottoman Empire. There have been political coups d'etat and unrest within the government of Turkey, but surrounding countries like Syria have had political strain with Turkey after the break away with the Ottoman Empire. The end of the Ottoman Empire has caused Greece and Turkey confusion over the ownership of the bordering islands between them. Clearly imperialism once unified this area of the world, but since the fall of the Ottoman Empire it has had moments of cultural unrest.

Text Sources

Burak Sansal. All About Turkey. 1996–2014. Web. 23 Sep, 2­14. http://www.allaboutturkey.com/antlasma.htm

Definition
"cultural imperialism." The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 11 Nov. 2014. <Dictionary.comhttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cultural imperialism>.


Figure Sources 

Figure 1
Devillier Donegan Enterprises. Lawrence of Arabia.
Web. 23 Sep, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/lawrenceofarabia/features/non_flash/ottoman1.html

Figure 2
http://www.gwpda.org/gifs/turk1920.gif

Lt. Colonel Lawrence Martin. Geographer of the Institute of Politics at Williamstown,

MA, 1921­27