20. YÜZYIL TÜRK MİLLİYETÇİLİĞİNİN DÖNÜŞÜMÜ BAĞLAMINDA NİHAL ATSIZ’IN RADİKAL PAN-TÜRKİZMİ

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Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the ideological legacy of the prominent Turkish historian, writer, and thinker Nihal Atsız within the context of the evolution of Turkish nationalism in the 20th century. The study examines in depth Atsız’s complex and contradictory views that challenged the official Kemalist narrative in the early years of the Turkish Republic; his significant contribution to the popularization of the pre-Islamic history and cultural codes of Turkic peoples, along with such elements as racial determinism, irredentism, and revanchism. The article discusses in detail the doctrinal split between Atsız and Alparslan Türkeş, the paradoxical transition from antisemitic rhetoric to interest in the Israeli state-building experience, and the reflection of this intellectual legacy in contemporary debates on Turkic world integration. The research reveals that Atsız’s biologically based radical Pan-Turkist model, when compared with the cultural nationalism paradigm (Ziya Gökalp’s line), produces different theoretical and practical outcomes for cooperation processes among contemporary Turkic states. Thus, the Atsız phenomenon serves as an important analytical example for understanding the internal tensions of modern Turkish nationalism.