From 330 to 1453 A.D., Constantinople became first the strategic position on the land route from the west to the east and then the important trading center of the eastern Empire. During this period the Italian cities had to cope with the "Question of the Straits" among themselves. For them, it was merely a commercial question. For the Greeks it was an important question since the city needed to be defended against the onslaught of the Moslems by means of the city's strong walls and by the active fleet in the Straits. The conquest of the Straits by the Turks, beginning around the middle of the fourteenth century lasted for about an hundred years. They accomplished this conquest in 1453. Gradually the Turks were able to extend their control over the entire Black Sea Area, and until that time the Black Sea was not entirely closed to trade. However, beginning in 1475 and lasting until 1774, the Black Sea was considered as a "virgin sea". Not until Russia had established herself upon the northern shores of the Black Sea did Turkey give up her exclusive control over all shipping within that body of water. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, all of the important countries of Europe had gained permission to pass their commerce through the Straits into the Black Sea. The problem of commercial freedom during peace time was pretty well settled, but Turkey through her control was able to prevent foreign warships from using the Straits and from entering the Black Sea. The purpose of this paper is to give an account of the events which took place during the years 1914-1923 in the establishment of a "New Regime of the Straits."

This study seeks to analyze the Turkish nation-building process during the early Republican period (1920-1938). In doing this, the substantive focus will be on three main dimensions --language, education, and citizenship -- with particular emphasis on the rhetoric and actions of the political elite. / By looking at language, education, and citizenship policies, and their formulations, the present analysis will make three main propositions: First, and in contrast to the existing literature on nations and nation-building, it will be demonstrated that the process of Turkish nation-building was neither a smooth nor an automatic process. Moreover, during the period under analysis, there were competing definitions of nationhood which were taken up, and discussed by the political elite. The final conceptualization of nationhood --which took an assimilationist form with an ethnic understanding attached to it -- was formed over time. At times, the process was wrought with tensions as illustrated by the heated debates among the political elite. / Second, the present analysis will seek to bring together two different ways of looking at nation formation. More specifically, the analysis will attempt to bridge the gap between those works which only underline the role of ideas in the formation of nations, and those which emphasize the role of structural forces. By paying attention to the "voices" (and actions) of the political elite, this study will demonstrate that it is not only ideas, nor is it only structural forces that matter. Rather, the crystallization of the contents of Turkish nationhood illustrates the interplay of ideological as well as geopolitical and political forces. / Third, a detailed analysis of the trajectory of Turkish nation-building and the formulation of Turkish nationhood reveals the complexity of this process. The existing literature on Turkey tends to treat the Kemalist era as an undifferentiated whole. The present work will remain critical to such an outlook. Instead, and by looking at the shifting conceptualizations of nationhood, it will seek to demonstrate the complexity and contingent nature of the Turkish nation-building process.

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Il s'agit d'étudier la tentative de la Turquie de se positionner comme une puissance sur les échiquiers eurasiens et caucasiens sous la présidence de Turgut Ozal / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished