Ottomanism Between Ideology and Realpolitik

The chapter delves into the intellectual landscape surrounding national identity in the early twentieth-century Ottoman Empire. Specifically, it examines the debates regarding Yusuf Akçura’s renowned article, “The Three Kinds of Policy,” which delineated what is commonly known in historiography as (pan-)Ottomanism (Osmanlıcılık), (pan-)Islamism (İslamcılık), and (pan-)Turkism (Türkçülük) as the three distinct policies of nationalism available for the Ottoman statesmen to pursue in fostering national unity. While Akçura’s work is often cited as a prominent example of emerging Turkish nationalism, this chapter contends that his stance was not unequivocal, as indicated by his self-identification as an “Ottoman Muslim Turk.” By emphasizing the highly adaptable, ambiguous, and composite nature of Ottoman national identity, the chapter argues that this composite identity, manifested in public debates and discourses in various forms, was the prevailing norm rather than the exception.