Claiming civilizations: The geographical imagination of blue anatolianism in modern Türkiye

Abstract

Blue Anatolianism, first conceptualized by the Turkish intellectual Cevat & Scedil;akir Kabaa & gbreve;a & ccedil;l & imath;, asserts that, unlike the geographical imaginations of Ottomanism, Islamism, and Turkism, which were promoted as social identity projects during the Late Ottoman and Early Republican periods in today's T & uuml;rkiye, the various civilizations that have inhabited Anatolia have historically intertwined and synthesized on the peninsula, ultimately creating a distinct Anatolian identity. Blue Anatolianism, a new geographical imagination that focuses on cultural continuity rather than differences such as religion, language, or race, took root in Kabaa & gbreve;a & ccedil;l & imath;'s life during his period of exile in Bodrum (Halicarnassus) and gained recognition through the blue voyages he initiated immediately after World War II. Thanks to the semi-regular sea voyages made by a group of intellectuals along the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts of Turkey in the post-war period, Blue Anatolianism quickly gained both a core group and prominent supporters within the intellectual community. However, the political polarization in T & uuml;rkiye during the Cold War, based on the left-right divide in the 1960s and 1970s and the nationalist-conservative ideology promoted as an antidote to socialism after the 1980 military coup, prevented Blue Anatolianism from reaching a wider audience and confined it to an intellectual circle. Nevertheless, revisiting Blue Anatolianism today as a geographical imagination holds the promise of overcoming the increasingly growing identity conflicts and social polarization in the country.