Excesses of nationalism: Greco‐Turkish population exchange

This article studies 1923 compulsory population exchange between Greece and Turkey through a case study of its experience in Izmir. It traces the ways the early Republican state engaged in the project of reshaping the population by eliminating the non‐Muslims who were rendered as ‘excesses’ in the spatial and discursive matrices of the nation‐state. Through the experience of the exchange in Izmir, it argues that the process of the accommodation and assimilation of the exchangees played a significant role in shaping the modalities of Turkish nationalism by creating new lines and fissures, further dividing the ‘Muslim brethren’ into ever restrictive constructions of Turkishness. It also underlines that this forced displacement is not just a significant episode in Greek and Turkish histories but that it represents a turning point in the project of nation formation in general.     

Petrographic and geochemical investigations of the late prehistoric ceramics from Sos Höyük,Erzurum (Eastern Anatolia)

Ceramics from the late prehistoric periods at Sos Höyük, in Eastern Anatolia, located along a thoroughfare that connects the Trans-Caucasus, Iran and central Anatolia, were subjected to petrographic and X-ray fluorescence analysis in order to characterise the clay groups, with a view to determining provenance and production patterns. Dominated by Kura-Araxes Ware, the data from the sequence at Sos Höyük were compared with the previous studies from the neighbouring regions to understand commonalities in pottery production. The analyses reveal a local production of vessels, most probably for household use. Although Sos Höyük potters shared similarities in the procurement pattern of raw clays and production technique with their neighbours, differences can be also recognized.     

Structural Change,the Social Policy Environment and Female Employment in Turkey

Since the 1970s, a series of demand and supply related changes have led to significant labour market transformations which have brought about a sustained increase in female employment throughout the world. While similar transformations have also been underway in Turkey, the country appears to be one of the rare exceptions to worldwide trends. During the last two decades both female labour force participation and female employment rates have declined at national level. In this article, two sets of questions are posed to explore the factors likely to influence female labour force participation. One set of questions pertains to the society‐specific dynamics of structural change in employment patterns in Turkey, with particular reference to the level and composition of employment in the service sector. A second set of questions is posed to examine labour market relations and the social policy environment in Turkey, and their impact on the demand for and supply of female labour. Current changes in the prevailing policy environment are considered to highlight a certain contradiction in the attitudes of decision makers who seem to be faced with a trade‐off between continuing adherence to conservative patriarchal values and the objectives of increasing labour force participation and combating poverty.     

The Balkan Wars and the rise of the reactionary modernist utopia in young Turk thought and the journal Türk Yurdu [Turkish Homeland]

The article examines the rise of the ‘reactionary modernist’ project that developed after the devastating defeat of the Balkan Wars and which was promoted by the Young Turks by means of articles published in Turkish Homeland, the intellectual platform of the Young Turks. The article argues that the outlines of this project to a large extent shaped the contours of Turkish nationalism then, and that they have hence been constitutive of Turkish nationalism ever since.     

Armenian women of Istanbul: notes on their role in the survival of the Armenian community

This article argues that the Armenian women living in Istanbul are confined to domestic and communal spaces, and that the roles of symbolizing collective territory and identity, and of cultural reproduction of the community, are mostly associated with women. The data and observations we explore here are based on a field survey of Turkey's Armenian community that was conducted in Istanbul between November 2004 and May 2005. Evaluation of this survey based on both quantitative and qualitative methods allows us to draw some conclusions about the roles of Armenian women in the reproduction of Armenian culture. Women's roles indirectly influence Armenian identity, creating the conditions for its survival.     

Egyptian Blue cakes from the Ayanis fortress (Eastern Anatolia,Turkey): micro-chemical and -structural investigations for the identification of manufacturing process and provenance

The microstructure and chemical composition of blue cakes, found during the archaeological excavation of the Ayanis fortress (Eastern Anatolia, Turkey), have been investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM–EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), micro-Raman (μ-Raman) and optical microscopy (OM) techniques. The analysis of the Ayanis cakes has shown the presence of Egyptian blue (i.e. CuCaOSi₄O₁₀, cuprorivaite), as the major component, intermixed with minor amount of other phases such as partially reacted quartz grains, an adherent glass phase and copper oxides. Since the finding of Egyptian Blue in Turkey has been never reported so far, great attention has been paid to its characterisation. The micro-chemical and micro-structural investigations of the Ayanis cakes have allowed a further insight into the manufacturing process and into the sources of the starting materials. The results of the characterisation have revealed some significant differences with respect to Egyptian blue cakes found in Egypt and Mesopotamia, as for instance the absence of tin excluded the use of bronze scraps or filings in their preparation differently from those produced in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Furthermore, some peculiarities of Egyptian blue found in Ayanis, as the detection of zinc in the cakes, allow to put forward the hypothesis of a local production considering that a large part of the bronze artefacts found at the Ayanis fortress is characterised by the presence of zinc as minor alloying element.     

A multi-analytical approach to characterize an Early Bronze Age cosmetic material from Müslümantepe,Southeastern Anatolia

The present paper reports the chemical and mineralogical composition of a black pigment material contained in a Syrian Bottle-shaped vessel excavated on an Early Bronze Age grave in Müslümantepe, a site located at the right bank of the Tigris River in Southeastern Anatolia. A combination of different analytical tools like state-of-the-art non-destructive μ-XRD², μ-XRF and μ-Raman spectroscopy compared to classical powder XRD was used to characterize the content of the bottle. The results attest the presence of a manganese mineral (pyrolusite) most probably used for cosmetic purposes. This is the first evidence, which is scientifically tested, of the earliest use of cosmetics in the Upper Tigris of Southeastern Anatolia during the Early Bronze Age period, c. 2700–2550 bc.