Abstract:

Translation has played a significant part in the early modernization phase of the Turkish Republic. Detachment from the imperial heritage of the Ottoman state was associated with impersonating the cultural and political aspects of the Western civilization, and “modernization” was perceived mostly as “Westernization”. As a result, modernization in Turkey was mostly led by literature, law, architecture and fashion trends “translated” from the West. This paper will look into the reforms and changes in literature, law, architecture and attire especially during the early years of the Turkish modernization –or Westernization– movement, construe these as acts of translation, and will investigate the nature and consequences of this translation. Cited scholars will include Feroz Ahmad and Geoffrey Lewis for the history of the Turkish revolution, Şehnaz Tahir Gürçağlar and Ayşe Banu Karadağ for the history of translation, and Walter Andrews, Victoria Holbrook and Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar for the history of Turkish literature. The urban planning ventures of the Republican era will be studied in reference to Esra Akcan’s Modernity in Translation.

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