Abstract:

This article proposes to rethink power relations in the Early Republican Period, through a critical approach, with an emphasis on public opposition. In this way, the protests against the Turkish Ezan in Bursa in 1933 (known as the Bursa Incident) are analyzed by problematizing how the policies of One Party government regarding religious life have changed in connection with the demands and expectations of the public. Correspondingly, the opposition movements at the provincial parts of the country are analyzed in terms of the concept of "resistance". At first, the article claims a critical approach to public opposition in terms of historiography, and the practices of the government in the religious field are examined within this framework. Subsequently, the government policy on the vernacularization of worship language from Arabic into Turkish is analyzed through "Bursa Incident" in order to explain the basis and conditions of public opposition. Based on the "Bursa Incident" case, in this study, it is aimed to draw attention to the determinative impact of resistance practices in the power relations which are assumed to be embodied in the provinces in the context of local factors; besides an alternative approach is aimed to be developed regarding historiography, about the handling ways of public opposition.

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