Surname narratives and the state-society boundary: Memories of Turkey's family name law of 1934

Middle Eastern Studies

Volumn 43, Issue 6, 2007, Pages 893-908

  Türköz, Meltem ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ETHNIC GROUP; LEGISLATION; POPULATION DISTRIBUTION;

EURASIA; TURKEY;

EID: 35649026931     PISSN: 00263206     EISSN: 17437881     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00263200701568253     Document Type: Article

References (67)

1. Republic of Turkey. Soyadi Kanunu, No. 2525, 21 June 1934.
2. The research for this project took place between 1999 and 2000 primarily in Western Turkey and particularly in Istanbul. I interviewed 60 elderly men and women. Logistical and methodological challenges in the field location altered my initial plans for a multi-site project and the majority of the research was conducted in Istanbul, where I had contacts and access to people from a range of backgrounds. The task of going about finding respondents was both self-evident and challenging. Clearly the first criteria was that the respondents be elderly, and have some memory of the surname law. Just as I was concerned with differences in ethnic background, I was also interested in class and regional affiliation. I was not interested in focusing only on one ethnic or regional group; this methodological decision came from my belief that focusing on one group with the intention of giving voice was not always the most productive. My opinion on this resonates with Dru Gladney's argument that 'too often studies of ethnicity and cultural identity have begun their examinations from the margins without pausing to reflect how the center got to its place' (D. Gladney, Making Majorities: Constituting the Nation in Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia, Fiji, Turkey, and the United States (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 1998), p.2).
3. The majority of my pool of respondents thus comprises men and women who would be considered coming from the majority, or those who would be considered more easily 'Turk' than not because of religious affiliation with Islam. The respondents in the study represent a range of social, professional and ethnic groups but were primarily Muslims of various backgrounds and Armenian men and women in an elderly home. Among them, ten were first generation Muslim immigrants from Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia and Crimea. Eight of the interviewees claimed to be fromfamilies who had been in Istanbul for several generations. Professionally, they ranged from engineers, writers, tradesmen, teachers, farmers, drivers, movie actors, and many of them had performed their professions in the service of the state. Several had been orphaned by events before the 1930s. Armenian respondents came from families which had been reduced by the deportation and killing of many ethnic Armenians by the Ottoman state in 1915. My research followed the 75th year celebrations so there was an awareness of their identity as 'children of the republic'. with schoolteachers and civil servants, even more than others. I describe their narrations to me as history-telling, a term that Alessandro Portelli uses to describe historical narration (A. Portelli, The Battle of Valle Giulia: Oral History and the Art of Dialogue. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997).
4. The Surname Law was followed in December by a measure that declared that religious dress could not be worn in public; in February 1935 the basilica of St. Sophia, which had been a mosque since Turkish conquest of Istanbul in 1453, was declared a museum; and in May 1935 Sunday was made the day of rest instead of Friday. A. Mango, Atatürk (London: John Murray Publishers, 1999), p.499.
5. The Sultanate was abolished in 1922 and the Caliphate, in 1923. In 1925 the Hat Law forbade the wearing of the fez: Republic of Turkey, Law No. 671. Sapka Iktisasi Hakkinda Kanun. Republic of Turkey, Law No. 697. 26/12/1925. Gunun Yirmi Dort Saate Taksimine Dair Kanun (Law on the Division of the Day into Twenty Four Hours) and Law No. 698, 26 December 1925, Takvimde Tarih Mebdeinin Tebili Hakkinda Kanun (Law on the Change of the Calendar) Law No. 1353, Turk Harflerinin Kabulu ve Tatbiki Hakkinda Kanun (Law on the Approval and Application of Turkish Letters).
6. Republic of Turkey. Law No. 2590. Efendi, bey, paşa, gibi lâkab ve ünvanlarin kaldirildiǧina dair kanun (Law on the abolition of such appellations and titles as efendi, bey, and pasha).
7. Republic of Turkey, Law No. 2587, Kemal öz adli Cumhur Reisimize verilen soy adi hakkinda kanun (Law on the Surname given to our President named Kemal)).
8. A. Aktar, 'Cumhuriyet'in Ilk Yíllarínda Uygulanan ''Tü rkleş tirme'' Politikalarí', Tarih ve Toplum, Vol.156 (1996), pp.324-38
9. M. Tuncay, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'nde Tek-Parti Yönetimi'nin Kurulmasí, 1923-1931 (Istanbul: Tarih Vakfí Yurt Yayínlarí 88, 1999 [1981])
10. E.J. Zurcher, Turkey: A Modern History (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, new rev. ed. 1998).
11. R. Bali, Bir Türkleş tirme Serüveni: Cumhuriyet Yíllarínda Türkiye Yahudileri, 1923-1945 (Istanbul: Iletiş im, 1999)
12. F. Ustel, 'Makbul Vatandaş 'ín Peş inde: II. Meş rutiyet'ten Bugü ne Vatandaş lík Eǧitimi (Istanbul: Iletiş im Yayínlarí, 2004).
13. J. Stevens, Reproducing the State (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, c1999).
14. E. Burke, III (ed.), Struggle and Survival in the Middle East (Los Angeles and Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993).
15. J.S. Migdal, State in Society: Studying How States and Societies Transform and Constitute One Another (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
16. A. Schutz and T. Luckmann, The Structures of the Life-world. Translated by Richard M. Zaner and H. Engelhardt, Jr. (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1973).
17. Mardin, Şerif, 'Projects as Methodology: Some Thoughts on Modern Turkish Social Science', in S. Bozdoǧan and R. Kasaba (eds.), Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey (Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1997).
18. The Language Reform (Dil Devrimi) of the 1930s clearly had an impact on surnames and their construction among the population. I have not included discussion of it here because of length concerns.
19. E.J. Zürcher, Turkey: A Modern History (London, New York: I.B. Tauris, 1998), p.195.
20. S. Deringil, 'The Ottoman Origins of Kemalist Nationalism: Namik Kemal to Mustafa Kemal' European History Quarterly, Vol.23 (1993), pp.165-99.
21. For a comparative look at name legislation, see, S. Nautre, Le nom en droit comparé, European University Papers. Series II: Law. Bd/Vol. 180 (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1977)
22. see also T. Scassa, 'National Identity, Ethnic Surnames and the State', Canadian Journal of Law and Society, Vol.11, No.2 (1996), pp.167-91.
23. J. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 1998), p.64.
24. B. Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (Revised Edition) (London, New York: Verso, 1991).
25. Anderson, p.169 (emphasis added).
26. Scott, p.64.
27. I examine the parliament discussions in chapter three of my dissertation, M. Turkoz, 'The Social Life of the State's Fantasy: Memories and Documents on Turkey's Surname Law of 1934' (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 2004).
28. Republic of Turkey, Soy Adí Nizamnamesi, No.2/1759, 27 December 1934.
29. M. Olmez, 'Dil Devrimi Sonrasí Ad ve Soyadlarmíz' [Our Names and Surnames Since the Language Reform], Türklük Bilgisi Araş tírmalarí [Journal of Turkish Studies], Vol.24, No.II (2000), pp.107-17.
30. Newly found documents in the State Archives have revealed further details in the planning and execution phase of the law.
31. Republic of Turkey, TBMM Zabit Ceridesi Devre IVC: 23-24, 1. Co̧cuk Sesi. 171. 10 April 1933, pp.14-15.
32. Name giving by teachers was very prevalent at the beginning of mass immigration after the foundation of Israel. 'Often the names were given by teachers when registering the pupils on the first day of school. Rivka Guber, one of the most famous of the teachers at the time of the mass immigration after the foundation of Israel relates how she changed Persian Fairuz into Hebrew Yitskhaq...' A. Stahl, 'The Imposition of Hebrew Names on New Immigrants to Israel: Past and Present', Names, Vol.42, No.4 (1994), pp.279-88.
33. Çocuk Sesi, No.171, 10 April 1933, pp.14-15.
34. A. Duben, 'Household Formation in Late Ottoman Istanbul', International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol.22 (1990), pp.419-35.
35. Ibid., p.420.
36. Z. Gokalp, 'Turk Ailesi Nasíldí, Nasíl Olacak?' [The Turkish Family: Its Past and Future], Çínaraltí Konuşmalarí [Dialogues Under the Plane Tree], Diyarbakírí Tanítma ve Turizm Derneǧi Yayínlarí: 14 (Ankara: Yargícé oǵlu Matbaasí, 1966; originally published in Cumhuriyet, 27 May 1924), p.45.
37. Republic of Turkey Türk Kanunu Medenisi (Turkish Civil Code) Law No. 743, 17 February 1926). 'The Swiss Code was framed in 1912, and stemmed from Germanic civil law. The latter had been codified in 1874-96 contemporaneously with the codi.cation of the Mecelle, and served as the basis for the framing of the Japanese Civil Code antedating that in Turkey, and the Chinese Code postdating the Turkish one' (N. Berkes, The Development of Secularism in Turkey (London: Hurst and Company, 1998). This is a reprint of the 1964 ed. with a new introduction by Feroz Ahmad).
38. Madde, p.259, Turkish Civil Code Article 259. The legal child carries the father's name and is entitled to his citizenship rights. (Nesebi sahih olan čocuk, babasinin ismini taşir ve onun vatandaş lik haklarina malik olur.)
39. This clause has since been changed and women may keep their own surnames when they are married.
40. S. Cooper, 'Names as Cultural Documents', in A. Demsky, J.A. Reif and J. Tabory (eds.), These are the Names: Studies in Jewish Onomastics (Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 1997), p.20.
41. R.F. Spencer, 'The Social Context of Modern Turkish Names', Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol.17, No.3 (1961), p.218.
42. R. Bulliet, 'First Names and Political Change in Modern Turkey', International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol.9 (1978), p.489.
43. Ibid., p.495.
44. I. Basgoz, 'The Name and Society: A Case Study of Personal Names in Turkey', in K. Silay (ed.), Turkish Folklore and Oral Literature: Selected Essays of Ilhan Basgoz, Indiana University Turkish Studies Series: 19 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998), p.226.
45. A.M. Davies, 'Greek Personal Names and Linguistic Continuity', in E. Matthews and S. Hornblower (eds.), Greek Personal Names: Their Value as Evidence (Oxford, New York: Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 2000), p.38.
46. I. Basgoz, 'The Meaning and Dimension of Change of Personal Names in Turkey', in Silay (ed.), Turkish Folklore and Oral Literature: Selected Essays of Ilhan Basgoz, p.214.
47. I. Aksu, The Story of Turkish Surnames: An Onomastic Study of Turkish Family Names, Their Origins and Related Matters, Vol.1 (Cé anakkale: Olay Gazete, 2006).
48. H. Goldberg, 'Names in their Social Contexts: An Anthropological Perspective', in A. Demsky, J.A. Reif and J. Tabory (eds.), These are the Names: Studies in Jewish Onomastics (Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 1997), p.58.
49. O. Degn, 'The Fixation of the Danish Patronymics in the 19th Century and the Law', Onoma, Vol.34 (1999), pp.59-76.
50. In his study of a fishing community in Portugal, Jan Brogger refers to the division between local naming practices and those of the state. He describes the pre-bureaucratic community and states: 'The bureaucratic corpus of names then serves as a linguistic uniform, ''a grey flannel suit,'' which deprives the holder of any measure of personal distinction and only allows for completely arbitrary combinations of morphemes to keep one person apart from the other'. J. Brogger, Pre-bureaucratic Europeans: A Study of a Portuguese Fishing Community (Oslo: Norwegian University Press, 1990), p.61.
51. Personal Interview, Orhan Asena, October 1999, Ankara, Turkey.
52. Personal Interview, Nevres Sorman, née Gülten, 10 October 2000.
53. Personal Interview, Orhan Sorman, October 2000, Istanbul, Turkey.
54. According to Geoffrey Lewis, the suffxes -men and -man infiltrated the Turkish vocabulary during the language reform when they were looking for a proper word to replace mutehassis, an Arabic borrowing meaning 'expert'. Apparently the early Ottoman historian Fuad Koprülü came up with the word uzman to replace it; the first syllable, uz denoted skilled craftsman, and the second syllable was adopted from the vatman, the person who ran a streetcar, which was adopted from the French usage, wattman, which was the combination of watt and the English word, man. Since this was such a success, the reformers continued to add the su.x to many other words such as öǧretmen (the root verb ogret, means teach, making the word, 'teacher'), secmen (voter), or okutman (teacher). The Secretary-General of the Language Society Ibrahim Necmi, for example, took the surname 'Dilmen' compounded of the Turkish dil (language and non-Turkish -man. G. Lewis, The Turkish Language Reform (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).
55. Transcribed Notes from Population Office Records, 10 December 1934.
56. Interview. Maltepe Elderly Home: October 2000, Istanbul.
57. Ibid.
58. Aramyan kabul olmazsa 8 isimlerin birisi elbette kabul olunacakdír Şayet cetvelde yoksa zaten aram manasínca istirahat demektir ve öz türkçe olduǧu için kabul olmasíní zen/zan ederim.
59. Interview Astgik Divan, March 2000, Soeurs de Pauvres.
60. Ibid. Another of her brothers had fled to Paris; she said she had recently seen him, after 70 years of being apart.
61. The Law Designating Trades and Services to Turkish Citizens. Republic of Turkey. 6 November 1932, law number 2007.
62. Personal Interview, Sami Altíndaǧ, June 2000, Istanbul.
63. Interview, Mahmut Tüzün, July 1998, Gaziantep.
64. It could also be the case that the population official would insist that an individual keep a name. Halil Dravacíoǧlu from Yeni Foča told me that in his case the population official objected to his request for a change in surname, claiming his name was 'historical'. According to the bearer of this name, his name means the umpire in a game of 'cirit'.
65. Tescilinde mahzur yoktur.
66. Portelli, The Battle of Valle Giulia, p.25.
67. Burke.