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Modernity of Interwar Turkey through the Eyes of Yugoslav Travelers (1923-1941)

The establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and the modernisation efforts of its government led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk have been a recurrent theme of books, journals and newspaper articles published by Yugoslav (Serbian, Croat, Bosnian-Herzegovinian, Slovenian, etc.) travellers through Turkey of the Interwar Period. The main characteristics of their views on modernity of Turkey were based on the dichotomy between the “old”, “traditional” and “backward” Ottoman Empire versus the “new”, “modern” and “revolutionary” Turkish nation-state. Yugoslav travellers never missed the chance to mention their views on the „new Turkey“ and to reflect on numerous modern changes Turkey introduced in the field of law, religion, women’s rights, economy, etc. In their eyes, through its modernisation efforts, Turkey had become similar to western European countries and a role model for Yugoslavia and other Balkan countries. Unlike the Ottoman Empire, which had been perceived as a hostile country, Yugoslav travellers presented Turkey to the Yugoslav public as, at the very least, a neutral country, or even a positive one ; thus the discourse of Turks as the European Other had changed.

interwar Turkey; Kingdom of Yugoslavia; travel writing; Interwar Period; modernity

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