The article is a dissertation documented by Yucel Demirer, discussing the study of the contested versions of the solar New Year celebration, and also studies their political and cultural effects on the Turkish political scene (Demirer 5). The author tries to compare the developments of the solar New Year celebrations and also to analyze the relationship between the spheres of traditional culture and the political decision-making process (Demirer).
The author uses the approach of “viewing performance as crucial to the process of identity creation and collective communication” (Demirer 66). “The repeated behavior modes manifest the cultural outcome of the construct power relations and also provide the multilayered frames in which various reality readings are possible” (Yanik 296). The author suggests that “it is possible to observe the deeper layers of social-political reality by studying the difference between the ideal and the actual” (Demirer 7). The author seeks to understand cultural operations that are related to the political sphere.
The author tries to analyze the historical origin of the Turkish republic and tries to relate the political celebrations with the cultural ones; he also tries to find the relationship between the two. “The study of the historical background of the contested reapplications,” (Demirer 92) the author declares that “the new Turkish republic attached itself to the nationalist values of the west and forsaken the Islam and civilization, which it has continued to distance itself from” (Demirer 77).
The Kurdish dimension is also considered in this document. “The Kurds of Anatolia supported the effort to organize Muslim elements against occupation” (Demirer 166). They also supported the independence struggle which was being spearheaded by Kemal Ataturk. The country experienced severe war consequences, with the Muslim population significantly declining. After a series of wars, two nations were born, the Turkish republic and Turkey. The search for identity within the established nationalities followed a similar dimension path. Quoting Sharon Zukin, a nation is only built when people combine their traditional economic factors, and how they manipulate their symbolic language of exclusion and entitlement (Demirer 55).
According to Demirer, Several factors influence the designing of internal identity creation and external social and political relations (Demirer 177). Civic education helped draw printed images during the French revolution. The pedagogy of the empowerment of the Nevruz also played a big role in uniting the two Turkish nations separated by a geographic boundary (Demirer 239).
Works cited
Demirer, Yucel. Tradition and Politics; New Year Festivals in Turkey. Dissertation. Ohio: The Ohio University, 2004. Print.