To coincide with Turkey's status as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2008, Eurozine publishes articles from Varlik magazine's 75-year anniversary anthology. Written in the 1950s and 60s, the texts display many of the concerns that continue to occupy Turkish writers today and suggest that little has changed in terms of cultural understanding between Turkey and "the West".

In an article published in 1966, the Turkish poet and journalist Attila Ilhan argued that Turkish literature was far from having gained real recognition abroad. Reading it begs the question whether the situation is substantially different today, despite the Frankfurt accolade. More striking continuities between the concerns of then and now can be found in an essay by Selahattin Batu, published in 1954, with its deeply ambivalent view of westernization. And in a text first published in Varlik in 1962, the great Turkish novelist, poet and politician Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar addresses what he saw as the demise of the Istanbul of his day.

From the Eurozine archive : A selection of articles on politics and culture in Turkey, including Orhan Pamuk on the idea of "neighbourliness" and cultural journals' role in promoting non-conformism; Etyen Mahçupyan on the structure of communities during the Ottoman period and the transition to the modern nation-state; Claus Leggewie on whether the EU can achieve its goals for Turkey if the enticement of full EU membership is removed; and Maureen Freely on the rise of ultra-nationalism in Turkey.

Read the articles on Turkey here.

Published 2008-10-16