How to Divide the “Indivisible Unity”? Debates on the Division of Turkey into Geographical Regions in the Early Years of the Republic

Authors : Gözde Orhan

Pages : 101-115

Doi:10.26650/siyasal.2023.32.1352751

View : 31 | Download : 46

Publication Date : 2023-12-31

Article Type : Research

Abstract :Although Turkey was officially divided into seven regions for the first time in the First Turkish Geography Congress (1941), both throughout the Ottoman Empire and following the proclamation of the Republic, many geographers, including Europeans made attempts to regionalize it. The Congress, being the one to settle on the standardization of geography education as well as zoning, gives valuable insight into the interactions between official history, geography, and national education in the modernization process. Nevertheless, the regional division began in the 1920s and discussions continued after the congress. An understanding of regional classification drawn by the natural boundaries of physical elements was preferred to make the spaces historically marked by different ethnic and cultural communities ordinary parts of a homogeneous whole and to comprehend, control, and recognize them entirely. This article problematizes the meaning and function of regional division in the political and ideological climate of the Early Republic. It reveals how modern geography is handled, on which criteria the geographical zoning is made, and the relationship of this initiative with the hegemonic historiography. This research analyzes texts on regional geography written by geographers and cartographers from the Republican era along with the records, negotiations, and decisions of the Congress.
Keywords : Birinci Türk Coğrafya Kongresi, coğrafi bölgeler, bölgelendirme