16 Great Turkic Empires

The ''16 Great Turkic Empires'' ( tr, , which translates as "16 Great ''Turkic'' States") is a concept in Turkish ethnic nationalism, introduced in 1969 by Akib Özbek, map officer and widely invoked by Turkish authorities during the 1980s, under the government of Kenan Evren. Prior to this assertion, the 16 stars on the Presidential Seal of Turkey had been taken as representing sixteen Anatolian beyliks which succeeded the Seljuk Empire.

The list

The "16 Great Turkic Empires" are the following:

Reception

Turkish nationalist writer, novelist, poet and philosopher, Hüseyin Nihâl Atsız, supporter of the pan-Turkist or Turanism ideology, had noted that while some states with questionable Turkic identity were included in the list (like the Mughal Empire, some ostensibly Turkic states (such as Aq Qoyunlu) were left out, and labeled the list a "fabrication."

In spite of Atsız' criticism, the concept was made a mainstream topos in Turkish national symbolism in the wake of the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, under the presidency of Kenan Evren. The Turkish Postal administration issued a series of stamps dedicated to the ''16 Empires'' in 1984, showing portraits of their respective founders as well as attributed flags.Ivan Sache
Presentation of the Sixteen Great Turkish Empires and their alleged flags
Flags of the World, 4 July 2004; c.f
jpeg of the 1984 stamp series
The flags were designed by Özbek in 1969. They are mostly imaginary, with the exception of the 1844 Ottoman flag, and arguably the wolf's head and the bow-and-arrow used as emblems for the Göktürk and the Seljuk states, respectively. Ekrem Buğra Ekinci
16 TÜRK DEVLETİ Cumhurbaşkanlığı forsundaki 16 yıldız neyi ifade ediyor?
2 February 2015. In 1985, Özbek's ''16 Empires'' were invoked as a retrospective explanation of the 16 stars in the presidential seal of Turkey (introduced in 1936).''Central Eurasian Studies Review'', Vol. 3, Central Eurasian Studies Society, 2004
p. 23
/ref>

Several municipal buildings and public parks in Turkey have collections of busts or statues of the founders of the "16 Empires" alongside a statue of Kemal Atatürk, including the municipal buildings of Keçiören (Ankara), Mamak, Ankara, Etimesgut, Niğde, Nevşehir, Pınarbaşı, Kayseri, etc.Keçiören


Türk devlet büyükleri Mamak'ta
"Pınarbaşı Turkishness Monument" ('' Pınarbaşı Türklük Anıtı'', opened in 2000).

In 2000, c:Pınarbaşı Türklük Anıtı">Pınarbaşı Türklük Anıtı'', opened in 2000).

In 2000, Türk Telekom produced a series of smart card">Türk Telekom">c:Pınarbaşı Türklük Anıtı">Pınarbaşı Türklük Anıtı'', opened in 2000).

In 2000, Türk Telekom produced a series of smart cards dedicated to the topic.

In January 2015, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in the Presidential Complex, Turkish Presidential Palace with a guard of 16 "warriors", actors wearing loosely historical armour and costume, intended to symbolise the 16 empires. The costumes were ridiculed in secular Turkish media outlets, and one of the costumes in particular was mocked as a "bathrobe", becoming a trend on social media under the name of ''Duşakabinoğulları'' (as it were " sons of the shower cabin"). The ''Takvim'' daily newspaper omitted a label for this particular costume (Western Hunnic Empire) by mistake
diken.com.tr

See also

* Pan-Turkism
* Turanism
*Neo-Ottomanism

References

{{reflist

National symbols of Turkey
Turkish nationalism
Pan-Turkism
Turanism