HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The ''16 Great Turkic Empires'' ( tr, , which translates as "16 Great '' Turkic'' States") is a concept in Turkish
ethnic nationalism Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnocratic) approach to various politi ...
, 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 The Presidential Seal of Turkey is a symbol used to represent the president of Turkey. It has a large 16-pointed Sun in the center which symbolizes the Republic of Turkey. The sun is surrounded by 16 five-pointed stars, symbolizing the 16 Great ...
had been taken as representing sixteen Anatolian beyliks which succeeded the
Seljuk Empire The Great Seljuk Empire, or the Seljuk Empire was a high medieval, culturally Turko-Persian, Sunni Muslim empire, founded and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. It spanned a total area of from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to ...
.


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 Turanism, also known as pan-Turanianism, pan-Turanism, or simply Turan, is a pseudoscientific pan-nationalist cultural and political movement proclaiming the need for close cooperation or political unification between people who are claimed by ...
ideology, had noted that while some states with questionable Turkic identity were included in the list (like the
Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
, 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 The Ottoman Empire used various of flags, especially as naval ensigns, during its history. The star and crescent came into use in the second half of the 18th century. A ' (decree) from 1793 required that the ships of the Ottoman Navy were to u ...
, 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 A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
in the
presidential seal of Turkey The Presidential Seal of Turkey is a symbol used to represent the president of Turkey. It has a large 16-pointed Sun in the center which symbolizes the Republic of Turkey. The sun is surrounded by 16 five-pointed stars, symbolizing the 16 Great ...
(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 Kemal may refer to: ;People * Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a Turkish politician and the first president of Turkey * Kemal (name), a common Turkish name ;Places * Kemalpaşa, İzmir Province, Turkey * Mustafakemalpaşa, Bursa Province, Turkey ;See als ...
, including the municipal buildings of
Keçiören Keçiören is a metropolitan district of Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, a crowded district in the northern part of the city of Ankara. According to 2010 census, population of the district center is 817,262 The district ...
(Ankara),
Mamak, Ankara Mamak is a metropolitan district of Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, part of the city of Ankara. According to 2010 census, population of Mamak is 549,585 The district covers an area of , and the average elevation is . P ...
,
Etimesgut Etimesgut or Etimesut, formerly Ahimesut, is a metropolitan district of Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, mainly consisting of large public housing projects, from Ankara city centre. According to 2010 census, the populati ...
, Niğde,
Nevşehir Nevşehir (from the Persian compound ''Now-shahr'' meaning "new city"), formerly Neapolis (Ancient Greek: Νεάπολις) and Muşkara, is a largely modern city and the capital district of Nevşehir Province in the Central Anatolia Region of ...
,
Pınarbaşı, Kayseri Pınarbaşı () is a town and district of Kayseri Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. The population is mostly made up of Circassians who settled this area by the Ottomans after their migration to Turkey as a result of Circassia ...
, etc.Keçiören


Türk_devlet_büyükleri_Mamak'ta
_"Pınarbaşı_Turkishness_Monument"_(''c:Pınarbaşı_Türklük_Anıtı.html" ;"title="ttp://www.borhaber.net/siyaset/nigdenin-simgesi-turk-buyukleri-heykelleri-kaldiriliyor-mu-h9623.html Niğde’nin simgesi Türk Büyükleri heykelleri kaldırılıyor mu?
Türk devlet büyükleri Mamak'ta
"Pınarbaşı Turkishness Monument" ('' Pınarbaşı_Türklük_Anıtı'',_opened_in_2000).
In_2000,_Türk_Telekom.html" ;"title="c:Pınarbaşı Türklük Anıtı">Pınarbaşı Türklük Anıtı'', opened in 2000).
In 2000, 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 "
son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...
s of the shower cabin"). The ''
Takvim ''Takvim'' is a Turkish daily newspaper owned by Kalyon Group. The word "takvim" means calendar in Turkish. Founded by Dinç Bilgin in 1994, ''Takvim'' was acquired by Ahmet Çalık's Turkuvaz Media Group in 2008, as part of its $1.1bn purchase ...
'' daily newspaper omitted a label for this particular costume (Western Hunnic Empire) by mistake
diken.com.tr


See also

*
Pan-Turkism Pan-Turkism is a political movement that emerged during the 1880s among Turkic intellectuals who lived in the Russian region of Kazan (Tatarstan), Caucasus (modern-day Azerbaijan) and the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey), with its aim bei ...
*
Turanism Turanism, also known as pan-Turanianism, pan-Turanism, or simply Turan, is a pseudoscientific pan-nationalist cultural and political movement proclaiming the need for close cooperation or political unification between people who are claimed by ...
*
Neo-Ottomanism Neo-Ottomanism ( Turkish: ''Yeni Osmanlıcılık, Neo-Osmanlıcılık'') is an Islamist, irredentist and imperialist Turkish political ideology that, in its broadest sense, advocates to honor the Ottoman past of Turkey and promotes greater polit ...


References

{{reflist National symbols of Turkey Turkish nationalism Pan-Turkism Turanism