# Turkeyification
**Turkeyification** is a recently coined political term describing the transformation of a political movement into one that represents the whole of Turkey, rather than a narrower sectional or ethnic constituency.[1](https://jlupub.ub.uni-giessen.de/bitstreams/843b131a-739c-40c5-bc91-0c65a4e1be90/download) It appears in scholarship on Turkish politics as a label for projects of broad political inclusion, and it is distinct in both meaning and period from the older historical term "Turkification," which refers to the nation-building and assimilation policies of the late Ottoman Empire and the early Republic.[2](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1469-8129.2005.00222.x)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Meaning | A newly invented term referring to transforming into a movement that represents the whole of Turkey[1](https://jlupub.ub.uni-giessen.de/bitstreams/843b131a-739c-40c5-bc91-0c65a4e1be90/download) |
| Documented usage | Applied to the "Turkeyfication" project associated with the pro-Kurdish political movement and Selahattin Demirtaş[3](https://www.mei.edu/publications/what-comes-next-turkey-prospects-change-political-economic-and-foreign-policy-fronts) |
| Distinct from | "Turkification," the nation-building policies of the late Ottoman Empire (1908–18) and early Republic[2](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1469-8129.2005.00222.x) |
| Historical counterpart | Young Turk nationality policies examined as a nation-building project; League of Nations framework 1919–1937[2](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1469-8129.2005.00222.x) • [4](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/embedded-turkification-nation-building-and-violence-within-the-framework-of-the-league-of-nations-19191937/92FBA349455454FCFD2EDC8C20F982F5) |
| Political context | Debates over representation in Turkey after the 2017 shift to an executive presidency[5](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/does-turkishstyle-presidentialism-trigger-deparliamentarization-in-turkiye-the-post2018-developments/36DBD8ADD41F0A3105B829C8BF1CB078) |
## Meaning and usage
The term is described in academic writing on post-1980s Turkey as a newly invented word for the process of a movement becoming one that represents the whole of Turkey.[1](https://jlupub.ub.uni-giessen.de/bitstreams/843b131a-739c-40c5-bc91-0c65a4e1be90/download) In this usage, the suffix echoes the older "Turkification" but points in a different direction: not the assimilation of populations into a Turkish national identity, but the broadening of a political movement's base so that it speaks for the country as a whole.
The clearest documented application concerns Kurdish politics. A Middle East Institute compendium study describes the unwavering loyalty of Turkish Kurds to [Selahattin Demirtaş](https://www.edgepedia.org/selahattin-demirtas), the jailed former leader of the pro-Kurdish HDP, and to the "Turkeyfication" project, reading this loyalty as underscoring their desire for strong political representation within Turkish politics rather than separation from it.[3](https://www.mei.edu/publications/what-comes-next-turkey-prospects-change-political-economic-and-foreign-policy-fronts) In that framing, Turkeyification names a strategy of integration into nationwide politics: a party rooted in one community seeking to compete for voters and offices across the country.
## Distinction from Turkification
The historical term "Turkification" belongs to a different literature. Ülker's study of the late Ottoman Empire asks to what extent the nationality policies of the [Young Turks](https://www.edgepedia.org/young-turks) between 1908 and 1918 can be perceived as a nation-building project, and whether applying the label "Turkification" to those policies is reasonable.[2](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1469-8129.2005.00222.x) Work on the [League of Nations](https://www.edgepedia.org/league-of-nations) era shows that the League itself supported the Kemalists' drive for [Turkification](https://www.edgepedia.org/turkification) between 1919 and 1937, directly in the case of the "population transfer" between Greece and Turkey and indirectly by prioritizing Turkey's sovereignty over minority concerns.[4](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/embedded-turkification-nation-building-and-violence-within-the-framework-of-the-league-of-nations-19191937/92FBA349455454FCFD2EDC8C20F982F5) Under the Republic, assimilationist measures included the Settlement Law of 1934 and the Wealth Tax of 1942, directed in practice against non-Muslim minorities, while the Democrat Party governments of 1950 to 1960 tended toward a moderation of Turkification policies.[6](https://dspace.yildiz.edu.tr/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1/12089/9263.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1)
Turkeyification, by contrast, is a term of contemporary party politics. The two words share a root and a suffix but describe opposite movements: one contracting the political community around a Turkish national core, the other expanding a particular movement to encompass the whole polity.
## Political context
The term gained its usage in a period when the rules of Turkish national politics themselves were changing. The constitutional amendments of 2017 created what scholars call Turkish-style presidentialism, enhancing the president's authority to issue executive decrees, appoint senior civil and judicial officials, and implement a provisional budget, while curtailing legislative oversight mechanisms.[5](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/does-turkishstyle-presidentialism-trigger-deparliamentarization-in-turkiye-the-post2018-developments/36DBD8ADD41F0A3105B829C8BF1CB078) In that concentrated system, the question of which parties can plausibly claim to represent the whole country carries high stakes, which is the setting in which a movement's "Turkeyfication" becomes a matter of analytical and political interest.[3](https://www.mei.edu/publications/what-comes-next-turkey-prospects-change-political-economic-and-foreign-policy-fronts)
## References
1. [Social Transformation in Modern Turkey: An Analysis of the Role of Public Intellectuals in the Post-1980s, Justus Liebig University Giessen](https://jlupub.ub.uni-giessen.de/bitstreams/843b131a-739c-40c5-bc91-0c65a4e1be90/download)
2. [Ülker, E. (2005). Contextualising 'Turkification': nation-building in the late Ottoman Empire, 1908–18. Nations and Nationalism.](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1469-8129.2005.00222.x)
3. [What Comes Next for Turkey? Prospects for Change on the Political, Economic, and Foreign Policy Fronts, Middle East Institute (2024)](https://www.mei.edu/publications/what-comes-next-turkey-prospects-change-political-economic-and-foreign-policy-fronts)
4. [Embedded Turkification: Nation Building and Violence within the Framework of the League of Nations 1919–1937, International Journal of Middle East Studies](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/embedded-turkification-nation-building-and-violence-within-the-framework-of-the-league-of-nations-19191937/92FBA349455454FCFD2EDC8C20F982F5)
5. [Does Turkish-Style Presidentialism Trigger De-Parliamentarization in Türkiye? The Post-2018 Developments, PS: Political Science & Politics](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/does-turkishstyle-presidentialism-trigger-deparliamentarization-in-turkiye-the-post2018-developments/36DBD8ADD41F0A3105B829C8BF1CB078)
6. [Thesis on Turkification policies and minority groups, Yıldız Technical University institutional repository](https://dspace.yildiz.edu.tr/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1/12089/9263.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Politics and government › Political systems and ideas › Political philosophy and political science › Political concepts and terminology*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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