An unfinished story: From Abdülhamid to 'Century of Türkiye'

From the late Ottoman period onward, attempts to understand political and social life in Türkiye frequently encounter a tension between the intelligentsia and the people. This tension is not merely a cultural difference; it also represents a deep divide over how the state should be governed and in what direction society should be transformed. This dual structure, which became more pronounced with the Tanzimat reforms and continued in various forms during the Republican era, has been one of the central axes of debate in Türkiye’s modernization trajectory. In his work "The Alienation of the Order," Idris Küçükömer examines this divide in depth, presenting it as a key to understanding the political and social order of modern Türkiye. According to him, the intelligentsia in Türkiye is not only an intellectual class but also a broad group that includes civil servants and bureaucrats embedded within the state apparatus. Therefore, the distinction between the intelligentsia and the people reflects the distance between this stratum and the wider segments of society. The paradox highlighted by Küçükömer is that, throughout the historical process, this bureaucratic-intellectual class has generally emerged victorious in political struggles and has managed to sustain its dominance.