Sabrina Mervin (CNRS, CéSor)

Chaque année, des millions de chiites viennent du monde entier pour effectuer le pèlerinage (ziyara) de l’Arba‘in à Karbala, en Irak. Ils célèbrent ainsi la fin du deuil pour Hossein, leur troisième imam, qui connut le martyre lors de la bataille de Karbala, en 680, avec ses proches et ses compagnons. Les rescapés furent capturés et emmenés à Damas pour comparaître devant le calife Yazid qui les fit relâcher ; ils repartirent pour Karbala avec la tête de de Hossein, afin de l’enterrer près de son corps. C’est ce « retour de la tête » que commémore la marche des pèlerins vers Karbala. Ils affluent pendant une dizaine de jours et sont reçus par des groupes (mawkib) qui leur fournissent de multiples services : distribution d’eau, de nourriture, hébergement, soins, etc. Sur les routes, en ville, des représentations rappellent le drame, des processions et des performances le rejouent. Plus on se rapproche des sanctuaires, plus la foule et dense et plus la ferveur religieuse est intense.

Historienne et anthropologue, Sabrina Mervin est directrice de recherche au CNRS, affectée au CéSor (Centre d’études en sciences sociales du religieux). Ses travaux se concentrent sur l’islam chiite contemporain, en particulier les autorités religieuses et les pratiques rituelles, ainsi que sur la transmission du savoir en islam.

Elle développe aussi des projets en anthropologie visuelle et prépare un documentaire sur le pèlerinage de l’Arba‘in à Karbala.

Parmi ses publications :

Sabrina Mervin, Histoire de l'islam. Fondements et doctrines, Flammarion (« Champs »), 2016.

Sabrina Mervin, Yasser Tabbaa et Erick Bonnier (photographies), Najaf, The Gate of Wisdom : History, Heritage and Significance of the Holy City of the Shi’a, Unesco Publishing, 2014.

Sabrina Mervin, Un réformisme chiite. Ulémas et lettrés du Jabal ‘Âmil de la fin de l’Empire ottoman à l’indépendance du Liban, Karthala, 2000.

Intervention en français

Seda Altuğ (The Ataturk Institute for Modern Turkish History), Philippe Bourmaud (Laboratoire de Recherche Historique Rhône-Alpes), Olof Heilo (Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul), Franck Mermier (IFEA), Alexis Wick (American University of Beirut)

Beyond the field of expertise in international relations and political science which focuses on the stakes and consequences of AKP's policy vis-à-vis the Arab region, particularly since 2011, the study of the "Arab fact" in Turkey requires the constitution of a particular "place of knowledge" to relay and develop its own dynamics. One of the characteristics of this subject study is that it subverts the boundaries of area studies by highlighting complex contextualisation processes which cannot be apprehended from a single cultural area. By bringing together several teaching and research institutions, this seminar on Arab Presence in Turkey intends to give visibility to current research, to integrate it into the wider academic debate, and to initiate a multidisciplinary dialogue between researchers.

Interventions en anglais

Abdurrahman Atçil (Université Sabanci)

Séance modérée par Denis Hermann (IFEA)

In the pre-modern Ottoman Empire, a large group of Muslim scholars, specialists of Islamic religious knowledge, constituted a significant branch of the Ottoman bureaucracy. In addition to participating in the transmission of religious knowledge and providing religious guidance, these scholars acted as the agents of the sultans’ government, serving as judges, financial officials, administrative investigators, diplomats, etc. They pursued a career in government service, climbing up a ladder of hierarchically organized positions with regular promotions. The functions they fulfilled and the form of their relationship with the government distinguished these scholars from their predecessors and their contemporary colleagues. They were a unique group, and deserve a unique label: “scholar-bureaucrats.”

Muslim scholars traditionally claimed the moral authority in the Islamic world and usually esteemed independence from the ruling authorities. For this reason, their incorporation into the government was a significant development. It was a gradual process and had many ups and downs and turning points. From the second half of the fifteenth century, many factors, such as the construction of largescale educational complexes, the institutionalization of the state, international developments, and scholars’ increasing desire to participate in the government, dynamically interacted and brought about the rise of the group of scholar-bureaucrats.

The special position of scholar-bureaucrats was one of the distinctive characteristics of the early modern Ottoman Empire. Scholar-bureaucrats contributed legal and administrative expertise to the Ottoman government. They also helped the Ottomans to acquire and strengthen their legitimacy. Last but not least, the presence of scholar-bureaucrats hindered the rise of a body of religious authorities, with parallel and competing claims to those of the government. 

Abdurrahman Atçıl is an associate professor of history at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago in 2010. Before joining Sabancı University in 2020, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Law School and as an assistant professor and associate professor at Queens College of the City University of New York and Istanbul Şehir University.

In terms of research, Dr. Atçıl is particularly interested in questions of law, religion, and politics in the early modern Ottoman Empire. His first book, Scholars and Sultans in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire, details Muslim scholars’ transition from independent and cosmopolitan actors to scholar-bureaucrats. His other published work is devoted to addressing issues, such as the Ottoman-Safavid conflict, scholarly mobility and theology and philosophy in the Islamic legal tradition.

Dr. Atçıl is currently working on two projects: The first, funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey-Career Development Grant, uses social-network-analysis technologies to examine the professional and intellectual networks of over 750 high-level Ottoman scholar-bureaucrats in the period 1470–1650. The second, funded by European Research Council-Consolidator Grant, investigates the formation of law in the Ottoman Empire between 1450 and 1650. Examining the religio-legal opinions (fetva) of scholars and decrees of sultans (kanun), it aspires to develop a model of lawmaking that will account for diversity and change in early-modern societies.

Intervention en anglais

In a recent comment, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey desires to “turn a new page in its relations with the EU in the new year,” in a message addressed to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyden. According to him, the new year would offer a positive atmosphere in terms of new cooperation not only in the field of migration as was the case since the signature of a deal between the two sides in 2016. There is a desire in Turkey to update the Customs Union, to get visa liberalization for Turkish citizens, and to reopen the membership negotiation.

In the same statement, the Turkish presidency said that “mutual trust should be restored” between Turkey and Europe but at the same time reproaching some European member states with “creating caprices” that creates artificial problems.

Last year, tensions between the EU and Turkey escalated around different issues such as the Eastern Mediterranean crisis, the situation in Syria, and the Nagorno Karabagh, among others.

The announcement made by Erdogan coincides with the presidency of Joe Biden that promises to have some impact on the Middle East, Turkey, and Europe. To what extent there is a correlation between Turkey’s change of tone vis à vis Europe and the departure of Donald Trump from the White House? Does the new US presidency offer good chances to resolve the numerous crises that exist between and Europe? To discuss the various challenges and issues between Turkey and Europe, we have invited to our seminar two prominent scholars, Sinem Nas and Sinem Akgül Açikmese.

• Çiğdem Nas from Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi, is an Associate Professor of International Relations and the Secretary-General of the Economic Development Foundation. She is a graduate of the Political Science Department of Boğaziçi University and received her Master’s degree on European Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She completed her PhD on Politics and International Relations of the EU at the Marmara University EU Institute and worked at the same Institute as a researcher and assistant professor between 1994 and 2007. She is a lecturer at the Yildiz Technical University since 2007 and has also been working since that date at the Economic Development Foundation which is an NGO dedicated to Turkey’s EU integration. Her research interests cover the European Union, European integration, European politics and Turkey and EU relations.

• Sinem Akgül Açıkmeşe is a Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University (KHAS). She was a Jean Monnet fellow at LSE (2001-02), Turkish Academy of Sciences fellow (2002-08) and visiting PhD student at LSE (2005-06) in support of her research on EU foreign and neighborhood policies specifically from a security perspective, European integration, enlargement and Turkey-EU relations. Prof. Açıkmeşe has a teaching experience on EU studies of about 15 years, at various institutions including Ankara University and TOBB-University of Economics and Technology on a full-time capacity before she joined KHAS. She has expertise in running EU-funded projects and she is the academic coordinator at KHAS for overseeing the mobility under Erasmus+ and partnerships with various European universities. She is the academic coordinator of this module, responsible for providing perfection in teaching.

Interventions en anglais

Muriel Girard

Quel rapport entre un artisan, un touriste et son guide, et un maire ? Tous sont des acteurs de la scène patrimoniale, dont la péninsule historique d’Istanbul constitue ici le cadre. L’étude de ce qui s’y joue, entre tourisme, pratiques artisanales et patrimonialisation, éclaire d’un jour nouveau les logiques du changement social et des mutations urbaines.
Croisant entretiens, observations, cartographie et sources écrites, les enquêtes de terrain révèlent en effet les diverses manières, parfois contradictoires, de catégoriser l’artisanat, ainsi que les multiples recompositions sociales, spatiales et identitaires qui en résultent.
Invitant les artisans, d’ordinaire silencieux, à prendre la parole, ce livre leur donne une place comme acteurs de la cité, et offre ainsi une approche originale de la fabrique du patrimoine dans la ville.

Intervention en français

Yaşar Tolga Cora (Boğaziçi University)

In the autumn of 1910, coal heavers in Istanbul, more than a thousand men, predominantly Kurdish, went on strike. Disrupting sea transportation in the capital and leading to the unlawful police detainment of ringleaders, the strike turned into a major incident that elicited a variety of political responses. Focusing on this strike as a case study, this presentation examines the political sphere in general and the politics of labor activism in particular as they existed at the turn of the twentieth century in the Ottoman Empire.

The presentation will first reconstruct the history of the strike through sources produced by a variety of state and non-state actors. Approaching the strike as a field of contestation in which various actors were pitted against one another, it will address not only the specific labor issues involved but also broader problems in Ottoman society that the strike made visible, including those of political economy, freedom of expression, and intercommunal relations. Thus this presentation aims to contribute to recent discussions about why, in an age in which coal was a driver of the global economy, labor activism in the coal sector did not turn into a broader democratic movement in the Ottoman Empire.

As a second goal, following various scholars’ calls in recent decades for the issue to be brought into the study of labor history, the presentation seeks to examine the central role that ethnicity played in the labor activism of the Second Constitutional Period, both in discourse and in politics on the ground. It thus aims to address broader historiographical concerns, particularly the challenge of writing about the working classes who went largely unrepresented in urban politics and the limits such lack of representation places on our ability to understand the wider politics of the era.

Intervention en anglais

Séminaire « enjeux actuels des migrations »
Organisé par l’Axe AMiMo de l'IFEA en collaboration avec l’Association pour les recherches sur les migrations (GAR)

Dans le cadre de la série de séminaires “enjeux actuels des migrations”, la conférence du mois de janvier 2021 sera tenue par Mustafa Poyraz et Şükrü Aslan qui aborderont les questions de migration, de diversité sociale et d'identité. Le séminaire est organisé dans le cadre de la parution du livre Aidiyet, Göçmen ve Toplumsal Çeşitlilik dont Mustafa Poyraz est l’éditeur et dont de nombreux auteurs ont contribué à sa réalisation. Şükrü Aslan, analysera les divers aspects de la construction identitaire des Turcs alevis ayant gagné le droit à la citoyenneté dans la région de Tirol en Autriche,  leur « nouvelle patrie ». Il évoquera notamment leur inclusion et leur exclusion du système dans ce processus.

Mustafa Poyraz a réalisé ses études en Licence et en Master à l'université Paris 8. Il est titulaire d’un doctorat à l'université Evry Val d'Essonne dont le sujet est la problématique de l'espace et le renouveau des relations sociales en banlieue parisienne. Ses travaux de recherches portent sur les processus de socialisation, l'espace et la diversité culturelle dont il a réalisé plusieurs études comparatives entre la banlieue parisienne et stambouliote à travers diverses publications. Pendant de nombreuses années, il a donné des conférences sur la pauvreté aux périphéries des villes, les dynamiques des politiques sociales et les mouvements sociaux aux universités de Paris 8, Paris 5 et Evry Val d'Essonne. Il est actuellement maître de conférences au département de sociologie de l'université de commerce d'Istanbul (İTÜ) et il enseigne également à l'université de Paris.

 
Şükrü Aslan a obtenu sa Licence en sociologie à l’université militaire de la défense nationale (MSÜ) à Istanbul. Il a obtenu sa Maîtrise dans la même université à l'institut des sciences sociales avec pour thème de recherche les secteurs informels urbains. Il est titulaire d’un doctorat sur les luttes sociales et la ville. Ses recherches portent sur la sociologie urbaine, les migrations et l’ethnicité. Aslan est l’auteur ou le coéditeur d’une quinzaine de livres publiés en turc, anglais et en français. Au cours de l'année universitaire 2018/2019, il a travaillé en tant que professeur invité à l'Institut des Migrations et de l'Education de l'université d'Innsbruck en Autriche. Il a rédigé de nombreux articles dans la littérature tuque et internationale dans le domaine de la sociologie urbaine, des migrations et de l'ethnicité. Il est actuellement maître de conférences au département de sociologie de l'université des beaux-arts Mimar Sinan.

Interventions en turc

Neither Friends nor Foes: Turkey and the US relations

Serhat Güvenç, Kadir Has University

Mehmet Ali Tuğtan, İstanbul Bilgi University

Turkey-US relations has been on a roller-coaster since the end of the Cold War. Despite the rhetoric of strategic partnership or model partnership, the two sides have failed to develop a strategic framework to add a new lease on life to their alliance. In the absence of a shared strategic vision, transactionalism became a frequently preferred method in dealing with each other on issues of mutual interest. The unravelling of the Liberal International Order eroded, on the other hand, the norms and values that were supposed to complement this interest-based alliance. While President Trump’s term in office hasted the erosion of these norms and values, his way of conducting the US foreign policy facilitated de-institutionalization and eventual personalization of the US’ relations with Turkey in the last four years. His un-conventional style provided Ankara with greater degree of autonomy in pursuing a foreign policy agenda that defied substantially Washington’s regional and global priorities. His succession by Joe Biden may mark a return to pre-Trump era foreign policy choices, practices around values, norms and institutions. Ankara has already signalled its readiness to moderate its policy choices and practices, the prospects for salvaging the US-Turkey alliance in the near future are slim for three reasons. First and foremost, the alliance with the US represented the ultimate choice in the early Cold War era for the late Ottoman/early republican elite in their pursuit of Westernization for survival. The very idea of Westernization does not sit as well with new Turkish political elite. Their approach to the “West” is pragmatic and transactionalist rather than institutionalist. Second, Washington and Ankara have pursued competing and conflicting interests in the immediate vicinity of Turkey, namely the Black Sea and the Middle East. While their interests in the former might be more amenable to reconciliation due to Russian revisionism, their differences in the Middle East are more fundamental and involve the JDP’s bid for regional primacy. Finally, the institutional aspect of their relationship collapsed after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Turkish Parliament’s refusal to allow the US troops to be deployed in and through Turkey broke (probably irreparably) the special relationship between the Pentagon and the Turkish General Staff. This special link has yet to be replaced to put the alliance back on its feet.

Dr. Serhat Güvenç is a Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University, Istanbul where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on Strategy, Turkish Foreign and Security Policy and Turkey-EU Relations. Recently his research focus has shifted onto Maritime Security in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. He, therefore, currently supervises masters’ thesis and doctoral dissertations mostly on maritime security and related topics. His areas of expertise are Turkish Foreign Policy, Turkish Defense, EU-Turkey Relations, Turkey-Greece Relations Naval and Maritime Security in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Previously, he served as the Associate Dean of College of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences and the Chair of International Relations Department.

Assistant Prof. Mehmet Ali Tuğtan has been a member of İstanbul Bilgi University Department of International Relations since 2008. Mehmet Ali Tuğtan has been the Chair of Bilgi Distance Education Center (UZEM) since August 2017.

Majored in international relations and political science in Marmara University, Mehmet Ali Tuğtan has completed his MA in 2000 with the dissertation titled Emergence of A Post Cold War European Security Architecture and his PhD in 2007 with the dissertation titled Turkish-US Security Relations 1945-2003: A Game-Theoretical Analysis of the Institutional Effect in Boğaziçi University Political Science program.

Dr. Tugtan’s areas of study include Turkish-American Relations, Contemporary World Politics and Security Studies. In addition to several book chapters and articles on these subjects, Dr. Tugtan has edited a book on the Turkish involvement in the Korean War (Kore Savaşı: Uzak Savaşın Askerleri) published in 2013.

For Massive online open course projects of Dr Tugtan on his areas of study, see:

EdX Contemporary Issues in World Politics (With Prof. Ilter Turan)

https://www.edx.org/course/contemporary-issues-in-world-politics

FlipEU: A Flipped Course on EU (With Ast. Prof. Özge Onursal Beşgül)

https://flipeu.bilgi.edu.tr/

Interventions en anglais

Etienne Charrière, Université Bilkent (Ankara)
Séance modérée par Denis Hermann (IFEA)

           
Transcription, translittération, traduction: les littératures de l’espace ottoman et turcophone au miroir des « univers scripturaux »

Bien que sa puissance symbolique et son retentissement ne puissent en aucun cas être remis en question, la « Révolution des Lettres » - à savoir la loi de 1928 qui entérine l’adoption officielle d’une version adaptée de l’alphabet latin pour l’écriture du turc - n’est pourtant que l’aspect le plus visible de ce qui constitue en fait une longue série de « crises scripturales » agitant l’Empire ottoman et la République turque et dont la portée ne se limite d’ailleurs pas à la seule langue turque.

La présente communication s’intéresse aux répercutions littéraires des multiples débats et réformes alphabétiques qui ponctuent l’histoire de l’espace ottoman et turc de la seconde moitié du dix-neuvième siècle jusqu’à nos jours. En s’inscrivant dans la lignée de travaux récents en littérature comparée qui soulignent l’importance des « univers scripturaux » (scriptworlds) comme catégorie d’analyse, cette communication examine la complexité des rapports entre les pratiques de la transcription, de la translittération et de la traduction dans le contexte littéraire plurilingue de l’Empire ottoman finissant. Dans un deuxième temps, l’analyse se porte sur l’impact des tensions scripturales ottomanes sur des pratiques contemporaines d’« hétérographie » littéraire, notamment dans la littérature turco-chypriote.

Biographie: Etienne Charrière est titulaire d’un doctorat en littérature comparée de l’université du Michigan (USA). Il est actuellement professeur assistant dans le département de littérature turque de l’université Bilkent à Ankara. Ses recherches portent principalement sur l’émergence de l’écriture romanesque dans plusieurs des communautés linguistiques de l’Empire ottoman (Grecs, Arméniens et Juifs séfarades). Il a récemment co-édité le volume Ottoman Culture and the Project of Modernity: Reform and Translation in the Tanzimat Novel (Bloomsbury, 2020).

Intervention en français

Mitat Çelikpala (Kadir Has University) and Bayram Balcı (IFEA)

After forty-four days of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Karabakh, parties have signed a ceasefire agreement which has ended the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War and Russian troops have been deployed in the conflict zone. The fighting was the worst it has been since 1992 and encompassed the entire scope of interaction, with artillery, missile, and drone strikes deep past the Armenian lines. This war featured modern weaponry, representing a large-scale conventional conflict between these two states which has changed the long-standing delicate status quo. Due to its recent regional protocol driven by assertive policies, Turkey has been recognised as an influence looking to realise its interests through involvement in this conflict. Turkey is backing Azerbaijan and has reiterated its support to Azerbaijan against Armenia. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory, and called on Armenia to stop its aggression and withdraw from the land it is occupying in Azerbaijan. There is a feeling that Turkey, together with Russia have benefited from the conflict and the resolution effort. This seminar aims to analyse the new security dynamics in the Caucasus, centering on Turkey’s role and interest, as well as the potential of Turkey as a regional power, to ensure security and stability in the region.