Atatürk phantasmatized. Popular beliefs about the founder of the Republic of Turkey

Abstract

The author discusses the ambivalence of the notions of the ‘secular’ and ‘religious’ in the modern Turkey. The subject of the study is the popular image of Mustata Kemal Atatürk – the founder of the Modern Turkey, who is still being a personified symbol of the state, albeit Turkey is now considered as ‘post-kamalist’. He is also the object of common veneration. The author presents this image in Turkish Alevis and kemalists, who take part in an annual festival, when a shadow resembling Atatürk’s silhouette is observed on the hill. Both phenomena may serve as examples of the ambivalence of the Turkish secularism taking into account their quasi-religious character.