Azerbaijani and Turkish Nationalism and Religion in Comparative Perspective: Constitutive Conflicts, Ecumenical Muslim Identity and Secularism
Şener Aktürk · Turkish Academy of Sciences eBooks, 2026
Collection summary
Şener Aktürk: Azerbaijani and Turkish nationalism and religion in comparative perspective.
This chapter in a 2026 Turkish Academy of Sciences e-book explains the close association of Azerbaijani and Turkish nationalism with Islamic identity from the early twentieth century to the present, their transcendence of the Sunni-Shiite divide and their support for a secular state. The author argues that constitutive nation-building conflicts against common Christian adversaries explain the identification with Islam, while threats from polities sharing the same sect (Shiite Iran for Azerbaijan, the Arab Revolt for the Ottomans) explain the ecumenical and secular conception of national identity. The shared struggle of 1918 features indirectly as part of the intertwined origins of the two nationalisms.
The source's own abstract
This paper asks and answers a critical multidimensional question regarding the nature of Azerbaijani and Turkish nationalism in relation to religious and sectarian identities from their intertwined origins in the early 20th century until the end of the first quarter of the 21st century. What explains the seeming puzzle between the close association of Azerbaijani and Turkish nationalism with Islamic identity on the one hand, and their ability to overcome the sectarian Sunni-Shiite divide and to justify and support a secular state on the other? I argue that the constitutive conflicts of nation-building that pitted Azerbaijani and Turkish nation-builders against common Christian enemies explain their identification with Islamic identity, whereas the secession of, or the threat from, polities with the same majority sectarian affiliation (Shiite Iran for Azerbaijan and the Arab Revolt for the Ottomans/Türkiye) explains in part the secular and ecumenical Muslim (including Sunnis and Shiites) conception of Azerbaijani and Turkish national identities. Azerbaijani and Turkish nationalisms have exceptionally intertwined origins such that it is possible to describe them as two branches of a common Turkish nationalist movement in the early 20th century. The founding of the short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918 and the declaration of the Republic of Türkiye in 1923 provided the first two nation-states that resulted from these intertwined origins. The significant contributions of Azerbaijani intellectuals to the growth of Turkish nationalism first in the late Ottoman empire and later in the nascent Republic of Türkiye are well-known. Similarly, the arguably decisive contributions of the Ottoman-Turkish forces organized under Caucasian Army of Islam (Kafkas İslam Ordusu) for the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic are also well-known. The puzzles of nationalism, religion, and secularism are evaluated against this ethno-religious background along with common intellectual and political origins.
Index
- People
- Şener Aktürk
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- AzerbaycanTürkiyeİran
The source's keywords
Democracy · Identity (music) · Islam · National identity · Nationalism · Secularism · State (computer science) · The Republic · Turkish