Turkish cultural policy In search of a new model?
Résumé
By considering the models of cultural policies, this chapter explores changes to Turkish cultural policies since 2002. To do so it distinguishes between aspects stemming from a political project and those relating more to sectorial changes affecting cultural policy observable elsewhere in the world. It argues that while we are witnessing the depoliticization of cultural policy in Europe, the Justice and Development Party’s cultural policy is governed by a desire to display a separation from certain parts of the Kemalist reference framework and to promote Ottoman heritage instead. Against the backdrop of social and political polarization, culture has become a powerful policy instrument enabling the government to present its project as a break with the past, thanks to its symbolic dimensions.