Loyal Turks or Fake Muslims? Ottoman Empire remained the most “backward” and “primitive” because
it did not unite its people in a single nationalism. Many Sufi orders, sects,
particular group organizations, and local characteristics distinguish this
country’s people from one another. He demands that in order to develop
Turkey, a true melting pot must be established, “asking everyone, ‘Are you
one of us or not?’; considering as one’s own the parts that are assimilated or
can be assimilated; and throwing out of Turkish society and framework the
foreign parts that do not accept assimilation.”
Having established this general historical and social framework, and
critique of pluralism, Yalman is ready to focus on the Dönme as the
example that proves his theory. Within the Ottoman Empire’s mosaic
framework “a number of mysterious groups that were formed in Salonika
in the seventeenth century deserve our attention.” Although numerically
insignificant, “these mysterious groups displayed such unusual character-
istics—having a secret existence, separating themselves from others—that
that [Ottoman] society, which within a generation considered its own
individuals who joined it, and did not find it necessary to inquire into
the origin of a person who called himself a Turk and a Muslim, became
slightly indignant.” He again complains of Ottoman tolerance, arguing
that in no other country would society faced with such a tendency have
merely displayed mild indignation, for it certainly would have insisted
that that group come out into the open, and either completely swallow
and assimilate it or label it foreign.
Nevertheless, such groups are disappearing. Even without society’s pres-
sure, “time, knowledge, and wisdom have done their duty. Two of the
Dönme groups no longer formed coherent, organized bodies. The third,
and here he has the Karakaş in mind, still manifests some outdated be-
liefs and practices. Linear progression is not enough. Yalman states baldly:
“This problem must be decisively liquidated.” He argues those who refuse
to assimilate by saying that as members of a Muslim school of thought or
Sufi order, they have unique characteristics, consider themselves separate,
and intend to remain separate must be brought into the open. And in one
of the most important lines in the article, Yalman asserts that in contrast,
“Those who are truly Turkish and Muslim must be distinguished in public
opinion and must be saved from the necessity of carrying on their back the
social stain and mark that is only appropriate for those who are not.”
Yalman’s aim was “to render safe and sure the decisive dissolution and
disappearance of this ridiculous situation,” the continued existence of the