[THE MYTH OF ORIGIN IN THE EARLY REPUBLICAN THEATRE PLAYS] Sümer Ülkerleri: Türk tarihinin 3 perdelik bir görünüşü. Cover illustration by Ömer

[ULUKUT], A. ISMET.

Ülkü Kitaphanesi / Nümune Matbaasi, Istanbul, 1934.

Original illustrated wrappers. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 14 cm). In Turkish. 56 p.

First and only edition of this uncommon early Republican play claiming that the Sumerians are of Turkic origin, written by a Turkish poet and writer, depicting on the cover an ancient Turkish warrior shooting an arrow. The book contains constant references that the founders of the Sumerians were Turks.

“With the proclamation of the Republic and the departure from the political and social order of the Ottoman Empire, the construction of an envisaged nation-state began. The envisaged nation-state would be built upon the modal of Western public institutions and Mustafa Kemal would be the leader of it. It would be a secular state and the new regime of the state of Turkey would be the Republic. Many different communities belonging to different beliefs and nations existed on the land where the Republic of Turkey was founded. Therefore, it was impossible to refer historically or culturally to only one ethnic culture or community, as the German nation's model does. The comprehensive nature of the French nation model was more appropriate for the young State of Turkey. The idea that "everybody who calls themselves ‘Turk’ are Turkish" no matter their ethnic origin, culture, or belief, was one of the main building stones of the newly founded Republic. Political myths, which have an essential function in building collective cultural identity, were the solution to this problem. A historiography came into being that proved that Turks had been living on that territory for years. The new state's study of official history (Türk Tarih Tezi), for the construction of origin, corresponds to the myth of ancestry and the myth of origins in time and space that Smith categorizes. Official history (Türk Tarih Tezi) plays an important role in terms of establishing the discourse of Turkish within the new Republic. The main argument of the official history is that Turks are the Arian race of Central Asia, that they migrated to several places in the world, and that the powerful civilizations in ancient times, such as Sumerians and Hittites that lived in Anatolia.” (Erbek).

NLoT 000009916.; As of May 2024, we can’t trace any copy in OCLC.