Abstract

1940s were the hardest years for the Turkish political life. After the Atatürk, the “first man”, passed away; İsmet İnönü, the “Second Man”, who was the new leader of Republic of Turkey, was in an effort to place the governance principles of the late “charismatic” leader on bureaucratic and rational grounds. Although CHP (Republican People’s Party) placed itself in “centre left” so as to have an ideological ground, it gave importance to nationalist ideology’s remaining as a necessary ally of the state. However, the nationalist elites who aimed to politicise the nationalism which was not dependant from the state and bring it together with the masses were creating a new nationalistic coding system criticising the rituals of the “State Nationalism” in order to get together but not under CHP.