Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of the act of lynching. It is based on the events of September 6-7, 1955, in Turkey. Lynching is a deed of showing violence, plundering, and harm done by a specific crowd. This crowd is usually classless thus individuals are fed from their situations in the masses. There is no specific agency and the law is usually ignored. In this sense, I aim to give a historical outline of lynching and its role in cultural, political, and sociological events. The act of lynching accentuates hate, revenge, and prejudice, therefore, is projected upon a specific community by the mainstream group. Particularly, in the case of Turkey, this anger surfaced on the night of 6th September, and was followed by looting houses, workplaces and churches of the Greek community. The reasons for this outburst, which is marked as one of the darkest nights in Turkish history, are analyzed in this paper. The psychological aspects of lynching are considered based on Gustave Le Bon’s mass psychology, and then, similarly, Sevres Syndrome is put forward in the context of Turkish identity to enlighten sociological reason in my discussion.