“This inspired comparative study concerns not only two nations but also two religions. The shift from secularism to a synthesis that incorporates religion in both Greece and Turkey provides an enriched model that broadens our analytical perspectives on nation-building and the formation of national identity.”

Heracles Miller, political scientist, Athens

“It will be discussed on both sides of the Aegean.”

Ayhan Aktar, İstanbul Bilgi University

How did national identity become intertwined with religion in both Greece and Turkey, while initially, nationalism had been adopted in both countries as the essential driving force for modernization of nation-building programs? Ioannis N. Grigoriadis takes on this significant question, which, curiously enough, has escaped the attention of scholars until now. The author explores the changing role of religion in shaping Greek and Turkish identity.

This is the first comparative study regarding the role of religion in the formation of nationalism in both states, arguing that the shift towards an increasingly religious model in both countries can be explained as an absolute necessity for the unification of the population, stemming from the need to attract it, in order to address its ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity. With a time span of about a century, Greek and Turkish nationalism moved from hostility towards religion to a “sacred synthesis” claiming that the nation and religion were not enemies but rather complemented each other. In this way, religion offered its symbolic resources to nationalism and contributed to the work of building the Greek and Turkish nation. Today, religion remains the primary criterion for defining a Greek and a Turk.

Ioannis N. Grigoriadis is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Bilkent University and a research associate at ELIAMEP. He has taught at Sabanci and Isik Universities and the University of Athens. His work Trials of Europeanization: Turkish Political Culture and the European Union, (London & New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) was awarded the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2009.