The book under review by an eminent professor of history examines the South Asian perceptions of and responses to the political events that unfolded with the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire and the formation of the Turkish Republic by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Based on the updated version of the author’s contributions to various journals and academic proceedings, the book analyses nineteenth-century pan-Islam in South Asia, and unfolds its expression in South Asia in the context of British and Allied policies towards the Turks. It also tries to explain why South Asians, with a little nudging from men like Iqbal and Jinnah, switched their sympathies from the Ottomans to the nationalists under Atatürk, and how they viewed the process of modernisation in Turkey, in comparison with the Muslims of Afghanistan and Iran.
Lastly, the book attempts to examine the enduring relevance of pan-Islam as a tool in the politics of Pakistan and ventures to measure its trajectory in the future, especially when Turkey today is gradually moving away from Atatürk’s model of state and society. The research for this book was conducted in the archives and libraries of Pakistan, India, Turkey, and Britain.
Ottoman Turkey, Atatürk, and Muslim South Asia
Perspectives, Perceptions, and Responses
By M Naeem Qureshi
Published by: Oxford University Press, Karachi.
Pages: 416 pages; Price: Rs.1,650/- Hardback
